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While I agree-ish, I can list a litany of people deplatformed. All of them are on the right. It could just be only the left has power at the moment.

A common question is why the Ayatollah is on Twitter (and I think Facebook) calling for death, but Alex Jones isn’t allowed to question events.

We can argue both are reprehensible, but only one is banned.

Beyond that I haven’t seen anyone on the right truly call for limitation of speech. I’ve only seen them get upset when something is particularly targeting them (say the push for LGBT in elementary schools)

hirsin 1381 days ago

Book banning is the right's equivalent of deplatforming, with the bonus that they are getting the government to do it, not just a private company. They do take it further though, with banning of talking about how to get an abortion, banning of talking about LGBT topics in school.

I can't say that allowing those topics, or even pushing them, is targeting the right. By definition it's about some other group being supported. Maybe you meant triggering them, not targeting them?

TimPC 1381 days ago

It always surprises me the right wants to ban books. After all they want minors to read a book with beastiality in it. It will be fun to see what the courts say on banning the bible from elementary schools in Florida on the grounds that beastiality is not age appropriate.

Pretty sure the Bible also isn’t taught in public schools.

This is why I strongly support school choice. Let the parents decide how to raise their children.

Also that said, those sections of the Bible typically aren’t highlighted, aren’t graphic, don’t appear in all bibles and kids will get abridged versions.

rnk 1381 days ago

You are wrong. I grew up in the south and we absolutely talked about things that were basically biblical in nature. The source of morals, right and wrong. We are way past that now, with cons in florida openly passing a law that says you can put up "in god we trust" in the school. https://www.foxnews.com/us/all-florida-public-schools-to-dis...

Similar things going on in the other new state determined to make laws against things that hurt their feelings, texas.

> You are wrong. I grew up in the south and we absolutely talked about things that were basically biblical in nature. The source of morals, right and wrong. We are way past that now, with cons in florida openly passing a law that says you can put up "in god we trust" in the school.

Okay, but that’s not “the Bible” that’s “biblical in nature”

I’m simply making the point that the explicit parts are not taught. Anything related to sex for instance, or even any stories as far as I’m aware.

I haven’t seen any book banning per-se. I’ve seen removal of offering them for free using public funds or using certain material to education children.. So, libraries or curriculums, which are not a first amendment issue.

> banning of talking about LGBT topics in school.

I saw Florida law stopped discussing it AND not telling parents, prior to 10 or 12 (forget final age). Again, limitations on educators are not the same thing.

We always limit access of information to children as they develop. We don’t show them death or sex at a young age because it’s been shown to have some negative effects.

That’s fundamentally different than banning people from using the public square to discuss topics.

uoaei 1381 days ago

I can list a litany of people deplatformed. All of them are on the left.

Selection bias does not a good argument make.

Who?

I’d like to read / listen to them.

uoaei 1379 days ago

Chris Hedges and John Kiriakou both have a lot to say about many important things

Which laws have passed that restrict speech?

[1] - https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/05/blow-free-speech-texas...

Two examples that come to mind:

"In a Blow to Free Speech, Texas’ Social Media Law Allowed to Proceed Pending Appeal"[1]

"A federal judge blocks part of Florida's 'STOP WOKE' Act on the grounds it violates business free speech rights" [2]

[2] - https://news.wfsu.org/state-news/2022-08-18/a-federal-judge-...

Neither of these restrict speech, and I'm not sure how one could construe the text of the laws toward that conclusion.

The first looks like regulation on social media activities, which is well within the boundaries of government - state or otherwise. Perhaps ill-advised, but "how to regulate the digital town square" is a pretty open and fluid debate, no? I don't see anything in there that says "this kind of speech is banned".

The second[1] looks like a workplace and education regulation, which is again well within the boundaries of things the government is charged with regulating. Honestly the text of the law looks pretty benign to me.

[1] http://laws.flrules.org/2022/72

ModernMech 1381 days ago

Both cited laws were blocked by judges for violating the first amendment. So you’ll have to provide a better argument than they seem to you to be benign, or well within the bounds of government regulation powers. Because the courts disagree with you.

The first is really the first attempt that I'm aware of to regulate social media companies, so it's not surprising that the legal arguments are not that robust or are clumsy at this stage. Surely social media companies are not considered "unregulatable" solely because speech occurs on those platforms. For the second, the article states that only "part of" the law was blocked, and leaves it up to the reader to guess which part. Unfortunately I can't find the actual court opinions, and journalists generally don't link to the primary sources when they have a specific opinion they would like their readers to have, which appears to have worked here.

