Well, all this is interesting to me, anyway, and that's what matters here. The Internet is a terrible thing for someone like me, who finds almost everything interesting.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
YouTube banning 'religiously offensive' videos
Note that I posted one of those videos, "The BEST emotional PORN," here. Despite the title, it was hardly offensive - except, I suppose, to the people who are determined to get offended at everything.
No, it wasn't offensive, but it was good at making its point. Don't believe me? You can download the video here and see for yourself.
Yes, it was hard-hitting. Yes, most believers would not like the comparisons. But it wasn't pornographic. It wasn't anything that couldn't be shown to children, even.
But some believers don't want you to see it. Why? Well, probably because it's too effective. Probably because they don't have an answer to it. But that's the thing about free speech - it doesn't have to be popular speech. In fact, popular speech doesn't need protecting.
Don't take my word for it. If you didn't see the video when I posted it two weeks ago, watch it now.
Edit: According to this video, after widespread objections, YouTube backed off. Those "offensive" videos are back again. Remaining alert and defending free speech does work.
4 comments:
Jeff
said...
So much for me "hearting" YouTube. They're becoming like any other big corporation; the bigger they become, the more cowardly they become.
I was somewhat amused watching that Muslim cleric lecture that Western journalist about our conduct. That's a switch; "we" being on the receiving of that lecture for once?
As far as executing that man is concerned, it shows that Islam and Christianity are one-in-the-same; the more devout they are, the more they see killing as being negotiable. It depends on WHO'S DOING THE KILLING and WHO'S BEING KILLED.
Well, religions are the same in one respect, Jeff - they don't like criticism. They disagree vehemently among themselves, but often, they're still willing to band together to prevent criticism of any of them - or of religion in general.
Of course, we have freedom of speech, but there are limitations to all of our freedoms. Despite the First Amendment, it's against the law to falsely yell "fire" in a crowded room. It's against the law to libel someone. It's against the law to spill government secrets.
And, increasingly, hate speech is against the law. But when is it hate speech and when is it legitimate criticism? After all, criticism doesn't have to be true to be legitimate.
In general, I sympathize with hate speech and anti-bullying laws, but I also recognize how very, very dangerous they are. When is it OK to say what you think, and when isn't it? Note that all too many religions are trying to get blasphemy considered a hate crime.
Well, when you can't rationally defend your beliefs - and you're not willing to change them - you can only try to keep people from criticizing them.
Despite this particular situation, I'm not sure how much success they'll have on YouTube. But I do know that they'll succeed if no one pushes back against them. If advocates of free speech don't stand up to be heard, YouTube will inevitably take the easy way out. The squeaky wheel, after all, gets the grease.
Yes, I agree. Of course, religious believers won't like it. But since when do we censor free speech just because someone doesn't like what is being said? After all, no one is forcing them to listen (or to watch the video, in this case).
A public site like YouTube might have good reason to ban explicit pornography, and certainly threats of violence. But this is just a case of some people not liking the message.
I think that YouTube is taking the coward's way out. But appeasing these people does not work. It just makes them bolder and bolder in their demands. And in the end, YouTube will destroy what has made their site so popular in the first place.
