#1

What are your views on this? I actually disagree with it. Obviously the guy is a complete bell end but he should be allowed to air his views and then people can debate with him.

#2
#3

No he shouldn’t

13 Likes
#5

I’m for freedom of speech and then actually debating with these people why I think they’re wrong.

#7

good for you. set up your own social media platform and go chat to nazis there. preferably in the sea

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#8

Do you not agree with freedom of speech?

#9

Not when its racist bile, no

#10

a) freedom of speech doesn’t involve forcing private companies to give everyone a platform to say whatever they want

b) any reasonable definition of freedom of speech precludes hate speech

c) what do you hope to gain from conversing with fascists if you’re not sympathetic to their cause?

5 Likes
#12

But surely true freedom of speech has to offend sometimes? I certainly don’t agree with anything that man says but let him say it and then hopefully show others that he is a hateful scumbag and why he is.

#16

I find people like him genuinely interesting and find it difficult that he has the views he does.

#17

why let him say it? all he is doing is trying to incite hatred to a group of people without merit

there’s absolutely no reason to give him a platform

1 Like
#19

Maybe it is but what I mean is that I find the things he talks about interesting not his beliefs

#21

ah come on mate, he literally just spouts hatred to Muslims, there is nothing interesting about it

#22

But I listen to them and disagree with them. What is wrong with that?

#24

do you seriously not see how privileged you are that you can just ‘listen’ to hate speech and ‘disagree’ with it and still feel safe in your continued existence in society?

8 Likes
#25

listening to them

1 Like
#26

I do see this yes.

#27

I’m very slightly against banning him on Twitter, calling him a nazi, etc, because it gives him ammunition and an avenue to counter and actually appear reasonable in the eyes of a lot of people. A similar problem with the alt-right. His argument becomes “well, I’m demonstrably not a nazi, so look at how people on the opposite side of the spectrum sensationalise and misrepresent me” “the left-leaning social media corporations are intolerant of free speech”, etc, etc, and he appears somewhat balanced. Never mind how many of his actual views still conflate with xenophobia, Islamophobia, toxic nationalism, etc. It becomes a side point and most of his media appearances become about what he doesn’t represent than what he does.

I think the right and far-right are becoming savvy about what to downplay in order to appear reasonable and make the left look over-sensitive and against free speech, and it’s a slight of hand that we need to be very wary of. I’m not sure I’d ever have known who Milo Yiannopoulos was if he hadn’t been banned from Twitter, for example. He himself has called it the best thing that happened to his career

1 Like
#29

“I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it”

#32

but you don’t care about the people who aren’t as privileged as yourself who can be directly harmed by that kind of speech?

1 Like