The internet is no longer the ‘’wild west’’ to be sure. But
the question is, what kind of the internet do we want it to evolve into.
I certainly would not want to see the Internet devolve into
a series of individual ‘’hug boxes’’ where participants are only exposed to
comforting, self-reinforcing opinions.
Similarly, I would not want to see the internet devolve into
a place where people mask their
intolerance of other opinions by labeling those beliefs as ‘’hate
speech’’ or ‘’dangerous beliefs’’ or ‘’harassing’’. Disagreement isn’t
harassment.
Not agreeing with you doesn’t make it hate speech
Over the past few years, we have increasingly seen small
groups bully their way to silence others by torturing the language.
Disagreement becomes harassment. Challenging someone’s opinions becomes hate
speech. Not sharing the right politics becomes ‘’dangerous’’ or ‘’extremist’’.
Routinely, we have also seen the most vocal proponents of
censorship and intolerance turn on each other in an endless competition to
establish who is greater victim, who is the least privileged or who has
suffered the most. This race to the bottom is not a trend that we should want to encourage.
Merit. Self Reliance. Hard Work.
There are things that our society relies on to function on a
day to day basis. It is only because we have sufficient number of people who
adhere to these beliefs that others have the luxury of engaging in debates
regarding privilege, identity politics and superficial diversity goals.
Where is all heading
We have left the ‘’wild west’’. People are starting to
understand that privately run sites are under no obligation to put up with
hateful people in the name of ‘’unlimited free speech’’.
Our destination, however, remains unknown because the
question of what exactly is ‘’hateful’’ and who decides what hateful is. I for
one, do not want the question determined.
What say you?
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