The Evil in our Midst

H/T Matt Christiansen for this one. Change the terms.

I do recommend that you go over to Matt’s You Tube video on this as he explains it well. However, the gist of it is this, the extreme leftist Southern Poverty Law Centre – a front for such fascist hate groups as Antifa, is trying to bully online platforms to de-platform anyone it doesn’t like. Indeed, they throw the term “white supremacist” around like it’s going out of fashion. White supremacist here is anyone who dares to counter their far left ideology.

As internet platforms provide more opportunities for people around the world to connect, they have also provided a forum for certain groups to spread hate, fear, and abusive behavior.

The deadly neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia, was organized with the use of Facebook, PayPal, and Discord.

The violent Proud Boys group vets new applicants through Facebook, and have seen an uptick in applications since summer 2018.
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Some technology companies have made steps in the right direction to reduce hateful activities online, but more work needs to be done.

Where to start with such cockwaffle? It is not up to the platforms to police behaviour. Sure, if they become aware of illegal activity, then they have no option but to act and rightly so. However, if the behaviour is not illegal, then there is no problem. That’s how free speech works. If what they are saying is not defamation, libel or incitement to violence, then that’s it. It is free speech. Unfortunately, we now have to deal with the egregious concept of hate speech which translates as anything the far left dislikes. There is no such thing as hate speech. It is a construct created by the far left as a tool to silence critics – much like the fake mental condition, Islamophobia. The far left – and the likes of the SPLC are the enemies of free speech, being extreme authoritarians. Bear in mind here, that the platform providers are already bound by the law on such things as libel, defamation and incitement. Anything else should – in a civilised and free society – be allowed.

The result of those conversations was the creation of recommended corporate policies and terms of service to ensure that social media platforms, payment service providers, and other internet-based services are not places where hateful activities and extremism can grow.

Right. One of the most hateful organisations currently spreading its evil bile is Antifa – a hate group that actively uses violence to intimidate anyone that may stand in their way – a group of thugs and bullies who turn up in masks bearing weapons (watch the videos of these people who will happily attend protests carrying baseball bats or knives) and use shouting and air horns to silence people they don’t agree with. The modern-day brown-shirts. Yet, somehow in the warped world of mental gymnastics being conducted by the SPLC, this isn’t hate. What is determined as hate by these hypocrites is anything to the right of Uncle Joe Stalin. This is simply a grab for power by the hard left and an attempt to shut down dissenting voices. We fought a war against such people. I had thought that we had learned the lessons of both that and the Soviet Union, but apparently not. Once again, the evil rises and must be slain again.

For the record here, I am comfortable with Antifa having its say – the more they expose their hateful ideology, the more that people can see it for what it is. That is how free speech works.

Hateful activities are those that incite or engage in violence, intimidation, harassment, threats, or defamation targeting an individual or group based on their actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, immigration status, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.

Welcome to Antifa. Also welcome to those who propose discrimination against white people because of the colour of their skin or against men because of their dangly bits.

Just as the internet has created immense positive value by connecting people and creating new communities, it has also given new tools to those who want to threaten, harass, intimidate, defame, or even violently attack people different from themselves.

There are laws that relate to actual harm. The platform providers already cover this in their terms of service. So, nothing to see here. Saying things that are upsetting or even hateful are simply a part of free speech. Grow up and get over yourselves.

Change the Terms has developed model corporate policies to help internet companies stop hate and extremism online and ensure that they do more to protect people of color, women, LGBTQIA people, religious minorities and other marginalized communities. We are made up of civil rights, anti-hate and open-internet organizations.

The appropriate response to this bunch of self-appointed, pompous busybodies is to tell them to fuck off and mind their own business. Make no mistake, the SPLC is an evil organisation determined to silence those of whom it disapproves. Liberty, if it means anything at all, includes the liberty to offend.