The internet has become a parody of the world, a place where everyone has a place to speak their mind, right or wrong, based in belief or just to create some drama - and then people complain about getting banned on social media - blacklisted, their account gone.
I am an advocate for free speech, even hate speech. I would rather know the poison that boils in the heart than have it hidden away by political and cultural correctness, where it festers and unites with the darkness in others to manifest in a thousand corrupt ways to cause violence and suffering.
Let them speak.
I am an advocate, but there is no such thing as free speech, there is always a consequence, always a cost - what we say should come with the responsibility of having said it, for there are three steps of the creative process -
- Thought
- Word
- Action
What we think becomes our words and our words become the action that create our world. For better or worse. I believe in ownership of experience - and we should own what we say in the same way we own our actions. Should we be banned from social platforms for our words?
Yes, yes, we should.
It is because we have to identify these platforms for what they are... Centralized businesses with the sole purpose to increase investor wealth. We need to wake up and understand that what we are dealing with are not public forums, they are private holdings who's drive is for profit for a narrow cross-section of society, and that slice does not like dissidents who encroach on their business model - and their gods of advertising revenue and the authorities who hoard control to which they bow.
If there is a dollar to be made by selling the life of their users, they will sell. Every time.
Privacy and security are not the primary concern, it is always money and power, they will make the money by giving power to those who crave it, they who will pay the price for control. It is a business, this is their model.
There is no such thing as free speech on a centralized platform all speech is *tolerated until it no longer offers a monetary return, and then - it is restricted, deleted, destroyed and washed away. The sooner we realize that these centralized models will never be free, the faster we can move on and build a world that is.
Stop fighting their rules. Abandon them altogether.
Let go of the idea that these places are ever going to be free, accept their rules or don't - but if you don't - leave and don't look back.
A true space of free speech is only possible in a place where there is no authority that can cancel a voice, a space that is truly public, because it is owned by everyone, not an area fenced off and designated as public by an authority, that will honor the boundaries for as long as it is convenient and profitable to do so.
Take ownership of your experience and ownership of your world - support the spaces that offer freedom through ownership of the space itself, a home where you can be yourself - for better or worse. But, do not for a minute think that there is no consequence to what you say. You are free to say it - but the cost is incurred in the response. Always.
The cost may be applause - it could be a beat down by police... Maybe both.
How strong are your beliefs?
There is no such thing as only upside; Are you going to stand your ground, speak your mind - or grovel at the feet speaking whatever keeps you earning, whatever keeps you safe? Are you Rosa Parks or another politician ready to turn on your back if someone will rub your belly?
We are all free to speak our mind, but the cost of reaction is too much for most to bear - but there has to be a cost for our behavior, otherwise there is no sense in doing anything at all, no value generated.
Free to speak as we speak, free to act as we act - but there are costs to our behavior, consequence to our freedom. We do not attract the eyes of the public because the public have been conditioned to value safe spaces without realizing they are cages. We have been told repeatedly how to act and what is right or wrong over and over until it is second nature, it is part of us and familiar - while what we do feeds into the business model the few have created - and the gaps keep widening.
Freedom of speech is costly. We are social animals who fear conflict and value convenience - we are small minds who cannot face criticism or difference in opinions, we are petty sadists who want to see those who disagree with us suffer - we are humans who have inflicted so much limitation on ourselves through cultural programming and restriction that we no longer recognize that the bars we have created are of our own making.
You are free to speak on Hive and you will not be banned, but you will not have access to the audience of Facebook or Twitter.
Times are changing and slowly, inching step by step, we are awakening to the horror we have created and the world of community torture we have supported. We have sold our voice into the hands of corporations for no more than stars, hearts and thumbs up while they take trillions - and then we wonder how they can inflict those who threaten their income with excommunication.
And, we are to blame
We want our speech to be free, yet we want to censure the voices of those we disagree with and who disagree with us. We want our freedom by locking up others. It is an impossibility. If you are only free by restricting others, you are not free at all -
You are a visitor at the zoo, hoping the cage built is strong enough to hold the lion.
Freedom is scary and most will never have the strength to taste it, to make decisions and understand that 100% of the consequences are theirs, no one else to blame - just an experience to live and own. Most will bite their tongue, whether it is to stop being deplatformed or an argument with a loved one. Most in this world cannot speak freely, because they understand that the society in which we live, the community whether country, city or home - is made up of people with emotions, preferences, reactions.
When you stand up for your freedom of speech - make sure you are willing to own what you say.
These platforms do not care about our freedoms, they do not care about whether a person is damaged by their actions - all they care about is their profits - and until we are willing to accept them for what they are and make the conscious and intentional decision to stay or leave, we will never be free upon the digital land they own.
But the thing with digital real estate is, more land can be created - new cities that house communities that do not subscribe to the world of oppression in order to fit in with the expectations of the centralized owners, those who tolerate their users until they are no longer worth their while.
And then they cut them loose. free.
If we are free - we must create our home - not beg for a space in the corner of another's.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
