Bluesky, a new social media platform promoting free speech, faces scrutiny as it gains users but also encounters calls to ban controversial figures like Jesse Singal, noted for his views on transgender issues. Many users, previously fleeing toxicity on Twitter, now fear that Singal's presence may lead to harassment. While aiming for free speech, Bluesky users seem to prefer a homogenous community that reinforces their beliefs. This reflects a broader societal tendency to favor censorship over open dialogue, driven by fear of dissenting opinions disrupting personal worldviews.
Bluesky Users Want Safe Free Speech Fundamental misunderstanding of free speech persists. Wed, 18 Dec 2024 15:16:56 GMT https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/bluesky-users-want-safe-free-speech Lately I’ve seen a lot of reporting about a new social media company called Bluesky that is apparently being billed as a forum for free speech that is also free from what is characterized as the “right wing toxicity” of Twitter.
As recently reported in Tech Crunch:
Now with 25 million users, Bluesky is facing a test that will determine whether or not its platform will still be seen as a safe space and place of refuge from the toxicity of X. In recent days, a large number of users on Bluesky have been urging the company to ban one newcomer for his opinions and works shared both on and off the platform.
Writer and podcast host Jesse Singal joined Bluesky 12 days ago to the horror of much of the Bluesky community. Singal has been cataloged by GLAAD’s Accountability Project for his writings on transgender issues and other matters. The GLAAD project “catalogs anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and discriminatory actions of politicians, commentators, organization heads, religious leaders, and legal figures, who have used their platforms, influence, and power to spread misinformation and harm LGBTQ people.” …
In Bluesky’s earlier days, trans users, like many other marginalized groups, and Black and queer users, flocked to the social network from Twitter (now called X) after Elon Musk bought it and began to promote more right-wing and conservative views. Bluesky has many custom tools that allow people to control their own social networking experience, including block lists, layered moderation, custom feeds, custom algorithms, labeling services, and more. This allows users to do things like block groups of users they may not want to interact with — like MAGA supporters, for instance, who can be found on a dedicated block list.
Many in the community who escaped Twitter now feel their Bluesky experience is at risk because of Singal’s joining. As a high-profile user, he brings a network of followers with him, which could lead to increased harassment, they say.
In other words, many Bluesky users do NOT want to be in a free speech forum. They want to be in a community in which they can express their views to like-minded people and receive the approbation of like-minded people.
Recent reporting about Bluesky is a reminder that the desire to cultivate and protect free speech is not really a natural inclination. This explains why, throughout history, protection of free speech has been a rare exception, and not the rule.
It’s a remarkable paradox of our time that many people who identity themselves as “liberals” are not in favor of free speech, but would prefer to see censorship of the people with whom they disagree.
And yet, if you only talk and listen to people with whom you already agree on everything, you are unlikely to learn anything new.
In political discourse, the desire to censor has long been attributed to the tyrant’s fear of his own people. If they are allowed to speak freely, they may criticize him, his power, and his privileges.
Likewise, I suspect that the Bluesky users who are urging the company to ban Jesse Singal are afraid . The world is a frightening place, full of people who don’t share our opinions. Such people may challenge our worldview. Most frightening of all, they may threaten the foundational beliefs that buttress our self-image and the defenses we have erected to protect ourselves from guilt and shame. Better to remain in the safety of like-minded people who won’t threaten us.
I once asked a prominent plastic surgeon (for beauty enhancement) what he has learned about human nature in his 25 years of practice.
“It’s that people live in constant fear,” he explained. “Fear of losing their status and their wealth, fear of being alone, fear of growing old, and fear of dying. I think that most people are afraid all the time.”
His remark reminded me of my favorite scene in the 2000 film Gladiator .
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