Comments by "Digital Nomad" (@digitalnomad9985) on "A Free Society Needs Free Speech | Short Clips" video.

@megustAslagt "When you mainly see lies, you start to believe the lies. " That is why freedom of speech is vital. The reason why this is essential to freedom and progress is not that all ideas are equal, it is that no person can be trusted with the power to censor. This power will corrupt whoever wields it, and draw the worst sort to wield it. That is the lesson of history. Freedom of speech is vital to recovering from our mistakes as a society. Political censorship is obscurantist and despotic. Name me an instance where despotism has been founded and sustained by freedom of speech. There is no such instance. Censorship is fundamental, and indispensably necessary, to stabilize oppression.
5
Gordon He changed his mind. Look at his last speech. Full citizenship rights for negroes.
3
@TheWorldEnd2 " To uphold basic human rights, we must limit the rights to themselves and to not allow them to endanger others." For decades the US and the British commonwealth has held that freedom of speech, political speech in particular, has been a fundamental right. The times and places where such a regime held sway have been the most stable and forward thinking places on Earth. "Endangering others" is far to broad a criterion for censorship, that is a despot's scepter. The reason why this is essential to freedom and progress is not that all ideas are equal, it is that no person can be trusted with the power to censor. This power will corrupt whoever wields it, and draw the worst sort to wield it. That is the lesson of history. Freedom of speech is vital to recovering from our mistakes as a society. Political censorship is obscurantist and despotic.
2
@Clemente Nicado Yelmene Censorship and government secrecy were even greater factors in the Holocaust. What distinguishes the 3rd Reich from the western democracies with respect to the subject at hand is not that they expressed their party line. Everybody does that. The distinguishing attribute is that they suppressed counter-narratives. (Even before the Nazis gained government authority, the brown shirts attacked their political opponents.) Censorship is far from the only bad thing the Reich did, but it was necessary to enable the rest. "You need to understand the historical context behind Merkel's censorship."
2
Gordon True, but he changed his mind. Read his last speech. Full citizenship rights for blacks, including the vote.
2
@Live Free or Die Nobody is silencing you. If they were, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
1
@CurlyG65 At that time the US did not exist.
1
@TheWorldEnd2 "you cannot have absolute free speech without everything falling apart." For decades the US and the British commonwealth has held that freedom of speech, political speech in particular, has been a fundamental right. The times and places where such a regime held sway have been the most stable and forward thinking places on Earth. "Endangering others" is far to broad a criterion for censorship, that is a despot's scepter. The reason why this is essential to freedom and progress is not that all ideas are equal, it is that no person can be trusted with the power to censor. This power will corrupt whoever wields it, and draw the worst sort to wield it. That is the lesson of history. You can't have despotism without censorship, but freedom has got along fine without it. Freedom of speech is vital to recovering from our mistakes as a society. Political censorship is obscurantist and despotic.
1