• graphito ( graphito@lemmy.ml ) 
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    4 years ago

    The description missed: desperate attempt of OP to paint Wikipedia (the open source successful project which democratized public knowledge) same colours as Facebook and Twitter.

    I wonder if there’s some kinda agenda behind it

  • As someone who spent a year fighting the narrative on Wikipedia, the only thing I came to realize is they’re right 95% of the time (and the remainder is a matter of one way or the other can’t be proven, so they went with the common opinion)

    Fwiw my account is even has the extended protected rank, I spent a lot of time on it

  • pingveno ( pingveno@lemmy.ml ) 
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    4 years ago

    Censorship in the West: we don’t want that on our platform, person goes and finds a different platform.

    Censorship under authoritarian governments: Criticize government? Straight to jail. Uncover wrongdoing by party official? Jail. Political opposition becoming more than controlled opposition? Believe it or not, jail.

    • Censorship in the West for minor criticisms isn’t overtly blocking in the information. Instead it is drowned out with the government’s narrative on all major platforms of discourse

      • pingveno ( pingveno@lemmy.ml ) 
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        4 years ago

        Overton window

        There’s a difference between socially unacceptable and “straight to jail”.

        You mean like Assange and Manning?

        Manning not only released documents that were under her care as an intelligence officer, but also broke into other systems. Regardless of whether you support what she did, she did so knowing the consequences of breaking her oath. In doing so, she made public wrongdoing, but also exposed sources that the US had promised would be kept safe.

        Assange… well, that feels more like a case of karma. The Obama/Biden administration declined to indict him in relation to the Manning leaks. He then screwed with the 2016 US elections, blatantly stoking conspiracy theories, laundering Russia’s hacks in service of Trump, and coordinating with the Trump campaign to time releases to blunt at least one scandal. In return, the Trump administration indicted him. I don’t fully understand the case, so I won’t comment on it.

        Compare that to investigative journalism in general in the US. Journalists can publish pieces that are extremely critical of both the government and corporations. High up people regularly are dragged down from their perch by an enterprising reporter. Maybe newsrooms aren’t as well staffed as they used to be, but it’s not in the same league as countries like China, Russia, and Venezuela that lack anything resembling a free press.

        • Please point where people are claiming that Russia or Belarus are beacons of democracy. The discussion is about the hypocrisy of western countries that claim to have more freedoms while doing same things as the states they decry as being authoritarian.

        • Ooh! Is this that Whataboutism thing that liberals keep accusing socialists of!

          Actually no, this goes beyond just that when the US/UK/EU claim to be THE global bastions of free speech and the vanguards and protectors of free speech for the entire world. When they still pull this shit, you really have to start thinking if they have ulterior motives when they accuse China, Russia, or Belarus of human rights violations for not having free speech and whether this whole free speech thing is part of an agenda.

          This isn’t just pot calling the kettle black, this is pot, who also claims to be the inventor and defenser of white, calling the kettle black.

    • I’m assuming you’re talking about China in this.

      Yeah no. For anyone just randomly complaining about the government, in order of frequency of “enforcement” used, frequency decreases exponentially: 1. No one cares and their post stays up forever; 2. The individual post gets removed or prevented from being posted; 3. Their account on that platform gets banned. The platforms in China like WeChat, the Chinese version of TikTok, etc are still private platforms by private companies btw.

      Oh look! Some actual legislation on the subject! https://lemmy.ml/post/69688/comment/60571

      It’s only when you go beyond just criticizing the government and into advocating for violence, civil disorder, and coup when you actually get into law enforcement response and potential jail time. Which, by the way, is absolutely also true for Western countries, go ahead and point to a single Western “free speech” country that doesn’t outlaw those in their legislation, I’ll wait. By the way, despite popular Western belief, there are no “illegal speech” crimes that are punishable by death in China. They have these nifty things called “maximum punishments allowed by statute” just like the West, and death is only on the table for the most serious crimes like murder, rape, etc, just like the West.

      • pingveno ( pingveno@lemmy.ml ) 
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        4 years ago

        You can call for the overthrow of the US government. People do it all the time without consequence. More specific threats against particular targets might get a visit from the Secret Service.

        It’s easy to find counterexamples of China having a go at journalists. For example, a journalist was sentenced to four years in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, the CPC’s blanket crime for those who displease it. She had been doing unflattering reporting on the CPC’s handling of COVID-19.

        death is only on the table for the most serious crimes like murder, rape, etc, just like the West.

        Most of the West has abolished the death penalty. The US is an outlier here, and even in the US it is only for murder and many states have abolished it completely.

  • fRrEdOm oF sPeEcH dOeSnT mEaN yOu gEt tO sPeAk wHaTeVeR yOu wAnT oN pRiVaTe pLaTfOrMs sO tHeReS nO cEnSoRsHiP!!!1!!

    Well, based on that logic, fire safety rules no longer apply to private buildings! Only government buildings are required to install smoke detectors and keep fire escapes clear. How about that?

    You don’t get to claim something as a human right on the same level as access to food and water (and claim yourself as superior to countries that supposedly don’t have it) and then give yourself exceptions that nullify it in almost every situation. There are no public government run platforms of speech in the US.

    Full rant here: https://lemmy.ml/post/255762/comment/174695