Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Elon Musk and the Tech Bro Obsession With 'Free Speech' (barf alert)
Time ^ | April 29, 2022 | Charlotte Alter

Posted on 05/01/2022 3:37:03 PM PDT by DoodleBob

...But “free speech” in the 21st century means something very different than it did in the 18th, when the Founders enshrined it in the Constitution. The right to say what you want without being imprisoned is not the same as the right to broadcast disinformation to millions of people on a corporate platform. This nuance seems to be lost on some techno-wizards who see any restriction as the enemy of innovation.

In a culture that places a premium on achieving the impossible, some tech titans may also see the liberal consensus on acceptable speech as yet another boundary to break. In Silicon Valley, bucking the liberal conventions about harmful speech can seem like the maverick move. Jason Goldman, who was on the founding team at Twitter and served on the company’s board from 2007 to 2010 before joining the Obama Administration, says the tech rhetoric around free speech has become an obsession of the mostly white, male members of the tech elite, who made their billions in the decades before a rapidly diversifying workforce changed the culture at many of the biggest companies in Silicon Valley.

They “would rather go back to the way things were,” Goldman says, “and are couching that in terms of ‘free speech’ or ‘we’re not going to allow politics to be part of the conversation.'”

...

Tech titans often have a different understanding of speech than the rest of the world because most trained as engineers, not as writers or readers, and a lack of a humanities education might make them less attuned to the social and political nuances of speech.

...

Focusing on “free speech,” as a way to justify relaxing restrictions on the platform, he says, is just “an engineering solution to a political problem.”

(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism
KEYWORDS: elonmusk; freespeech; projection; time
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-38 next last

Charlotte Alter, who graduated cum lauded from Harvard, is a daughter of Emily Lazar and Jonathan Alter. Her father is an author and MSNBC political analyst, and until 2011 a columnist at Newsweek. He has written three books about American presidents and is a director of the 2019 HBO documentary “Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists.” Until 2016 her mother was an executive producer of “The Colbert Report” and “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” on CBS.

1 posted on 05/01/2022 3:37:03 PM PDT by DoodleBob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: DoodleBob

“The right to say what you want without being imprisoned is not the same as the right to broadcast disinformation to millions of people on a corporate platform. “

Actually you stupid bitch, that’s the exact same frigging thing!


2 posted on 05/01/2022 3:38:35 PM PDT by Houserino
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DoodleBob
Time fretting about disinformation. I guess that is the cauldron calling the teapot African-American...
3 posted on 05/01/2022 3:39:01 PM PDT by fhayek
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DoodleBob

> liberal consensus on acceptable speech

how about the conservative consensus on acceptable speech?


4 posted on 05/01/2022 3:40:17 PM PDT by glorgau
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DoodleBob
From her and her family’s credentials one can ascertain the words are true propaganda
5 posted on 05/01/2022 3:42:30 PM PDT by no-to-illegals (The enemy has US surrounded. May God have mercy on them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: fhayek
This one was stunningly pathetic:

Tech titans often have a different understanding of speech than the rest of the world because most trained as engineers, not as writers or readers, and a lack of a humanities education might make them less attuned to the social and political nuances of speech.

Regarding the signers of the Declaration (yes..I know...not the Constitution...work with me), there were several lawyers, which was the most popular career at the time. Others were farmers, merchants, businessmen, writers and physicians. Some attended seminary, with a few ministers among them, while many were serving in public office.

Not a lotta engineers in that lot.

6 posted on 05/01/2022 3:45:06 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: DoodleBob

“But “free speech” in the 21st century means something very different than it did in the 18th, when the Founders enshrined it in the Constitution.”

Sounds similar to the argument libs make against the “anachronistic” 2nd Amendment. Are they going to use this same argument to eventually dismantle every other God-given right in the Constitution as well?


7 posted on 05/01/2022 3:46:15 PM PDT by mikey_hates_everything
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: no-to-illegals

That’s because they’re not engineers. They grasp language better ‘cause, ya know, science and stuff. And racism...always racism.


8 posted on 05/01/2022 3:47:16 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: DoodleBob

The far-left is more terrified of free speech than they are of the China Virus.

That’s quite an accomplishment.


9 posted on 05/01/2022 3:47:26 PM PDT by BrexitBen
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Houserino

Turns out that Free Speech IS scalable....


10 posted on 05/01/2022 3:47:27 PM PDT by Paladin2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Houserino

Actually, it seems odd how all those Constitutional Rights mean something different today than they did in the 18th century.


11 posted on 05/01/2022 3:48:20 PM PDT by seowulf (Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty, and dies with chaos...Will Durant)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Houserino

These Mother Effers just a few years ago said Trump didn’t have the right to silence anyone on Twitter by blocking them! And they got a judge to back them up on it!

I hate communists!! Hate!!! Visceral Hatred!!!!


12 posted on 05/01/2022 3:48:26 PM PDT by KobraKai
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: DoodleBob
What they appear to be saying, is that, maybe some people may not be as enlightened (er...woke) enough to be granted the privilege of free speech. Just leave the nuances to us...you peasant...
13 posted on 05/01/2022 3:48:30 PM PDT by fhayek
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: DoodleBob

The Alter family still polluting the country.


14 posted on 05/01/2022 3:48:50 PM PDT by KC_Conspirator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mikey_hates_everything
I noticed that, too...I wonder how the Elmer "I'm a hunter and I approve of the AWB" Fudds think about their logic now.

First, they came for the Second Amendment...

15 posted on 05/01/2022 3:49:01 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: DoodleBob

That backgrounder on Atler is all you really need to know.


16 posted on 05/01/2022 3:50:16 PM PDT by poconopundit (Hard oak fist in an Irish velvet glove: Kayleigh the Shillelagh we salute your work!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DoodleBob

Like all true believing liberals, she probably has a very selective sense of “disinformation.” She probably had no problem with the “mostly peaceful” protests in 2019, 2020, and 2021 because of their self-evident truth. Ditto for BLM, CRT, and the 1619 Project. And you already know how she will answer and what you’ll be called if you dare ask her to define “woman.”

Well-educated, privileged, well connected, and articulate. Even possibly pretty in a health, middle aged way.

Pretty, but still an enemy of freedom.


17 posted on 05/01/2022 3:51:38 PM PDT by Captain Rhino (Determined effort today forges tomorrow. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DoodleBob

More argle bargle word salad from the pseudo-intellectual class.

Don’t he fooled. Free speech means EXACTLY the same thing then as now. The same arguments people had 5,000 years ago, they still have them today.

Technology changes, human nature does not. Keep this in mind, please, the next time some quack calls the Constitution “antiquated” or archaic, or wholly unsuited to the 20th or 21st century or whatever other con game they are playing.


18 posted on 05/01/2022 3:52:22 PM PDT by Freedom4US
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Houserino

THEY CREATED the DISINFORMATION problem...

They are INCAPABLE of fixing it.


19 posted on 05/01/2022 3:53:07 PM PDT by ridesthemiles
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: DoodleBob

Time does not invalidate the Constitution or parts of it. States do by votes. Them’s the rules.


20 posted on 05/01/2022 3:53:39 PM PDT by mikey_hates_everything
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-38 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson