CiG
Room with a View
As far as net neutrality goes, it's going to be censorship by corporate interests.
Not necessarily, there have been many instances of corporations teaming with governments in order to restrict the Internet in different ways. But at the same time, as someone from a country without a written constitution which enshrines basic rights like free speech, I don't shrug off my worries because the corporations are doing it. That makes me worried just as much as state censorship in some cases. As Trump told us all, he knows how politicians operate because he has bribed his fair share of them throughout his career.
Larger U.S.-based social media organizations and their constant co-mingling with foreign governments is pretty fucking worrying alone.
Well, we live in a moment when people are rightfully questioning the nuances and complexities of what "free speech" means. It's not black and white and it can lead to some fairly confusing scenarios. For instance, racial slurs arouse a greater degree of discomfort and suspicion (and those are euphemisms--they can arouse anxiety and real fear) in their targets, and it's completely rational for a person of color to be physically threatened in the presence of hate speech. It's worth considering what kinds of speech are socially acceptable and taking measures to regulate it.
I was corrected here by someone, I forget who, when I once said that people are getting away with anti-white slurs in places where they have hate speech laws. There are basically just as many reports on anti-white hate speech as any other race, so hate speech laws aren't a speech restriction just for minorities to think about, unless they're okay with never saying anything about white people.
Either way, I'm opposed 100% to any kind of hate speech law, including Holocaust denialism. It's fucking retarded and hiding behind the "oh but what about the minorities" line is so spineless and pathetic. The exact kind of leftist white guilt I despise with every bone in my body.
Just like certain people are qualified or certified to perform particular tasks, so should speakers--especially on college campuses--have some kind of credentials. It shouldn't just be open to anyone who happens to garner an online following.
I'm honestly less worried about campuses and higher education. I just can't make myself care about that whole world. There's a good reason most stand-up comics refuse to work campuses anymore, as far as I'm concerned it's largely a write off.
That said, I disagree that technocracy should dictate who gets to visit a campus and speak, it IMO should be a balance of experts and whoever students decide to invite with no official restrictions on either.