HN user
Millions read it only because of the backlash, but what about all the people who didn't speak up because of the fear of getting abused by angry mobs and fired? You can't pretend a censorship attempt isn't one just because it backfired and failed.
Frankly, all those things that people are going "is it deplatforming?" pretty much are deplatforming, but I figured pointing out the distraction tactic was worth more than engaging in the argument over definitions.
It's hard to measure, but it does often bring attention to them when we have these discussions. I do feel the left's online attitude is firing back more than it's helping them. More than anything it makes people who had no position to take a side, which benefits those that are banking on the controversies the most.
I think we mostly agree. I was just replying to the idea that people are calling for the government to force speech, which felt like a weird notion (though when it comes to the political extremes, I'm sure both sides would love nothing more than total control over what's acceptable speech).
No, that's ebg13 trying to narrow the scope of the discussion so they don't have to address the issue. The same thing that's happening in this subthread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21143570
Your quote is a response to throwawaysea's comment, which is clearly much more general than that:
Leaving aside culture wars waged by individuals, I see institutional tightening on free speech all over America. I see it in big tech companies, where only a progressive monoculture exists with no psychological safety for other viewpoints. I see it in censorship applied by defacto digital public squares like YouTube. I see it in the left's rampant use of deplatforming to silence opposing views. Increasingly, I also see it in universities (see this incident at the University of Washington today https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-university-of-was...).
Don't forget https://lineageos.org
China is particularly problematic because they are huge and powerful. I agree it would be better to use democratic countries instead, but since that's not gonna happen, I'm glad companies are at least moving to smaller countries.
I think getting caught up in the "but does it fit the definition of deplatforming?" is a pretty obvious distraction from the issue.
they were buried under poorly understood and debunked science and statements that were easily misunderstood.
I didn't read his essay or follow this case at all, but from Wikipedia it seems he was arguing that biological differences between the sexes are a driving factor for the lack of women programmers at Google. That's a position that's solidly backed by the science.
Not just the US. I think this is being driven by the social dynamics of the Internet. Things like filter bubbles and click-driven journalism. Social networks like Facebook and Twitter shape discussions in particular ways that are very different than offline.
I somehow missed that. His proposal sounds much more narrow however, targeting only companies that have become a "sole provider of some functions". I do think breaking up the monopoly is a no-brainer in this scenario.
The government forcing private entities to disseminate speech they don't want to — that's where this leads, right?
I don't think so. Is anyone proposing this as a solution? The parent certainly doesn't seem to be.
Political groups forcibly silencing opposing views is.
Maybe not technically, but that's irrelevant. It's part of the phenomenon being discussed.
Did you miss all the Stallman threads we just had?
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21120806
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21103133
Wouldn't it better for MIT's reputation if people weren't jumping to the conclusion that one of their professors would willingly rape people? Did anyone actually believe Marvin Minsky of all people would do that? I wonder what he will have to say about this when he gets unfrozen.
It's unfortunate that the legal definition became broader for the same reason I think the common definition shouldn't.
I imagine however that most legislatures get around the issue by having explicit paragraphs establishing harsher punishments for violent rape vs mutually-accepted statutory rape.
I agree the expression "Free Software" has the same problem. However the alternatives also have some problems. He discusses that here: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.... (I'm sure you've already read it, but it's always worth a re-read)
I'm partial to the term "Libre" myself, though in this case it doesn't matter much, since it's a concept that people aren't familiar with anyway and you have to explain it no matter what word you use.
Using the word assault causes people to believe a different thing happened. It says nothing about the gravity of each kind of crime except that they shouldn't be the same.
The only reason "sexual assault" covers what allegedly took place is because the expression was redefined in the first place to cover two separate things, which is exactly the problem. Stallman called not for redefining "sexual assault" as you put it, but for undoing a redefinition that puts it at odds with how those terms are conventionally used and causes unnecessary confusion.
Stallman's position is pretty clearly that we should use precise language always. It seems a pretty impeccable position to me. The only people I can think of who benefit from conflating coercive and non-coercive crimes under the same term are the ones who profit from the confusion.
Found a few passages in Free as in Freedom (https://static.fsf.org/nosvn/faif-2.0.pdf):
A December, 2001, Wired magazine article titled “The Geek Syndrome” paints the portrait of several scientifically gifted children diagnosed with high-functioning autism or Asperger Syndrome. In many ways, the parental recollections recorded in the Wired article are eerily similar to the ones offered by Lippman. Stallman also speculates about this. In the interview for a 2000 profile for the TorontoStar, Stallman said he wondered if he were “borderline autistic.”
In recent years, Lippman says she has taken to reading books about autism and believes that such episodes were more than coincidental. “I do feel that Richard had some of the qualities of an autistic child,” she says. “I regret that so little was known about autism back then. ”Over time, however, Lippman says her son learned to adjust. By age seven, she says, her son had become fond of standing at the front window of subway trains, mapping out and memorizing the labyrinthian system of railroad tracks underneath the city.
Watch the Stallman gaze for an extended period of time, and you will begin to notice a subtle change. What appears at first to be an attempt to intimidate or hypnotize reveals itself upon second and third viewing as a frustrated attempt to build and main-tain contact. If his personality has a touch or “shadow” of autism or Asperger’s Syndrome, a possibility that Stallman has entertained from time to time, his eyes certainly confirm the diagnosis. Even at their most high-beam level of intensity, they have a tendency to grow cloudy and distant, like the eyes of a wounded animal preparing to give up the ghost. My own first encounter
I couldn't find any authoritative source, but it's hard to believe anything else if you've been following him for a while.
You shouldn't. There's nothing wrong with it. Having an interest in the opposite sex is the most normal thing in the world and there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to state it.
It looks like most of the world has it at 16 and below: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_consent
I think a trillion people can find a solution to that problem in under 440 years.
That applies to pretty much every sport. Why choose one that puts your life at risk?
Sounds like better transportation could be great for improving living standards.
Climbing sounds like an incredibly dangerous sport. I don't understand how so many people are willing to do risky things like that.
Thanks for the amazing work you guys are doing! I'm keeping an eye on the progress and it's amazing to see: https://boilingsteam.com/proton-keeps-making-its-way-in-comp...