"To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker." - Frederick Douglass
Hitchens' Dictionary anecdote:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHwvT4Xl5Uo
Christopher Hitchens on Free Speech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z2uzEM0ugY
Often I feel there is no need for context to link to Hitchens. But these are quite apt for NZ's current situation. It is a road many societies have been down previously.
We are compelled to be social, and also compelled to so on social media. And I agree that the addiction to these platforms means most people really don't have a choice in the matter. They are a slave to social media, but they are also high-functioning addicts making up a large chunk of the population being slowly conditioned with dopamine and cortisol.
If social media is just algorithms conditioning and amplifying of our base fears (of others, of not fitting in), then surely social media can just as easily condition us to be more resilient to insults, more moderate in our religious doctrine, or less antagonistic against minorities? Would we still have free speech if our psyche is manufactured?
This kind of pivot would be a win-win for humanity. Hate speech would be quickly identified, countered, and dispatched. Our addiction also makes us more mentally robust against adversity. However, it would reveal that Facebook and Twitter bestowed these traits to us, and can just as easily take them away.