<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Sun, 17 Jan 2021 at 08:23, Stuart LaForge via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><br>
As many of the long time list members know, I am a very vocal opponent <br>
of racism and intolerance. I truly do believe that genetic and <br>
cultural diversity is a very important hedge against extinction and <br>
gives tremendous competitive advantages to diverse open societies. But <br>
I am also a huge proponent of the U.S. Constitution and the principles <br>
of individual liberty on which it was founded. That is why I have to <br>
weigh in on the events of the past two weeks.<br>
<br>
While I decry the storming of Capitol by Q-Anon and alt-right <br>
extremists in an attempted coup, and I support the investigation and <br>
arrest of those who were responsible, I am very much against the <br>
unilateral attack on free speech by big tech. I was horrified to learn <br>
that 3 rich guys could decide to almost instantaneously destroy a <br>
promising young social media startup with over 30 employees and 10 <br>
million users at the touch of a button.<br>
<br>
I was reminded of Obi Wan's line from Star Wars regarding the <br>
destruction of Alderaan by the Death Star: "I felt a great disturbance <br>
in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror <br>
and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened." <br>
It should terrorize anybody who has ever felt the slightest stir of <br>
the American Dream to grow a small business into a successful company, <br>
that Amazon could pull the plug on a small business so easily.<br>
<br>
So why are not the Feds investigating this? Is that not collusion by a <br>
cartel to monopolize an entire sector of a market that SHOULD be free? <br>
By the letter of the law of Section 230 of the Communications Decency <br>
Act, Parler did nothing wrong and cannot be held liable for the <br>
content generated by its users. Who gave a small cadre of billionaires <br>
the right to decide what constitutes acceptable speech on their own <br>
platforms AND everyone else's?<br clear="all"></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Since they are private companies, they can do anything they want unless there is a law preventing them. <br></div></div><br>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature">Stathis Papaioannou</div></div><div id="DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><br>
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