Free speech vs "ATS free speech" The difference may surprise you

I noticed a banner ad that said to "support ATS free speech" and it just struck me as odd to phrase it that way so thought I'd ask if it's different from regular free speech and if not how?

The surprise will be if anyone relevant answers the questions beyond "Duh, what do you think it means" to which I ask again, why make the distinction.

ALL free speech matters! sorry couldn't resist...commence deletion and burying procedures.

originally posted by: Paschar0
I noticed a banner ad that said to "support ATS free speech" and it just struck me as odd to phrase it that way so thought I'd ask if it's different from regular free speech and if not how?

The surprise will be if anyone relevant answers the questions beyond "Duh, what do you think it means" to which I ask again, why make the distinction.

ALL free speech matters! sorry couldn't resist...commence deletion and burying procedures.

Why?

If you are a conservative there is no free speech for you in the mainstream media CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, NY Times, the Atlantic, the LA Times etc.

If you are a conservative and dare to say that you disagree with the littlest thing that liberals believe you are immediately doxed, social media bullied, liberals demand your firing or that people try to destroy your business. Such is the hatred and disdain that liberals openly have these days for nearly half of all US citizens.

ATS is one of the very few places where conservatives can disagree with liberal ideology and not have people calling for their complete and total personal destruction. It is a place they can express their views without being censored as long as they don't violate simple rules of decent social media writing behavior.

Liberals demand total and complete free speech for themselves, including destroying anyone who happens to disagree with the most minute ideological point. We see this all over Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google, etc.

Yet, when a conservative disagrees with the smallest most innocuous ideological position of liberals it is called hate speech and swift and extreme punishment is demanded.

If you are a conservative there is no free speech on Facebook, no free speech on YouTube, no free speech on twitter, Google censors conservative articles. Which as liberals point out is perfectly ok, because they are private companies and can censor if they want. Just as CNN, MSNBC, etc can slant the news and attack conservative speech because they are private companies and have that right.

If you are a liberal you can even make a wretched and mean gay joke, like Joy Behar did today and it is laughed off as harmless and she really didn't mean it. A conservative who made the same joke would be fired within seconds. A liberal automatically excused as harmless free speech.

ATS is a safe haven, one of the very few online, for conservative thinkers. There is so much outright hatred for conservatives and conservative thought by Democrats and liberals it has become a very dangerous world for conservative thinkers online.

All free speech does matter, at least that is what liberals in the 1960's and 1970's said and fought for. Now liberals and Democrats despise free speech and fight to dox, destroy and ruin anyone who dares to speak about any subject they disapprove of.

a reply to: The2Billies

Disagreeing has never been the problem. Organized retaliation and endorsement/facilitation of violence is the problem.

originally posted by: TzarChasm
a reply to: The2Billies

Disagreeing has never been the problem. Organized retaliation and endorsement/facilitation of violence is the problem.

The organized retaliation and endorsement/facilitation of retaliation/revenge, is over the fact that conservatives dare to disagree with those who have deluded themselves that as liberals, they are superior thinkers and human beings.

a reply to: Paschar0

so thought I'd ask if it's different from regular free speech and if not how?

ATS is highly moderated. You can't say anything you want anytime. There are rules, and then there are rules. You can have a post removed for it being "off topic", but not always. If you threaten an ATS poster or staff member, you will get a [double] warning and a post removal, at best, or worse, banned.

You can't politically bait or troll posters, a general rule, but we do have the Mud Pit, that has looser rules, in that regard.

a reply to: Paschar0

There is no free speech on ATS

originally posted by: BlankUsername
a reply to: Paschar0

There is no free speech on ATS

Well what does that mean? I've never been charged one cent to post on ATS.

a reply to: Paschar0

The very concept of free speech is self contradictory, TRUE speech is far more apt, of course one man's truth is another man's.

a reply to: Paschar0

To me,free speech means offensive speech.

And ATS does allow speech that does offend.

a reply to: Paschar0

The issue of "Freedom of Speech" on ATS

Freedom of Expression and the Free Exchange of Ideas are very important to us, and supported at all times. No topic is discouraged from discussion other than those that clearly conflict with our T&C, or that have an intent to cause conflict (such as posts containing racial hate messages) with our T&C.

Here, your "freedom of speech" is a privilege granted by the owner of this website. Any topic whatsoever can easily be discussed without insults, vulgarities, and taunting language. Our management style, organized structure, and efficient services are designed to created an environment in which members aspire to our higher standards, not scoff at them.