>The first looks like regulation on social media activities, which is well within the boundaries of government - state or otherwise. Perhaps ill-advised, but "how to regulate the digital town square" is a pretty open and fluid debate, no? I don't see anything in there that says "this kind of speech is banned".

The law prevents private social media companies from adding a warning to posts for things like misinformation. That is banning a speech for these companies.

>The second[1] looks like a workplace and education regulation, which is again well within the boundaries of things the government is charged with regulating.

Except when those regulations violate the first amendment. This law dictates what private businesses can say while training their employees. How is that not an issue of speech?

It's interesting to me that implicit in your argument is that the corporation has some sort of "prime" speech right that users do not, but I understand how you could think that with regard to telling these companies they can't arbitrarily apply a speech to a user's speech (which is what adding a "misinformation" "warning" is doing) based on viewpoint.

We already have tons of laws that restrict what businesses can do, that would obviously restrict speech - like banning discrimination. The law does not, in fact, dictate what private businesses can say. It gives them a list of things they cannot say (e.g. certain races are morally superior). I don't see how that's different.

edit: bad grammar

>It's interesting to me that implicit in your argument is that the corporation has some sort of "prime" speech right that users do not,

No I'm not. Both have the same free speech. Except the corporations speech is being restricted by the government while the user's speech is being restricted by a private corporation. Only one of those is a First Amendment issue.

>We already have tons of laws that restrict what businesses can do, that would obviously restrict speech - like banning discrimination.

Discrimination is usually action and not speech. It is someone being fired, promoted, not hired, or just generally being treated differently. It generally takes for discriminatory speech to venture into harassment or a hostile environment before the government would step in.

>The law does not, in fact, dictate what private businesses can say. It gives them a list of things they cannot say

How are these not the same thing? Telling someone they can't do something is inherently telling them what they can do.

rnk 1381 days ago

Social media use and restrictions related to that is absolutely a free speech impact. Posting on instagram or twitter is not free speech?

29083011397778 1381 days ago

Florida's bill which prevents gay and lesbian teachers discussing their partners, for one.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/florida-don-t-say-gay-bill-des...

https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/1557/BillText/er/...

I found the law that this (Canadian) article is referencing, and the words "gay" or "homosexual" don't even appear in the text. How does this prevent gay and lesbian teachers from discussing their partners? I see a paragraph that says instruction on sexuality and sexual orientation can't begin before the third grade which seems pretty reasonable. I didn't get that until I was in, I think, fifth grade.

>I found the law that this (Canadian) article is referencing, and the words "gay" or "homosexual" don't even appear in the text.

You could try search for other words or phrases like sexual orientation? You will find passages like this:

>Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.

No one knows what those "state standards" are which creates a chilling effect around all discussions. Does this hypothetical conversation qualify?

First Grader: What do you do over Christmas Mrs. Smith?

Mrs. Smith: I went to visit my wife's family in Miami.

First Grader: But you are a woman, how do you have a wife?

Mrs. Smith: Not all women marry men. Some women marry other women.

[1] http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Displ...

Yes that's the paragraph I was referring to, and seems to be the only one that's relevant to what you're saying.

No one knows what the state standards are? They're all listed right here on their website[1]. Do you think your hypothetical conversation qualifies as "classroom instruction"? I don't think so.

29083011397778 1381 days ago

Do you think most kindergarden teachers have the money set aside to pay for time off (likely unpaid) and a lawyer to defend them in court from overzealous parents? And would you stake your career on that? Because that's the chilling effect that keeps getting brought up here. Will the lawsuit be thrown out? Maybe. Will you win? Probably. But finding out is a gamble that costs time, money, and stress, whether you win or lose.

ModernMech 1381 days ago

You don’t think so, but you and (most importantly) the teachers don’t know for sure. So they are self-censoring to be safe. The uncertainty is what creates a chilling effect. All it takes is some disgruntled parent hearing their kid talking about their teacher’s homosexual spouse to trigger a lawsuit, upending lives and careers.

>No one knows what the state standards are? They're all listed right here on their website[1].

Where are they listed on that website? I don't see them. Maybe the standards have been defined in the last few months, but they didn't exist at the time the bill was first proposed.

mythrwy 1381 days ago

There are many cases of not being allowed to say certain things as an employee or representative of an entity but I don't consider them infringements on "free speech" in general.

I'm sure after work these teachers can say whatever they like.

trs8080 1381 days ago

So it's okay that teachers are allowed to discuss their heterosexual partners but not homosexual? And you consider this not to be a violation of free speech?

https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2022/1557/BillText/er/...

The text of the law doesn't appear to do that. Is there a different law that you are thinking of?

eastbound 1381 days ago

Title IX