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by 23B1 680 days ago
The problem isn't the hate speech or the enforcement really.

The problem is that these powers have, can, and will be abused by petty bureaucrats, power-hungry law enforcement, the government itself and, as a result, enable actual tyranny.
2 comments
BoredPositron 680 days ago
Because there is no other way in a democracy to handle overreach... it's always the same straw man argument.

"We'll end up in a dystopian autocratic tyranny nightmare TOMORROW if we do anything against it. With the only conclusion let's do nothing at all."

Great input.

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_heimdall 680 days ago
Rather than disregarding the concern, how would you propose the overreach should be handled? And is it possible to handle the overreach before it harms citizens caught in the middle, or can it only be dealt with after innocent people are on the wrong end of the overreach?
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BoredPositron 680 days ago
And innocent people that get harmed by non action are irrelevant? Laws can and will always be abused but if they are about online discourse the only possibility seems to be that there will be nothing but abuse. As long as you are in a country with an intact democracy and separation of power you'll be fine and if not vote against it.
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_heimdall 680 days ago
Who is harmed specifically by online speech? Speech can certainly lead to people deciding to take some kind of action, but that action is what harms people and those actions are very likely already illegal.

When it comes to separation of powers, that's a much bigger discussion but I have concerns over how our three branches operate in the US today. Our legislative branch has outsourced much of their power to the executive branch, though the overturn of Chevron may eventually help that. I wish it were as simply as voting, but I'm generally only offered one or two options for most elected positions and when it comes down to it neither party will allow anyone on the ballot that wants to actually reform anything meaningful about how the system works.

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whatshisface 680 days ago
Civil servants desperately trying to hide their mistakes won't believe they are overreaching, and neither will their friends or the politicians who would held responsible by the media.
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23B1 680 days ago
Tyranny doesn't require an autocratic dystopia to make life absolute hell.
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lmaoguy 680 days ago
They are actively being be abused. The UK, Canada, Oz and NZ are excellent examples.
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