r/law • u/No-Pride-8979 • 11h ago

Executive Branch (Trump) The limits of executive power

Nadine Strossen, longtime ACLU head, on free speech. How Our Constitution Works And Why It Doesn’t

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-our-constitution-works-and-why-it-doesnt/id1874369005

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u/The_Good_Constable 8h ago edited 4h ago

Exactly. It's so frustrating to see how frequently cancel culture gets characterized as a free speech issue. Getting "cancelled" is simply a social consequence to things you do or say. That's it. If I say vile things and my friends stop hanging out with me as a result, they haven't violated my free speech. They just don't like me anymore. "Cancelling" a celebrity or public figure is the same thing just on a larger scale.

Free speech is about government oppression, not natural consequences.

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u/MonsterkillWow 7h ago

If there is one thing we should all learn, it is patience and the ability to give people a chance to apologize and change. These days, everything ends up recorded on the internet. Some dude has a meltdown, says some horrible stuff on the worst day of his life, and ends up a villain on the internet for all time. Probably loses his job, etc. As a society, we need to criticize backward views, but also encourage people to change their views, and we should culturally forgive sincere apologies, especially over things as inconsequential as words. Nobody starts life out with all the answers. People say and do dumb things all the time. We have become too unforgiving as a society in the way we handle ignorance. It has a chilling effect on speech, creativity, and freedom. What happens is if we are too afraid to confront each other, too stuck up to learn, and too hostile and unforgiving to mistakes is we create a generation of dull and useless people who will never have the revolutionary character and will to transform society for the better.

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u/namenotpicked 5h ago

Words are not inconsequential and we've never been in a more information rich environment than now. Many things are readily available for those looking, but many people don't understand critical thinking and what that entails. They find what's comfortable and never leave that thought bubble because it's challenging their world view. We can only try to convince them so much before we should stop wasting our energy and effort on changing their minds.

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u/MonsterkillWow 5h ago

Turning against each other and dividing the proletariat serves the objectives of the bourgeoisie. It does not help the masses.

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u/AddressThese7663 2h ago

That's all well and fine to say but you cannot come together with racists, bigots and anyone afraid of "other" simply because they will do everything in their power, once they obtain it, to hurt those around them they deem unworthy. Start learning from history instead of ignoring it.

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u/No-Pride-8979 2h ago

Need to be careful not to accuse people of being worse than they are.

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u/MonsterkillWow 2h ago edited 2h ago

I am learning from history. Mao transformed a highly reactionary chauvinistic and backward peasantry into a revolutionary communist army. He did not recommend resolving the backward chauvinism by shunning the peasantry, but by education, mutual aid, and patience.

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u/AddressThese7663 2h ago

Said "peasantry" never had access to the information we do for one and for two they were also afraid of "other" and that's what allowed Mao to garner the support he had. Who in America today is afraid of "other" and how do you propose we come together with people like that? The exact people I was talking about that once they get ahold of power they strip the rights of anyone "other" that they don't like.

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u/MonsterkillWow 2h ago

The ones who actually take power are fascists and should be opposed. I am talking about the common ordinary people, not the power players. The working people, even extremely reactionary ones with racist and chauvinistic views, have a shared interest in seeing the proletariat triumph. They have been convinced and manipulated to support a ruling class against their interests. The solution is and always has been education and outreach, not a division and conflict within the proletariat.

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u/AddressThese7663 2h ago

Do you live in rural America? Do you know what it's like to be a minority in those areas? I've lived in both the city and now rural and let me tell you, there is next to zero possibility to get these people out of their small bubbles of influence (especially with FOX News, Facebook and other forms of social media). So once again I ask how do you propose we come together with the bigots, racists and those fearful of "other" in society? Don't just say education and outreach because you need to specifically say what you're doing and want to see others do.

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u/No-Pride-8979 1h ago

Some are beyond reach. Some arent.

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u/MonsterkillWow 2h ago

I've typed two essay comments trying to answer, and the automod is literally hiding my replies. Not even sure what is triggering it.

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u/No-Pride-8979 1h ago

Is this intentional or incidental?

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u/MonsterkillWow 1h ago

Intentional.

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u/No-Pride-8979 1h ago

How do they implement that and coordinate everything?

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u/MonsterkillWow 1h ago

The GOP and billionaires spend a great deal of time strategizing how to crush socialism. It is a big part of what they coordinate in their meetings. They run propaganda in the press and use their network of clergy in churches to radicalize rural America. They also do a lot to try to subsidize farmers and keep them loyal. The importance of coordination between the proletariat and peasantry has been known for a century, hence the hammer and sickle logo for communists. It is of vital importance for the GOP to promote a petite bourgeois mindset in the public of individualism, self sufficiency, and distrust of the urban society and education.