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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Tucker Carlson. How? Just how???
 
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Regarde Aduck
Oct 19, 2012

c l o u d k i t t e n
Grimey Drawer

Dog King posted:

This is old now, but Tucker did a great segment on Musk's acquisition of Twitter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGlP9pSfmzM

His main rhetorical point is that free speech definitionally benefits the less powerful more than the powerful, because if you have the ability to abridge someone's speech you have more power than them. I think there's more nuance to it than that because people have different levels of power in different contexts, but Twitter is obviously part of the public square so if you control the limits of speech there you have a significant, possibly even unconstitutional amount of power.

My favorite part is when he talks about how even though the outcome is good, it's bad that we have to rely on Musk to do this because our system is so dysfunctional. It's not oversimplifying the issue like Musk fanboys do.

'free speech' on social media platforms should be examined in terms of regulation vs deregulation. In a deregulated environment the already powerful absolutely do enjoy dominance. We've seen this happen many times before with unregulated spaces quickly becoming infested with the far right and quickly becoming transphobic. This pattern has repeated many times because there is power pushing these viewpoints. Power that the common individual does not have. The 'free speech' allows them to shout into the void all day long but they will achieve the same amount of reach as the rich and powerful who can employ bot nets, marketing organisations, AstroTurfing, targeted ads and a whole range of other expensive tricks to promote their agenda.

For Musk, the benefit is obvious. He already has a massive following. Anything he says reaches millions of people without any cost or effort. He, one man, can promote his ideas to most of the world, and in return most of the world can disagree, but their voices will not be heard. 'Free speech' does not level the playing field. It just turns it into the wild west where the billionaires already run the biggest meanest bandit gangs.

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The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > Tucker Carlson. How? Just how???