This whole argument is wildly misunderstanding the problem. Andy Ngo frames this as a black & white issue - when by all reasonable measures, it is not.
It’s not all free speech or none. I don’t see Andy protesting that it is a crime to yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater when there isn’t one. I also don’t see Andy protesting when that teenage girl was sent to prison for verbally abusing her boyfriend and verbally encouraging him to commit suicide - which he eventually did. Where are his protests? Where are the guardians of free speech here?
The thing is, there is speech for the purpose of communicating, speech for the purpose of convincing, and speech for the purpose of manipulating. The first two categories are always protected and should be under most conditions. The last has heavy restrictions. You are not allowed to use the platform someone else built to manipulate the audience they built if they do not want you to. Period.
Trumps endless lies aren’t speech. They are a blatant attempt at manipulation with a reckless disregard for the truth. That needs to be restricted urgently. We’ve seen too many minds manipulated by this category of non-speech.
That’s also the entire problem with the “conservatives” - especially under Trump. They abused platforms to manipulate people into following them because they didn’t actually have persuasive points. They abandoned their commitments to fidelity, fiscal responsibility, and morality. All they had were lies that they repeated until they became undistinguishable from the truth.
This isn’t about speech. It never was. It is about manipulation and one particular political segment trying to use our core values against us.
Stop trying to muddy the waters. This whole argument is a straw man.
Stop trying to pretend this was ever about speech.
It’s not all free speech or none. I don’t see Andy protesting that it is a crime to yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater when there isn’t one. I also don’t see Andy protesting when that teenage girl was sent to prison for verbally abusing her boyfriend and verbally encouraging him to commit suicide - which he eventually did. Where are his protests? Where are the guardians of free speech here?
The thing is, there is speech for the purpose of communicating, speech for the purpose of convincing, and speech for the purpose of manipulating. The first two categories are always protected and should be under most conditions. The last has heavy restrictions. You are not allowed to use the platform someone else built to manipulate the audience they built if they do not want you to. Period.
Trumps endless lies aren’t speech. They are a blatant attempt at manipulation with a reckless disregard for the truth. That needs to be restricted urgently. We’ve seen too many minds manipulated by this category of non-speech.
That’s also the entire problem with the “conservatives” - especially under Trump. They abused platforms to manipulate people into following them because they didn’t actually have persuasive points. They abandoned their commitments to fidelity, fiscal responsibility, and morality. All they had were lies that they repeated until they became undistinguishable from the truth.
This isn’t about speech. It never was. It is about manipulation and one particular political segment trying to use our core values against us.
Stop trying to muddy the waters. This whole argument is a straw man.
Stop trying to pretend this was ever about speech.