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I have been a staunch progressive for my entire adulthood and now find myself strongly agreeing with the other side of the aisle.

Strange times.



This is where the pyramid makes more sense than left/right. This is authoritarianism/centralization top of the pyramid, where people think they know what's best for other people and a top-down approach to "fixing stupid" is the best solution.

I personally think it's okay/normal for there to be idiots in society and trying to fix stupid by stopping them from protesting via opaque big tech companies moderation policies is a terrible way to go about it (or courts via government interference on public property, for that matter, but the constitution covers that already). I'd much rather have some stupid people protesting than have FB/outrage mobs driving what is okay to protest about.

That has little to do with being left/right leaning.

Weeding out astroturfing campaigns is also distinct from this, you can narrowly remove stuff that is atroturfed without being political about it. But just because some stuff is astroturfed shouldn't mean anything to do with it should then be shut down.


>I'd much rather have some stupid people protesting than have FB/outrage mobs driving what is okay to protest about.

Note how dramatically you understate one side and overstate the other by your choice of wording.


I agree with your sentiment but one side is trying to dictate what is acceptable- the other is not.


This can also be phrased as a choice between one side that is trying to cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, and one that is not.

I don't care if the first group does it out of ignorance, or simple disregard for human life. They are free to play Russian roulette with their own lives. They have no moral right to do so with the lives of their neighbours.


The outrage mob is free to protest all they want. Or to freely speak. I don't see how this group would differ?

I merely used stupid here to make a point, to generalize or pander even, it's hardly just 'stupid' that people try to control. That misses the point entirely.

Regardless the other commenter already noted the very important distinction. I’m not trying to control the mob or define who or what is stupid using some top down hierarchy of wrongthink (trying is the key word here, I could rant about the costs of control and false positives vs the efficacy of FB events, ignoring the large existing willing audiences they always tapped into, and Russia spending a few hundred K in a multibillion dollar election, but I’ve fought that war enough times - the philosophy of how to deal with society in general is what we’re discussing).


I'm mostly against the people who carry high powered weapons around and hope they don't accidentally kill me. It would be nice if they don't kill me by spreading easily avoidable diseases.


I found myself wondering what exactly those weapons are supposed to be for in that case.




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