It’s been my experience with the ACLU in particular, that speech is free for the leftist but not necessarily for the patriotic conservative. To wit, I have to confirm I’m over 18 to see the NRA website — lest a “child” be contaminated with knowledge of their Constitutional rights —but there are no restrictions on viewing anti-Trump vitriol on any of 100s of websites, despite most of it being ad hominem attacks with no basis in fact. I don’t remember seeing — could have missed,but … — FIRE comments on any of that. I know you can’t be everywhere all the time. Just sayin’ 😎🇺🇸
While I respect and appreciate your efforts to protect free speech, I find Jonathan Haidt's reasons for protecting children from social media more persuasive. We require age verification to drive and to purchase cigarettes and alcohol because we recognize that these are not appropriate for children. I would love to hear of a solution that would protect our children and free speech but have not heard one yet. The closest I have seen is to restrict access to the hardware rather than the software. For instance, it could be illegal to provide a child with a smart phone or any other portable device that can access the internet.
What an eloquent write up (both Greg and Nico). Thank you.
To everyone reading, you can do two things **right now**: call your congresspeople about these two bills (it'll take five minutes):
- Oppose KOSA: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1748
- Support JAWBONE: https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/4749
It’s been my experience with the ACLU in particular, that speech is free for the leftist but not necessarily for the patriotic conservative. To wit, I have to confirm I’m over 18 to see the NRA website — lest a “child” be contaminated with knowledge of their Constitutional rights —but there are no restrictions on viewing anti-Trump vitriol on any of 100s of websites, despite most of it being ad hominem attacks with no basis in fact. I don’t remember seeing — could have missed,but … — FIRE comments on any of that. I know you can’t be everywhere all the time. Just sayin’ 😎🇺🇸
I'm not following. Comment on what? We are pretty clear that there are always massive double standards depending on who's doing the censoring.
While I respect and appreciate your efforts to protect free speech, I find Jonathan Haidt's reasons for protecting children from social media more persuasive. We require age verification to drive and to purchase cigarettes and alcohol because we recognize that these are not appropriate for children. I would love to hear of a solution that would protect our children and free speech but have not heard one yet. The closest I have seen is to restrict access to the hardware rather than the software. For instance, it could be illegal to provide a child with a smart phone or any other portable device that can access the internet.