Alex Jones is still a thing?
Apparently? And apparently Joe Rogan is still giving Info Wars a platform.
I think Joe Rogan gives almost anyone a platform that will keep things controversial. I don't watch, but a coworker does... and he's constantly telling me about people the Rogan hosts. It's a really weird mashup. edit: but Alex Jones can seriously go away... and take his trans-phobic nastiness with him. While I value free speech... his hate speech tests my resolve.
As I just said to someone else on twitter: The idea that we can just let views like his be aired in public and rely on "the truth" to repel them would be comical if it wasn't so sad and fundamentally misinformed about how public discourse actually works. He can say what he wants in the privacy of his own home, but he shouldn't be allowed a platform. That is, of course, the paradox of tolerance. I know I fall on one side of it and many people here fall on the other side, but leaning on the masses to believe "the truth" and not a lie that reinforces their pre-conceived beliefs and notions is how US politics got to where it is right now (Canada of course has its own issues, much of it influenced by your politics).
Sure, Those are problems, but our current way of dealing with them is "Instead of trying to find those acceptabilities and safeguarding the intent, we're just going to avoid the issue to the detriment of anyone who is not an able-bodied, attractive, straight, cis, white man." Some of them are pretty easy to figure out, in my opinion: 1.) saying that a group of people are objectively bad because of the colour of their skin is not acceptable. Further, saying that some people are not people because of the colour of their skin is not acceptable. 2.) saying that someone is lesser because of their gender is not acceptable. 3.) saying that someone is objectively bad, or lesser because of their sexuality is not acceptable. 4.) saying someone is lesser because of their disability isn't acceptable. I manage to get through my life basically every day without breaching one of those rules. I don't even have to try, it's quite simple. I'm from a country where the concept of free speech is fundamentally different than it is in the US, so the concept of "things you can't say" isn't some Orwellian, 1984-style bogeyman. It's just not being a piece of shit, and being held to account when you are.
I would be okay with those things being laws here in the US. This is my fear, though: As long as the laws are enforced in a way that they prevent hate speech but allow the open and honest discussion of ideas with no cooling effect, all would be well. The problems start when people are afraid to research and discuss topics academically. With any sane person's interpretation of the laws, this would never occur. But the US seems rather insane to me lately.