I'm a skeptic. I think it makes sense to have reasons for what I believe, so I apportion my belief to the evidence. You're welcome to disagree. Please, tell me I'm wrong. I probably don't agree with anyone about everything. Why should disagreement be a problem? Check the Pages section below for series posts and links to book reviews and game posts, as well as contact info. Unfortunately, I rarely blog at all, anymore. So don't expect new posts. - Bill
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The general root of superstition is that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss, and commit to memory the one, and pass over the other. - Sir Francis Bacon
When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Speculation is perfectly all right, but if you stay there you've only founded a superstition. If you test it, you've started a science. - Hal Clement
No matter how many times a theory meets its tests successfully, there can be no certainty that it will not be overthrown by the next observation. This, then, is a cornerstone of modern natural philosophy. It makes no claim of attaining ultimate truth. In fact, the phrase "ultimate truth" becomes meaningless, because there is no way in which enough observations can be made to make truth certain and, therefore, "ultimate". - Isaac Asimov
The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion. - Treaty of Tripoli, passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate and signed by President John Adams (1797)
I don't doubt the sincerity of dowsers, but even after we've demonstrated that they can't produce results that are any better than chance they'll still go away believing in their abilities... It is like the mother whose son is caught shoplifting on tape. She wonders why someone would want to frame her child by producing a fake video. - James Randi
During many ages there were witches. The Bible said so. The Bible commanded that they should not be allowed to live. Therefore the Church ... imprisoned, tortured, hanged, and burned whole hordes and armies of witches, and washed the Christian world clean with their foul blood. Then it was discovered that there was no such thing as witches, and never had been. One does not know whether to laugh or to cry. - Mark Twain
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A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything. - Friedrich Nietzsche
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The formula was very simple: build this really flexible, really open economy, tolerate creative destruction so dead capital is quickly redeployed to better ideas and companies, pour into it the most diverse, smart and energetic immigrants from every corner of the world and then stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat. - Shekhar Gupta
We are prodding, challenging, seeking contradictions or small, persistent residual errors, proposing alternative explanations, encouraging heresy. We give our highest rewards to those who convincingly disprove established beliefs. - Carl Sagan
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120 million of us place the big bang 2,500 years after the Babylonians and Sumerians learned to brew beer. - Sam Harris
To kill a man is not to defend a doctrine, but to kill a man. - Michael Servetus, burned at the stake in 1553
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It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important. - Martin Luther King, Jr.
We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven into an age of unreason if we dig deep into our history and remember we are not descended from fearful men. - Edward R. Murrow
The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence. Science is simply common sense at its best - that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic. - Thomas Huxley
There is no absurdity so obvious that it cannot be firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to impose it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity. - Arthur Schopenhauer
Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person's life, freedom of religion affects every individual. ... Erecting the "wall of separation between church and state," therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society. - President Thomas Jefferson
To be elected in America, no matter from what party, the candidates have no choice but to year after year pledge to lower taxes further and further. We have become the nation of Ken and Barbie, looking good but very poor at the math. - Rack Jite
Invisible Pink Unicorns are beings of great spiritual power. We know this because they are capable of being invisible and pink at the same time. Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them. - Steve Eley
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4 comments:
So much for me "hearting" YouTube. They're becoming like any other big corporation; the bigger they become, the more cowardly they become.
I was somewhat amused watching that Muslim cleric lecture that Western journalist about our conduct. That's a switch; "we" being on the receiving of that lecture for once?
As far as executing that man is concerned, it shows that Islam and Christianity are one-in-the-same; the more devout they are, the more they see killing as being negotiable. It depends on WHO'S DOING THE KILLING and WHO'S BEING KILLED.
Well, religions are the same in one respect, Jeff - they don't like criticism. They disagree vehemently among themselves, but often, they're still willing to band together to prevent criticism of any of them - or of religion in general.
Of course, we have freedom of speech, but there are limitations to all of our freedoms. Despite the First Amendment, it's against the law to falsely yell "fire" in a crowded room. It's against the law to libel someone. It's against the law to spill government secrets.
And, increasingly, hate speech is against the law. But when is it hate speech and when is it legitimate criticism? After all, criticism doesn't have to be true to be legitimate.
In general, I sympathize with hate speech and anti-bullying laws, but I also recognize how very, very dangerous they are. When is it OK to say what you think, and when isn't it? Note that all too many religions are trying to get blasphemy considered a hate crime.
Well, when you can't rationally defend your beliefs - and you're not willing to change them - you can only try to keep people from criticizing them.
Despite this particular situation, I'm not sure how much success they'll have on YouTube. But I do know that they'll succeed if no one pushes back against them. If advocates of free speech don't stand up to be heard, YouTube will inevitably take the easy way out. The squeaky wheel, after all, gets the grease.
The only thing offensive about this whole saga is YouTube's lack of respect for those of us who can't stand religious privilege.
Yes, I agree. Of course, religious believers won't like it. But since when do we censor free speech just because someone doesn't like what is being said? After all, no one is forcing them to listen (or to watch the video, in this case).
A public site like YouTube might have good reason to ban explicit pornography, and certainly threats of violence. But this is just a case of some people not liking the message.
I think that YouTube is taking the coward's way out. But appeasing these people does not work. It just makes them bolder and bolder in their demands. And in the end, YouTube will destroy what has made their site so popular in the first place.
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