Date: August 13, 2018
There are a few individuals, who’ve taken issue with my stance on the Alex Jones ban…or, more precisely, my stance that it was likely justified…and that massive channels like InfoWars, should not be immune to such consequences, when essentially nobody else is.
I appreciate your challenging me, on this issue…I don’t believe you are wrong…And, I believe your responses warrant an acknowledgement from me.
Let me extrapolate a bit, before I attempt to address your specific comments:
Your free speech ethics are noble…and I think they are ethically correct…But the ethics of free speech principles, is not what I was focusing on…it’s the ethical consistency [even of an ethical style we don’t like] of a website resource…it’s the way it turns a blind eye towards actual abuse…when it’s been heinous towards some communities that use it’s platform, and virtue signaling about it’s own rules on conduct.
My stance…is that these websites should at least focus their efforts, where it is actually warranted…otherwise, it means nothing…and they are fork tongued hypocrites.
My expectations on what to expect out of a web resource, are flexible…They depend on who is behind the scenes, pulling the strings…and what you can expect out of that sort of person…
…As such…it would be fair to say that I have a type of “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”, approach…Which is why I don’t run around trying to change every internet “place”, and I roll with whatever atmosphere I encounter…or, I just leave it.
…But, I do anticipate some type of consistency, if it’s established that certain behavioral parameters are expected [and with few exceptions, where aren’t they?]…
I know that I cannot have it both ways [absolute free speech and rules of behavior]…and this is how I parse the issue…kind of accepting, that websites will have their own, overarching cultures.
YouTube, FaceBook and others, have been lost to the principle of free speech, for years…in my opinion…The writing has been on the wall, for quite a while…It’s just shocking for people who aren’t genuinely accustomed to this degree of censorship and discrimination, to have to face it themselves.
I don’t like this state of affairs…yet, I’ve come to terms with the fact, I personally cannot do much of anything about it…I can only function on these resources, within the set parameters…if I do anything at all on them.
I think…when it comes to accepting rules…the fundamental questions should be…what type of behaviors warrant discipline?…and why do they warrant it?
I can understand why Alex Jones is largely tolerated…Many people don’t take him serious…and he exists in this sort of hazy state, where people are actually wondering how much of his produced content [and behavior] resembles their own…And it’s fair to ask, how this type of crackdown, will cause blowback onto themselves.
I don’t support a broad suppression of the YouTube community…not even the crazier communities…but I do recognize, when certain kinds of people, engage in certain kinds of behavior…for which, they should face a consequence…
You seem to be of the position, that nothing exists in the Alex Jones case, which would warrant his ultimate banning…
…Having a wide perspective on Alex, going back decades…I have a different perspective…
…Maybe it seems heavy handed, what is happening to him…But I, for one, am not shocked at all that this is happening…It seemed ultimately inevitable, to be completely honest.
BoyChat:
BoyChat is a good, historic example…so long as it’s legal, you can express just about anything…
…There are scantly few exceptions, where it comes to no BoyLover ever having been banned for life, from BoyChat…
Most of us would have it no other way…myself, included…
…But there are BoyLovers, who have been banned for life from BoyChat…and it was justified…
Anything from spiteful individuals, acting to out other BoyLovers…to BoyLovers who unnaturally dominate the board, degrading it’s utility to the broader BoyLove community…to BoyLovers who lay siege to BoyChat for a decade, with an aggressive agenda to drive off other BoyLovers, or hound them into silence…
There are people who’ve acted in extreme ways, to prohibit the community at BoyChat from functioning…
Those people, whether it happened or not…did deserve being banned for life, in my opinion…
…Primarily, because they threatened and damaged the community, itself.
