When anyone is arbitrarily silenced, there is no freedom of speech.
I just realized you must believe "free speech" is all encompassing. It is Not.
Using the example of yelling FIRE in a theater.
Let's say you had a young son or daughter who went to the theater to watch a Disney movie.
Let's also say some adult in the theater, just for kicks, wants to see how fast kids can move.
So they yell FIRE.
The kids scramble and in trying to get out, your son or daughter gets trampled and is injured or dies.
Is the adult responsible? Should that person be allowed to go into another theater and again yell FIRE?
In President Trumps case there is a "cause" (his disregard to tell the truth) and an "effect" (the storming of the Capital by those who believed his false statements.)
Again, like the FIRE case who is responsible?
Now every corporation has the ability to make policy. If you owned a small restaurant and your patrons would NOT come if people entered without a shirt,
you have the right to say "No Shirt, No Service" and stop one from entering your establishment.
In President Trumps case, a corporation (actually several) made the decision that his speech was impacting or had the potential to impact their business.
Just like the person with No Shirt, they have the right to keep President Trump from entering (using in this case) their services.
The decision was NOT arbitrary. It was based on the business assessment of the facts as they see it.
Just like the guy who runs the restaurant.
They arrested and locked up Galileo. Who's next?
It was actually the Catholic pope who did this because Galileo was going against Catholic dogma of the time.
In fact in this case, if I remember correctly, the Catholic church official position remained that things were Geocentric instead of Heliocentric (per Galileo) until around the 1990's
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Mark I Hope You Will Leave These Discussion Up given the circumstances and Giving Everyone a Chance to Air Their Views.
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Edited by dwnowhere1, 10 January 2021 - 09:11 PM.