Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by ivan_gammel 762 days ago
The West is a too broad term, we have very different political systems among Western countries. In some of them cancel culture and big tech aren’t that strong. Besides, it is really different from USSR. Do you know any example in the West in XXI century where a poet or a writer were censored to death?
1 comments
exe34 762 days ago
By the state, no, but Salman Rushdie probably doesn't care who's doing the stabbing.
link
throwaway11460 762 days ago
It's very different. A stabbing is a crime that is prosecuted, state sanctioned imprisonment is not.
link
exe34 761 days ago
the chilling effect is the same.
link
throwaway11460 761 days ago
No, the chilling effect is very different. One is a tragedy that needs to be brought to justice, the second one is never going to get any semblance of justice from its very principle.
link
exe34 761 days ago
tell that to the school teacher from Birmingham that is in hiding because they showed a cartoon to children. I'm sure they're real happy about justice.
link
throwaway11460 761 days ago
What they are experiencing is terrible but still doesn't compare to actual censorship. I'm sure they still appreciate that the state didn't put them in prison and ban their children from education and employment except the hardest, most hazardous jobs where it is actually expected it will kill you sooner than later. State sanctioned violence hits very differently - the power disparity is unbearable and nothing you do will help you or your family, you can't move, you can't run, you can't negotiate, you can't fight, and unless you're very lucky and the entire regime falls it will never stop.
link
ivan_gammel 761 days ago
In the countries with free speech the effect is not chilling at all. Do you remember “Je suis Charlie”?
link
exe34 761 days ago
do you remember how they changed their profile pictures to include a transparent french flag? do you also remember how the majority didn't share the actual cartoons that were used to justify the attacks? if the virtue signallers did, the social media companies would have censored it. if the virtue signallers did and the social media companies didn't censor it, there would have been additional riots and the companies would have been banned in ~20 countries.
link