Suit Yourself
On YouTube…I went through a phase where I was watching debunking style trolling videos [think Bearing]…which is where I really started becoming aware, of this growing group of people, who were trying to “make a career”, out of abuse and mockery…Mind you…a lot of the people guys like Bearing respond too…let’s just say they already put themselves out there, as having some sort of nasty streak of their own…and there’s some karma at play…Plus, guys like Bearing have a style of delivery, and a sense of humor…which largely takes the edge off of his videos…
About a year ago…roughly two months before the YouTube “adpocalypse”…onto the scene entered a guy calling himself “Suit Yourself”…and he was largely endorsed and pushed, by others in the “professional trolling” community…including Bearing, if I recall right…
This is probably one of the most clear cases I have ever seen…of a guy trying to build an income stream…based off of brazen, sociopathic behavior…and his community was trying to help him get there…
Now…I would have told you from very early on…that “Suit Yourself” represented everything wrong with YouTube…at least to the extent, of what I’ve been talking about, where it comes to cleaning up it’s platform.
Here’s a guy…who shamelessly arrives on YouTube…with open intent on making money, through bullying and abusing people online…
…To make matters worse…he has no discernable sense of humor…which makes him come off all the more, like an a-hole, when he’s calling people “cunt”, or some other vulgarity…
…He also had a penchant for targeting people, who really don’t deserve it…like, MAPs, who are merely talking about issues…
…Omnipolitic16, was one such MAP.
I saw the video made by “Suit Yourself”, targeting Omnipolitic16…it was so vulgar and uncalled for…I simply quit watching, went to the channel of “Suit Yourself”, and blocked him…Not because I was scared of him…but because I didn’t care to be subjected to this malicious sociopath…and I was hoping, that blocking him would stop his videos from showing up in my recommendations.
The gaggle of friends for “Suit Yourself” started targeting Omnipolitic16, when he predictably responded with aggression to “Suit Yourself”…At least one of them managed to get Omnipolitic16 fired from his job…and outed him…
…He committed suicide, shortly thereafter.
I’m pleased to say…that “Suit Yourself” had his YouTube account terminated, and he was fully banned from YouTube, only a matter of months later…
…Which, again…in his case…this was a fully predictable outcome…and he absolutely deserves to be banished from YouTube, for life…
I was personally satisfied, to see that specific individual go down in flames.
It’s YouTube’s own dereliction of responsibility…which created this set of circumstances…where pompous, arrogant sociopaths, imagine they are entitled to make money, off of the direct degradation and abuse of others…a set of circumstances which remained for years…until relatively recent times.
There are certain types of individuals, who do certain types of things…who should be cleared out, and expunged from platforms like YouTube…
“Suit Yourself”, a person who’s actions are linked to the suicide of a young MAP…is one such person.
I don’t cry for these kinds of people, when they get banned from a platform.
Why am I sharing all of this?
…I want to put into stark clarity, some of the gritty reasons why I take the stance…that a lot of people genuinely do deserve being banned from YouTube [FaceBook, or wherever], for life.
Some people are so malicious…that they need to be removed, for the security and functionality of the platform and community, itself.
I don’t know if Alex Jones rose to quite that level of vindictive malice, or not…at least, while on YouTube…But if you understand his history…you will find nothing surprising about where he is, at the present moment.
…It’s the culmination, of a lifetime of attacking, degradation of others…smearing people…starting and spreading lies about people…
Again…I have no sympathy left, for people of that quality of character…who end up facing the music, eventually.
I don’t view it as “a wrong”…that he is currently facing the fallout of his lifetime pursuit…I just don’t.
Can we all benefit, if nobody is ever penalized?
…If there is no behavioral order maintained…maybe…I mean, there’s bound to be some sort of “up” side to it…
Question is…knowing how malicious and unhinged some people out there are…do we believe this is a good trade off?…
…Is it good, that “anything goes”?
…I don’t believe that it is.
Maybe…we’ll have to agree, to disagree on this.
…But I’d like it clear, where I’m actually coming from with this…
…I struggle with the apparent conflict, in all of this…
Like I said previously…I could live with Alex Jones remaining on YouTube…I’d have not bothered creating this [admittedly ugly] sub-blog series for Alex, had I thought his YouTube videos were going to end…especially so soon.
I agree with what a lot of people say…that [at least as regular course] it’s best to allow other people on YouTube to pick apart InfoWars, and expose the false information…And, it’s bad that these internet platforms are targeting “fake news” [whatever that’s supposed to be]…
…I also agree, that he’s kind of been martyred…which isn’t so great…
…I just don’t see how we should treat him, as if he can do no ban worthy wrong.
