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I really wish this comic weren't so widespread. There's the legal protection of Free Speech in the United States and then there's the concept of free speech. This comic intentionally blurs the two in order to bolster the arguments of people advocating for "the right kind" of censorship.

If I'm being honest, I'm willing to buy that argument. You're right in that censorship of any type is dangerous -- it draws a line in the sand, and once there's a line it can always be moved to block viewpoints that the censor disagrees with.

But true free speech isn't an option either -- it's well-established that someone falsely yelling "fire" in a crowded room should be held accountable if someone gets injured in the frenzy that follows. The implication there (as I see it) is you can be held accountable for speech that hurts others.

So how then do you define "hurting others"? That's where I feel the real debate begins, and those who dislike Reddit/Facebook/others' actions dislike their definition of "hurting others".

It doesn't, though. There's also the concept of "free association," which is included in "free speech".

Look at it this way: HN is a very heavily moderated board. There are lots of troll posts and spam posts that get removed, usually pretty quickly. Do you believe that's a good thing, or a bad thing?

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