Thanks for bringing this up! After a long while of getting more and more worried about the situation around free speech, and the current threats to it, I had come to the conclusion that I ought to speak up against the problems – just like you are doing it now.
"The best we can do is read, learn, publish, and practice freedom of speech as only we know how" – I agree, and I have made a new page on Substack for the purpose. However, Substack, like most other social media, suffers seriously from what you call group-think, and also something more, which I have previously described as "selfshittiification" (inspired by Cory Doctorow's "enshittification"), which is the censoring of our own words – and others'. We do not speak, do not listen, and some people (quite a lot, I fear) do not think about any of those topics that they consider at risk of provoking or, for which they fear revenge or punishment, either from the platform itself or from authorities, employers, etc.
So, thanks again! It came right at the moment where I needed a cue, a starting point, and I have that now ;)
Thanks for bringing this up! After a long while of getting more and more worried about the situation around free speech, and the current threats to it, I had come to the conclusion that I ought to speak up against the problems – just like you are doing it now.
"The best we can do is read, learn, publish, and practice freedom of speech as only we know how" – I agree, and I have made a new page on Substack for the purpose. However, Substack, like most other social media, suffers seriously from what you call group-think, and also something more, which I have previously described as "selfshittiification" (inspired by Cory Doctorow's "enshittification"), which is the censoring of our own words – and others'. We do not speak, do not listen, and some people (quite a lot, I fear) do not think about any of those topics that they consider at risk of provoking or, for which they fear revenge or punishment, either from the platform itself or from authorities, employers, etc.
So, thanks again! It came right at the moment where I needed a cue, a starting point, and I have that now ;)
Yes, self/enshittification is a good example of the linguistic flexability and creativity needed to defend free speech.
The problem lies with poorly defined terms like 'democracy', 'free speech', 'happiness'.
This publication seeks to define 'freedom' a little more.
Keep livin' free.
All definitions of freedom are needed – as you said, only we know what it is, and I could add that we are all different, and so are our definitions.