Kramodlog
Naked and living in a barrel
Is being condescending civil?Before you quote rights, make sure you understand them fully.
Yes, yes, I know all this BS. I refere you this case. Not about free speech, but freedom of religion. I find it interesting because and similar since it is a question of rights. Here we have someone who bought a condo, not from guberment, and agreed to the rules of that condominium, still not guberment. Afterwards, he claimed that the rules violated his freedom of religion, it went all the way to the surpeme court and... won. So, this idea that rights exist only to protect you from teh ebil of guberment, yeah not so much.The US "Right to free speech" is a right to not have *government* impinge upon your right to speak. Morrus and the mods, not being government, are not covered. EN World is a private enterprise, and within it, the proprietor can legally restrict speech. This is well-established in legal precedent - many folks have tried lawsuits on this basis, and lost. You'd probably not even get into a court with such an argument today.
Note, especially that you agreed to the terms of service when you created your account. Having entered into that agreement, you lose a lot of your right to gripe about the rules. Don't like it? Post elsewhere.
That was the legal angle. From the moral angle, censorship is a terrible thing, no matter who does it. Obviously, the internet is an extention of the public sphere and freedom of speech should be protected here too from the censorship of guberment, yes, and corporations. As corprations take more and more space in the public sphere, gain more power and influence, they become almost parallel guberments, or at least counter powers. They need to be kept on a short leesh and the public protected from their abuse. It is just the natural evolution of rights and freedoms.
Why the double standard? Why is one bad and one good, why is not always bad. Whether it is the guberment that prevents me from saying Putin is naughty or Facebook, it makes no difference. Both are censorship and both are condemnable.Censorship by a government is usually a bad thing. Within the confines of a private arena, not so much.
False analogy.I sure as heck think it is okay for me to have the right to eject someone from my home if they, say, start verbally abusing my wife. It is technically censorship, but I fail to see how it is "very bad" for me to do so.