Conservatives act like they’re the face of free speech, but they ask for censorship when the speech is troublesome to them.

Few people are actually free speech absolutists. Rather than be a hypocrite, admit there are legal things you believe should be censored, suppressed, and shut down.

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hertoy · 70-79, M

Can you site an example of conservatism against free speech?

bijouxbroussard · F

@hertoy Book burnings by Christian fundamentalists.

hertoy · 70-79, M

@bijouxbroussard They are extremists not main stream conservatism. The left & right both have extremists that are out of touch with reality.

SW-User

@hertoy

What prompted me to ask this question was art censorship: wanting a video pulled from a website because it has distasteful imagery. Liberals do stuff like this all the time, so I'm not defending them. But it's generally the conservatives who call out the liberals, saying they're "PC snowflakes" who want everything removed because it's "problematic" and yet here we have a conservative doing the same thing. Maybe it's over a different type of content, but both sides call for censorship sometimes, and I find it hypocritical when conservatives try and take ownership of the "free speech movement" when their sense of free speech can be just as limited as a liberal's sense of it.

My views on free speech are perhaps more extreme than most liberals or conservatives. I once came across a liberal who wanted white supremacists censored; he did not believe they should have free speech because they are dangerous. Likewise, I came across a conservative who believed the same thing about communists. I don't like white supremacists or communists, but I don't believe they should be censored unless they're actually doing something illegal.

bijouxbroussard · F

@hertoy That’s true, but what liberals generally oppose is hate speech and bullying, not constructive conversation. Conservatives oppose speech that doesn’t fit in with their ideas of “family values”—and who [b]they[/b] define as a family unit.

softspokenman · M

Trumps tweets and speech about NFL kneeling.@hertoy

softspokenman · M

He violated: 1. Perjury of oath. 2. Abuse of authority. 3. Intimidation. 4. Behavior unbecoming.
High crimes and misdemeanors

(Added)@softspokenman

softspokenman · M

Nonviolent assembly and protest in public are protected by the 1st Amendment, freedom of speech.

Added@softspokenman

softspokenman · M

Speech and even hate speech are protected under the 1st Amendment. @SW-User