It's been years now since "the scandal" but I remember vividly how much people discussed it. Yes, How could someone bake a cake for a gay couple, when doing so was against their faith? That for some reason or another became the biggest problem we needed to solve as a society, and of course the story is still unfolding today in one way or another.
To me, it boils down to one thing: Freedom. There's little more to discuss here besides that. The Baker has the right to not serve someone if he so chooses, it's his business. That being said, making these choices does not exempt him from being a bigot, an asshole, or the opposite a good person. Truth is that we love to politicize everything, and our politicians love using these things to their advantage.
The ones in the wrong to me will always be the ones that impose themselves on others. I may love listening to hip hop at 2 am, full blast, that's not a problem. The problem is that my neighbors have to listen to it too, and there is where my freedom ends, simple as that.
Yesterday we learnt that Facebook has banned a bunch of right wing accounts from their platform. The same people who sided, and rightfully so, with the baker's right to refuse service to whoever he chooses to, are now demanding that Facebook recant their decision, key word here being demanding, and they don't see the problem with this line of thinking.
Now, I know what some people will say. It's about discrimination. Yes, I agree that's important. The idea that we create a system that is not conducive to discrimination. But where do we draw the line? I mean, I could say that I was discriminated against, because they made me turn down my music at 2 am, and it was my right to listen to music I like, when I want to. Do you see where I'm going with this?
To believe that what we need is more laws, more overseers, more bureaucracy is to miss the mark all together. Do you want social media to be "the public square", then social media needs to be public, while it's not, then it's a private enterprise and as such it can make choices, like any business can.
What does a public social media look like? Well, the answer is in front of our very eyes: Decentralize social media, that simple. Then this whole talk about discrimination, silencing the right, the left, etc, goes completely out the door and becomes one hundred percent irrelevant.
I know it's a cliche these days, but it's a mantra to me: Wake the f... up!
MenO
