[HN Gopher] Texas Is Trying to Scrub Abortion from Its Internet
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       Texas Is Trying to Scrub Abortion from Its Internet
        
       Author : FpUser
       Score  : 52 points
       Date   : 2023-03-03 19:08 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (news.yahoo.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (news.yahoo.com)
        
       | a_shovel wrote:
       | Conservative states seem to be going on an anti-free-speech
       | streak lately.
        
         | mindslight wrote:
         | Given that free speech is a bedrock American principle,
         | "conservative" really isn't the right label.
        
           | krapp wrote:
           | It is, because the governments attempting to pass these bills
           | and the people who support them universally self-identify as
           | "conservatives."
           | 
           | But then that horse fled the barn when they argued that
           | social media platforms deplatforming white supremacists were
           | attacking "conservative speech."
        
           | olliej wrote:
           | No, it is exactly the correct label. The states doing this
           | are conservative, and the politicians passing this
           | legislation are conservative, and they will all state this
           | explicitly.
           | 
           | What you are trying is "no true scotsman".
           | 
           | But more to the point: if the "conservative" party,
           | "conservative" politicians, and "conservative" voters are all
           | saying "ban speech we don't like", "ban books we don't like",
           | "ban history we don't like", "ban medical procedures we don't
           | like", "criminalize and ban LGBT people we don't like", "ban
           | criticizing conservative politicians", then that is what
           | "conservative" means.
        
             | mindslight wrote:
             | No, I'm really not trying to do "no true scotsman". I'm
             | pointing out that they're getting a pass by being labeled
             | "conservative", as if they're merely trying to resist or
             | slow down change. What they're actually trying to do is
             | create drastic changes. Moldbug spelled this out, calling
             | conservatism a doomed strategy and separating himself from
             | it with his own label of "Reaction".
             | 
             | I voted for Biden in 2020 (my first time voting for a major
             | party candidate in a national election), and consider this
             | a solidly conservative choice - in the true sense of the
             | word.
             | 
             | The misleading labeling has a fall out effect of screwing
             | up the whole zeitgeist. For starters, the mainstream media
             | (that they endlessly shout the label "leftist" about) is
             | actually conservative (still), as it (still) fundamentally
             | serves the entrenched pools of capital its owned by or
             | plays golf with.
        
           | roundandround wrote:
           | Social conservatives have nothing to do with the republic
           | they just gradually inherited a party with that name.
        
           | badwolf wrote:
           | They're fascists. But it apparently hurts peoples feelings to
           | say that outloud.
        
         | warning26 wrote:
         | Remember kids, it's a first amendment violation if Twitter
         | doesn't promote your tweet to its entire userbase, but the
         | government banning speech? Completely acceptable!
        
         | csense wrote:
         | Thought experiment: Would it be anti-free-speech for the
         | government to ban websites from posting specific and detailed
         | information on how to obtain poisons that can be used to commit
         | murder?
         | 
         | If you say "no," you're just as anti-free-speech as these
         | conservatives. You just disagree with them about whether
         | instructions for abortion are instructions for obtaining a
         | medical procedure (protected speech) or instructions to commit
         | murder (unprotected speech). (Presumably because you disagree
         | about the underlying issue, which is whether abortion is a
         | medical procedure that ought to be legal, or a form of murder
         | that ought to be illegal.)
        
           | alexvoda wrote:
           | No need to opine. The US DoJ already settled that debate.
           | 
           | To quote Wikipedia: "In 2015, Defense Distributed founder
           | Cody Wilson sued the United States government on free speech
           | grounds and in 2018 the Department of Justice settled,
           | acknowledging Wilson's right to publish instructions for the
           | production of 3D printed firearms." Therefore, the answer to
           | your question is "yes".
           | 
           | So the GQP is full of hypocrites who want to be above the
           | rules and will ruthlessly wield governmental censorship while
           | crying about being censored (private entities not amplifying
           | their voice).
        
       | mariojv wrote:
       | This is messed up. I guess now is the time to get a VPN,
       | especially one that allows you to pick the jurisdiction the VPN
       | is in, given how much different regions are censoring content in
       | different ways now.
        
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       (page generated 2023-03-03 23:02 UTC)