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@Condor beat me to it 😊
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@Condor @Root
That Evelyn Hall quote is awesome, but at the same time I'm sad that people abuse free speech so often.
For speech to be protected it must be speech, rather than nonsensical yells.
My girlfriend has argued for pretty extreme things, including mass murder ("we should forcefully euthanize all people over 55"). But there is always substance to her arguments, sub-opinions you can agree or disagree with, respond using counter arguments. There's a surface area for a debate to start. Tweets don't have surface area.
And I often play devil's advocate in return, trying to find reason within the most despicable opinions. One day I play this hardcore feminist while she bashes her own gender, the next day we reverse roles.
Those kinds of discussions sharpen the mind — And it results in reasonable, moderate views of the world.
But tweets? You try to challenge someone, and no matter how you phrase it, because of the character limit it just comes out as a polarizing unnuanced "fuck you, retard, you're wrong".
(!dev)
Fuck Twitter.
I get sucked in for 10 minutes through some news article, and my blood is boiling.
I think the platform does not even deserve to exist.
And I didn't think I would ever say that.
I used to be a staunch defender of the free & open internet, even with it's ugly and extreme sides, because I was convinced the good would outshine the evil.
I displayed the Pirate flag with pride on the mast outside of my house, I was intimately involved in the founding of their political party in my country. I was convinced of the power of the internet, I believed it would empower democracy and debate.
So why do simple tweets, even just the ones about technology, incite an endless stream of vile ultranationalist & misogynist hate?
How is it that those who are reasonable get drowned out?
That fucking character limit is a cancer.
The orator's wings are clipped. The richness of language is wilting before our eyes. All that remains are a bunch of caged chickens pecking every argument to death.
I will defend the right to free speech, even when it comes to the most disagreeable and controversial opinions.
But Twitter does not promote free speech. It's poison to free speech.
It's an endless torrent of non sequiturs, which constricts all reason and intellect. It replaces free speech by pretending to have equal value.
I really don't care if you are left or right, socialist or libertarian, globalist or nationalist.
You can argue to me that we should close all borders for immigrants, that Apple makes great products, that genocide has its pros, you could try to convince me that Heineken tastes acceptable (sorry AlexDeLarge), that Linux should be outlawed or that we should really try to bring this Eugenics thing back again.
Just be fucking rational -- and "Rationality implies the conformity of one's beliefs with one's reasons to believe"
You can NOT fit both your beliefs and their supporting reasons in 140 or even 280 characters.
So what's left is just your beliefs.
Stripped of all reason.
Repeat it often enough, keep spewing, keep throwing out incomplete arguments, and you'll train yourself to forego ratio in your convictions completely.
All social platforms should get a forced captcha for every spelling/grammar error, and a 1000 character minimum.
The world would be a slightly better place.
rant