6 ms·

Public discourse was and should always be in the private domain. Anything else is totalitarianism by definition.

by wholesomepotato 3y ago

ceejayoz 3y ago
TIL public school board hearings are totalitarian.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
voisin 3y ago
There’s a difference between private domain and privately regulated.
rTX5CMRXIfFG 3y ago
Corporations censor speech and any content in their platforms that they deem undesirable or threatening to their profits. That’s totalitarianism by definition, and yet private. Public discourse squarely belongs to the public, and hosting it must be perceived and intended to be a kind of public service; otherwise we can just go back to the good old days of gathering and debating in public squares.
- from-nibly 3y ago
  Totalitarianism would require the government to do the censoring. You can't assume the government wouldn't censor based on the exact same criteria. An entity with control will exercise it. When it's a private entity there's a theoretical other place you can go. When it's public (government) there is fundamentally no other place you can go.
  - rTX5CMRXIfFG 3y ago
    Government isn’t the only entity capable of public service. Non-profit organizations are a thing. And that is precisely why the comment I replied to has problematic notions of “public” and “private”. NPOs are private entities, but do not behave the same way as corporations.
cdme 3y ago
The negative outcomes are hard to argue with given Meta's scale. Having viable and vibrant journalistic outlets (that Meta had a hand in killing) and just talking to people, unmediated by a platform were both healthier.
bb88 3y ago
"Public Discourse" being "Private"? Public is in the name, though. So that statement seems... well... weird? "Public" and "Private" and "Government" mean different things at different times. In this case I think you mean Public Discourse is not controlled by the Government. And that's where a lot of confusion is coming in.

Public discourse was and should always be in the private domain. Anything else is totalitarianism by definition.

ceejayoz 3y ago

TIL public school board hearings are totalitarian.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

voisin 3y ago

There’s a difference between private domain and privately regulated.

rTX5CMRXIfFG 3y ago

Corporations censor speech and any content in their platforms that they deem undesirable or threatening to their profits. That’s totalitarianism by definition, and yet private. Public discourse squarely belongs to the public, and hosting it must be perceived and intended to be a kind of public service; otherwise we can just go back to the good old days of gathering and debating in public squares.

from-nibly 3y ago
Totalitarianism would require the government to do the censoring. You can't assume the government wouldn't censor based on the exact same criteria. An entity with control will exercise it. When it's a private entity there's a theoretical other place you can go. When it's public (government) there is fundamentally no other place you can go.
- rTX5CMRXIfFG 3y ago
  Government isn’t the only entity capable of public service. Non-profit organizations are a thing. And that is precisely why the comment I replied to has problematic notions of “public” and “private”. NPOs are private entities, but do not behave the same way as corporations.

cdme 3y ago

The negative outcomes are hard to argue with given Meta's scale. Having viable and vibrant journalistic outlets (that Meta had a hand in killing) and just talking to people, unmediated by a platform were both healthier.

bb88 3y ago

"Public Discourse" being "Private"? Public is in the name, though. So that statement seems... well... weird? "Public" and "Private" and "Government" mean different things at different times. In this case I think you mean Public Discourse is not controlled by the Government. And that's where a lot of confusion is coming in.