Daron Fraley

2021-01-10 16:45:49 -

I made the following comment on one of my posts, in response to a very smart friend of mine, that I really respect. And I feel that this response is important enough that it needs to stand on its own.

But before I get to that comment, may I offer a plea: PLEASE, PEOPLE... WAKE UP. What is happening right now is so incredibly bad for free speech. You may not like what people say. You may have serious problems with their stand on the issues. But you cannot be in the camp of silencing them. Celebrating their silencing is basically slitting your own throat... with a guillotine. We are not talking a paper cut here, folks.

THIS IS HOW REPUBLICS DIE. You like FREEDOM? Then you damned well better fight for it. Because right now, freedom is in the fight of its life.

On to the quoted comment which was a response to a claim that Twitter is a private company that can do what they want and also the fact that the First Amendment did not cover the Internet because it was not invented at the time:

*** The following is my response to those claims ***
At the time that the first amendment was ratified, the method of getting the news out to people were newspapers and town criers and word of mouth. Times have changed. Newspapers really are not read by many people anymore. EVERYTHING is online. It is the method and means for nearly all communication today.

Therefore, if people are prevented from publishing on their personal platform because their platform is deleted, it is akin to going down to the local newspaper in the 1700s, and destroying their printing presses and burning their building.

Let me use your argument against you... If you claim freedom of the press and freedom of speech did not include online access, then you must ALSO claim that the second amendment did not protect the right to use semi-automatic pistols, rifles, etc., or the brass cartridges that they fire. We are ONLY allowed to use muskets and blackpowder.

I understand where you are coming from in that Twitter is a privately owned entity, and that is the base of your argument. But that is only one piece of the puzzle. Media platforms surpassed their simple definition of a privately owned company the moment they claimed to be a PLATFORM, not a PUBLISHER.

You cannot have it both ways. Make Twitter/Facebook/etc. a PUBLISHER again... make them liable for what is said on them, and THEN they have the right to dump Trump's account.

Otherwise, I am afraid you are dead wrong on this one. And I generally agree with you, so feel bad that I am so opposed to you on this.

#freedom #censorship #bigtech #trump #speech

I made the following comment on one of my posts, in response to a very smart friend of mine, that I really respect. And I feel that this response is important enough that it needs to stand on its own. But before I get to that comment, may I offer a plea: PLEASE, PEOPLE... WAKE UP. What is happening right now is so incredibly bad for free speech. You may not like what people say. You may have serious problems with their stand on the issues. But you cannot be in the camp of silencing them. Celebrating their silencing is basically slitting your own throat... with a guillotine. We are not talking a paper cut here, folks. THIS IS HOW REPUBLICS DIE. You like FREEDOM? Then you damned well better fight for it. Because right now, freedom is in the fight of its life. On to the quoted comment which was a response to a claim that Twitter is a private company that can do what they want and also the fact that the First Amendment did not cover the Internet because it was not invented at the time: *** The following is my response to those claims *** At the time that the first amendment was ratified, the method of getting the news out to people were newspapers and town criers and word of mouth. Times have changed. Newspapers really are not read by many people anymore. EVERYTHING is online. It is the method and means for nearly all communication today. Therefore, if people are prevented from publishing on their personal platform because their platform is deleted, it is akin to going down to the local newspaper in the 1700s, and destroying their printing presses and burning their building. Let me use your argument against you... If you claim freedom of the press and freedom of speech did not include online access, then you must ALSO claim that the second amendment did not protect the right to use semi-automatic pistols, rifles, etc., or the brass cartridges that they fire. We are ONLY allowed to use muskets and blackpowder. I understand where you are coming from in that Twitter is a privately owned entity, and that is the base of your argument. But that is only one piece of the puzzle. Media platforms surpassed their simple definition of a privately owned company the moment they claimed to be a PLATFORM, not a PUBLISHER. You cannot have it both ways. Make Twitter/Facebook/etc. a PUBLISHER again... make them liable for what is said on them, and THEN they have the right to dump Trump's account. Otherwise, I am afraid you are dead wrong on this one. And I generally agree with you, so feel bad that I am so opposed to you on this. #freedom #censorship #bigtech #trump #speech

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