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Comment by Cozumel | Hacker News Reader

Google - blocking Nazi sites today, blocking your political party of choice tomorrow.

This is why namecoin and .bit domains are so great, it's basically registering your domain on the blockchain so it can't be censored.

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This a garbage, slipper-slope argument. It is clear and indubitable that the people in question host hate speech. There's nothing controversial about it.

Yes they host hate speech. What is your point. They have the right to speak even if their views are poison and stupid. That is the point. This speech would have been perfectly fine in the 50s & 60s. The sites that would get banned by your logic would be the anti-rascism ones as that did not follow the popular sentiment. All speech should be protected even if it is abhorrent and stupid.

No, not really. Who the hell thinks that "all speech should be protected"? You're oversimplifying a complex issue into a soundbyte that is not and has never been real. Nobody defends hate speech.

No I am not. It is really that simple. People can say and think whatever stupid thing they want. As soon as you put limits on what people can say it becomes a slippery slope (Hey let's ban talking about Abortion - you do not think that would happen given enough control to that camp?). The only way to be safe it just to allow people to say what they want (with in the limits of "fire in a theater" or liable) and deal with it. You do not have to like it. Feel free to argue and protest against it. That is your right because what comes out of your mouth is just a protected as something that comes out of the dumbass alt-right people. I am not afraid of what they say. I challenge the facts and truth of it but it is their right to be stupid. Only education and good people standing up for what is just and correct removes the sources of hate speech. Banning it is just something that allows people to feel good without solving the source of the issue in the first place.

Really? Because Germans have banned Nazi speech and they're doing pretty damn well.

It's easy for you to say that you're not afraid. I bet you're not a persecuted minority. The torches aren't going to be coming down on you buddy.

And like I said, we ban speech all the time. We have NDAs, we have court orders, we ban fighting words and so on. The idea that the slippery slope is just not happening seems alien to you.

My lastname is Persian so...airports are fun. My mother marched in the south in the 60s for civil rights.

It there is still a huge number of Neo-Nazi's in Germany so banning speech has worked?

Banning speech because you think the torches are coming for you is just a feel good measure. Only education and good people standing up to do the right thing can fix this. Let's get this right - I cannot stand these alt-right morons. They make my stomach turn. In reality however I just feel sorry for them and wish we as society could fix / education / heal whatever stupidity in their upbringing makes them act / think this way. No child is born racist. It is taught. A witch hunt to ban them just makes their persucution and anger complex worse.

'Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.... Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.' –Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community, MLK.

Court orders are temporary based on a on going case, etc. NDAs are a voluntary contract. They also legally do not prevent you from speaking in the case of a legal violation.

I am an absolutist on this issue because it is the only safe way.

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me." - Martin Niemoller

He spent 7 years in a Nazi concentration camp.

In the United States, you only have a right to free speech in the public space - the government cannot punish you for it. But not in the private space, with a few clear legal exceptions. I think a source of confusion in this thread is a lack of understanding over this public-private division, which has existed for hundreds of years now. It's nothing new, and it's certainly not illegal.

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