But that gay couple could go to another cake maker and have their cake made.

Where do Parler go? None of the vendors will have them on their servers.

Silicon valley is a cartel.

So no, the principle doesn't work.

Edited by Stirlingsays (11 Jan 2021 4.11pm)

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

Parler is a service, a business, not a person so it's not a great analogy. And of course never mind the cake, a stones throw back this same couple's ability to even have their relationship legally recognised would have been prohibited by law - and the same for interracial marriage before them. So let's not get too carried away at our own perceived freedoms to express being under attack. Society isn't uniformly fair to everybody at any given point in time.

The better analogy would be the like for like customer perspective. As an American freedom of speech is protected under the first amendment. This applies to you no matter whether you have left or right wing views. Someone could seek to pepper their entire virtual world with the n word all day long for all I care, but platforms are not obliged to host that content (or content and users that actually do break the law), no more than I would be obliged to let someone into my home and have them shout it there.

Where there is a huge audience for something, it will eventually almost certainly find an outlet that survives the challenges it faces. Just look at how Pirate Bay is still going despite a worldwide effort over decades to shut it down. It's not solely the fault of existing platforms if others have been too inept to carve out a place that has technical resilience to it or back up plan. Amazon isn't the only webhost in the world and even if several other large networks don't wish to play ball, if there are genuinely tens of millions of users looking for a new platform then someone will make that move because financially it would make sense. Maybe Trump will do it? It would likely be a cesspool that would shine a light on the moral and legal issues other social networks have faced, but I'd be all for him setting it up.

Ideally I would rather social networks hadn't acted as they have, and instead would prefer changes to how existing networks encourage positive engagement, rather than them creating environments that foster divisiveness then blame their own users for it. There's a fair amount of scope for how existing or new sites could shake this space up. Hopefully one day one of them will actually be of value to society because none of them have been yet.

Edited by BlueJay (11 Jan 2021 5.06pm)

Actually, cakes are a service as well....once again other services for cakes were available....Parler is software and so was also available as a service. Both of them are used by human beings....that's the point of commonality.....Parler has been stopped from existing by a politically motivated cartel.

If this was your gay couple with no cake outlet servicing them I have no doubt you wouldn't be making excuses.

So my analogy was spot on.

You or anyone else can promote a kinder manner of discourse....that's one thing. However, what is happening here is something else entirely.

Edited by Stirlingsays (11 Jan 2021 5.14pm)

'Who are you and how did you get in here? I'm a locksmith. And, I'm a locksmith.' (Leslie Nielsen)

I don't make the rules...

Did you know? 98.0000001% of people are morons.

I still don't get this TBH – there are other platforms available and rational non-violence inciting right wingers are freely posting en masse on various social outlets. As people are already starting to mention, if you like vitriol Gab is most likely not going anywhere soon.

And people are free to hold right wing views on private platforms so long as they're not extremist or violent, or hold openly racist, anti-semitic etc. views on a public platform. Doesn't make sense for private companies to allow this at all, as backers will disappear and the company will fold. Do a simple topic or tag search... still there.

Did you know? 98.0000001% of people are morons.

I admire your hilarious stretch of 'the service of cakes still exist but Parler doesn't so the analogy fits'. For one, Parler is a social media network not some singular unique thing - they still exist and can be created. And secondly I'm not making an argument about the fact that more than one cake exists on the planet.

This is how it is...

My analogy was about individuals being able to use a service online or off - and in both cases being refused. One cheered on, one not. People primarily appear to care about freedoms when its their own is the point.

Yes, an individual can go to a different bakery if they wish. Just as someone can go on to twitter, gab, or whatever pops up next if one boots them off. Also, I addressed the issue of platforms (businesses) going under, how that's not an inevitability and how one will likely take off if they actually have someone with some nous at the helm.

SW made a good point though, that often people are banned from sites for a valid or understandable reason. Therefore the type of person who might end up on alternative platforms may themselves disproportionately make it more difficult to succeed as a viable business. As such it's ironically in everyones interests for somewhat to break through with a social media platform that encourages sensible discourse and promotes aspects of commonality rather than the opposite..

Edited by BlueJay (11 Jan 2021 5.49pm)