Kanye West (AKA “Ye”) has gone off the deep end, after having fallen under the spell of Nick Fuentes. Maybe he’s mentally ill. I don’t know, but it escapes me what purpose he thought it would serve to troll Twitter the way he did.
Do I believe that people have the right to post Jewish symbols mixed with swastikas, to promote pedophilia and to praise Hitler? Yes, of course – BUT, I think Elon Musk did the right thing in banning Mr. West.
Some people I respect think otherwise. Ann Coulter tweeted:
I disagree with Ann from a practical perspective, but I won’t attack her for her opinion; it’s still a valid opinion. Defenders of free speech fall into two camps: Absolutists and Pragmatists. It appears that most people on the Right, having seen/experienced the slippery slope of Leftist censorship, would rather allow everything. They know if anything legal is banned, then it’s only a matter of time before they’ll also be banned (again).
I agree with them in principle, but in practice, Twitter is in a very precarious position right now. Apple has threatened to remove the Twitter app from the Apple Store, and the E.U. has threatened to shut it down in Europe if it doesn’t follow their censorship guidelines. Musk is in a tough situation. It’s better for ALL of us if Twitter survives, even if it doesn’t provide the full free-speech environment that we crave.
Bitter a pill as it is to swallow, we must recognize that almost all power structures oppose us, and would do away with free-speech entirely if they could. Musk has given us an opening to speak our minds, and we should appreciate that and utilize it even though it has limits.
Perhaps, some day, the situation will improve, and we’ll be able to demand absolute freedom of speech on popular forums. We’re not yet there, and we’d do well to recognize our limits, lest the whole thing come tumbling down.
Back to Ann Coulter. She’s right that even the ACLU defended the right of Nazis to march – but that was on a PUBLIC STREET. Under no circumstances should the government limit such speech. As for Twitter, it now belongs to Mr. Musk, and he must take practicality into account to both protect his investment, and to best serve his adopted country in the long run. That being said, Musk should have been honest about WHY he banned West; it wasn’t incitement. I’ll quote Jason Kessler:
That’s just my two-cents for what it’s worth.
