Some of us do have better defined ideals than that, and while we do make arguments that are technically not dependent on the content of speech, in practice we’re mostly only given reason to bring them up in the context of speech we personally disagree with. I don’t have to make the free speech argument when the GOP bans books, because everyone else is already doing that, along with all the other arguments. The purist, idealist argument is the last one standing beneath all the others, and you can either value the premise or not.
Btw I would happily bite the nazi furry swinger orgies bullet (eww), but not for billboards. In media where individuals choose whether or not to see or hear it? No problem. On TV channels where individuals choose what stations to tune into or websites that people choose to go onto or not? All in favor. To me that’s not much different than thinking a lot of drugs should be legal for private use that aren’t, even though I have no interest in them whatsoever. For things visible and audible in public spaces? Frankly I’d be a lot more restrictive than we are today, and we (collectively) greatly underestimate the cost of not having better norms of public discourse.
@orenwolf There used to be a more significant difference between public and private speech acts than there is today, and I get that being a moderator of a semi-public forum and having to deal with this crap is terrible. Thankfully, no one is stopping comments sections from having any stricter-than-law content policy they want, and enforcing it in whatever way they want. And no one is stopping people from only frequenting the comments sections that have and enforce policies that they are ok with. I wish most comments sections were way faster and harsher to remove comments or ban people that violate their policies. I also wish the people who pretend to be free speech purists but then oppose strict policies on moderated privately run forums would stop being idiots, too. You removing people and comments from a platform you control is, itself, a speech act that deserves protection and respect.
