Free speech in this forum vs. restoring the Republic
I read a lot of the posts here. I come to conclusions about the character of its members based on what is allowed to remain in print in these pages. I'd like to point out what I feel is a flaw in the reasoning regarding how this forum is moderated, and how it may have affected OAS numbers at the mall.
- Loose cannons in the group. In almost every discussion, there is someone that states they'd like to just take up arms and start taking out politicians. While this sentiment is always immediately discouraged, the original statement of intent is usually allowed to remain. This caused me to be concerned that, if I were to make the sacrifice to head to D.C., there would surely be some in the group that were loose cannon gun nuts. The proof was right there in the forum pages. This really cooled my heels about being there.
- Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. While there was certainly much complaining about people bringing in negative attitudes, I feel no one was noticing that the barn door was left wide open at critical times for FUD tactics, especially during the run up to May 16th. There are no toilets. There's going to probably be a bloodbath. There will be no food or water. The government will be gathering facial recognition data. It's going to be dangerous, folks.
- Sabotaging comments allowed to remain permanently. Apparently no one was paying attention to the tactics disinformation agents (you think there weren't any?) will use to break up a movement our opponents would rather not succeed. These comments could have been examined for their utility to the OAS cause, and removed if not appropriate or helpful.
- Free speech as a destructive tool. I've noticed a considerable amount of fussing that this forum should be based on "free speech." Of course, this leaves the barn door wide open, and we fail. At least everyone had a free-for-all good time.
- How do you judge this group? By its publications, of course. Reading this one, you get the immediate impression (first impressions?) that its members believe and promote all sorts of fringe issues not related to restoring the Republic. Chemtrails, GMOs, conspiracies, transgender issues and lots of other unpopular or unprovable stuff got thrown generously into the mix.
Everyone knows the oft-quoted example of the limit of free speech. You cannot yell "fire" in a crowded theater. But there are many limits to free speech. You can't come into my living room and harass my guests, no matter how much you crow about freedom of speech. That's for public spaces owned by the community. My living room is private property, and I'll throw you out on your ass. Likewise, a forum representing a political movement, especially one as important as OAS, should never be turned into a free-for-all, anything goes, bring everything you've got mess. This is a private forum, not paid for with public funds. The owners have every right to censor (gasp!) anything they see harmful or inappropriate, especially if it reduces the possibility of success.
And they should have.
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