Elon is letting Twitter spread so much anti vax and Covid misinformation- It makes me furious every time I go there. That, and so much more, makes me wonder how anyone can justify having a presence there anymore. This is dangerous shit, akin to yelling "FIRE!" in a crowded building.
@OldAndCranky So open discussion on twitter is as dangerous as opposition to war and the draft - valid but scary for to those in power?
Please see Schenk v. US which is the origin of the "fire in a crowded theater" phrase. The defendant was convicted of distributing pamphlets opposing the US entry in to WWI and the associated conscription. It was a decision written in fear, and a phrase Justice Holmes spent the second half of his career trying to undo.
@OldAndCranky I agree that with great power comes great responsibility, and I worry about the power we give to silencing speech. What happens when a MEGA Republican declares that Black Lives Matter is a terrorist organization and claims that allowing them to orginize protests where they block freeways on social media is akin to yelling "FIRE!" in a crowded building.
Far too many people who claim to want to silence speech as "too dangerous" never stop to think about whether they may someday be the ones with dangerous but righteous ideas.
I still strongly suspect the fowl site will die within the next six months (this may be very generously long, actually), but the more people are able to get off before then, the quicker that site's collapse will be.
@antares Also, getting hung up in the minutia of what spurred a well known phrase, is irrelevant to the current general and very well known meaning of that phrase, and is the kind of tactic that is incredibly condescending and, dare I say it, a great example of "mansplaining". ;-)
@antares Huh. I guess that's not the best example. But free speech, like great power ,comes with great responsibility (at least according to Spiderman!). And spreading pseudo science is dangerous and irresponsible. The reference may be poor, but the sentiment is correct. Opinions are not facts. Facts are facts. Science is evidence based, not opinion based.