[Kye]

I just wonder how many people who could have done better were blocked by the actions of all these artists people want to make excuses for. How many great works were we denied because someone insisted on making space for someone who repelled (or worse) better people?

[catiopatio]

The zero-sum command-economy view of free speech: we have to exercise prior restraint on what people can say to ensure that there’s room for the people we approve of to speak.

[happytoexplain]

This seems pretty un-generous. The parent is citing a real, straight-forward cause-and-effect which does not necessitate or even imply a zero-sum game, nor does it imply the extremist solution you're accusing them of supporting.

[Kye]

I was struggling to figure out how to respond to them, but I think you got it. I had that famous Stephen Jay Gould quote in mind: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/99345-i-am-somehow-less-int...

"I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops."

My post was a call for being smarter about who we invest in. I always wonder about people who call for separating art and artist over such mediocre artistry.

[catiopatio]

The zero-sum game and extremist solution are inherent in their position.

As the parent says in their reply below:

> My post was a call for being smarter about who we invest in.

[Kye]

"We can do better" is not a Hitlerian final solution. I'm calling for having taste, not building gulags.

[catiopatio]

Tall about mixed metaphors!

Nobody said anything about a “final solution” or gulags.

“We can do better” and “calling for having taste” certainly seems to imply a command-economy approach to the marketplace of ideas.

If that’s not what you intended, what do you mean by “have taste” and “do better”?

[Kye]

>> "certainly seems to imply a command-economy approach to the marketplace of ideas."

No. This is a trunk of ideas, not a "marketplace of ideas." I have some wares in there. You can move on if none of it appeals to you.

I'm just some strings in your computer. I can't make you do anything. There's no policy work being done here.

[HKH2]

More charitably, attention is zero-sum and we personally have to prioritize if we want to maximize quality.

What you said assumes that people will give up on that and jump to coercion. Maybe your cynicism is warranted.