For some the suppression extends all the way to complaining about not being able to yell fire in a theater and causing harm to others as panic grips the crowd as a suppression of free speech.

I don’t care if you are conservative or liberal, in fact the better you are at expressing yourself and point of view the more likely I am to support you regardless of your position.

What I moderate upon is the T&C and Civility and Decorum. As does all staff. Does the whole staff view something the way I do? Nope....we can argue for days over the nuanced deepest meaning on the use of a single word. But eventually a consensus is met.

I believe it was Bill and Ted that said “Be Excellent to each other.” And they were pretty liberal dudes.

a reply to: Paschar0

There is a difference between allowing expression of opinions, beliefs, and creative output, and allowing incitement to break the law, or promote hatred.

Unfortunately, some people are either not motivated or capable to make an ethical distinction, and these people need the guidance of moderators or other community members to desist.

We can still have robust debate, distention, freedom of expression, exposure of secrets, and speculative posts here on ATS if we honor the best in ethical practices.

originally posted by: The2Billies

originally posted by: Paschar0
I noticed a banner ad that said to "support ATS free speech" and it just struck me as odd to phrase it that way so thought I'd ask if it's different from regular free speech and if not how?

The surprise will be if anyone relevant answers the questions beyond "Duh, what do you think it means" to which I ask again, why make the distinction.

ALL free speech matters! sorry couldn't resist...commence deletion and burying procedures.

Why?

If you are a conservative there is no free speech for you in the mainstream media CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, NY Times, the Atlantic, the LA Times etc.

If you are a conservative and dare to say that you disagree with the littlest thing that liberals believe you are immediately doxed, social media bullied, liberals demand your firing or that people try to destroy your business. Such is the hatred and disdain that liberals openly have these days for nearly half of all US citizens.

ATS is one of the very few places where conservatives can disagree with liberal ideology and not have people calling for their complete and total personal destruction. It is a place they can express their views without being censored as long as they don't violate simple rules of decent social media writing behavior.

Liberals demand total and complete free speech for themselves, including destroying anyone who happens to disagree with the most minute ideological point. We see this all over Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google, etc.

Yet, when a conservative disagrees with the smallest most innocuous ideological position of liberals it is called hate speech and swift and extreme punishment is demanded.

If you are a conservative there is no free speech on Facebook, no free speech on YouTube, no free speech on twitter, Google censors conservative articles. Which as liberals point out is perfectly ok, because they are private companies and can censor if they want. Just as CNN, MSNBC, etc can slant the news and attack conservative speech because they are private companies and have that right.

If you are a liberal you can even make a wretched and mean gay joke, like Joy Behar did today and it is laughed off as harmless and she really didn't mean it. A conservative who made the same joke would be fired within seconds. A liberal automatically excused as harmless free speech.

ATS is a safe haven, one of the very few online, for conservative thinkers. There is so much outright hatred for conservatives and conservative thought by Democrats and liberals it has become a very dangerous world for conservative thinkers online.

All free speech does matter, at least that is what liberals in the 1960's and 1970's said and fought for. Now liberals and Democrats despise free speech and fight to dox, destroy and ruin anyone who dares to speak about any subject they disapprove of.

Many people with many divergent viewpoints use all of these media outlets to voice their opinions, pro-and-con, left-and-right.

A media bias does not necessarily mean the suppression of free speech.

If someone argues effectively against a particular viewpoint, then for the argument to carry any force, the opposing argument must be clear to all, as well.

I think I've had maybe a single post removed in the 10 years I've had this account. If I had of posted those same things to a place like Facebook I'm guessing a good fraction of them would be censored and I'd probably be banned by now. I would say ATS is one of the few forums which does allow something very close to a pure form of free speech but it prevents toxic comments at the same time and I think it's a good balance because ATS is much more civil than most conspiracy forums on the internet.

originally posted by: ChaoticOrder
I think I've had maybe a single post removed in the 10 years I've had this account. If I had of posted those same things to a place like Facebook I'm guessing a good fraction of them would be censored and I'd probably be banned by now. I would say ATS is one of the few forums which does allow something very close to a pure form of free speech but it prevents toxic comments at the same time and I think it's a good balance because ATS is much more civil than most conspiracy forums on the internet.

I would agree with you. I have had one post removed as off topic. And it was off topic to the thread.
ATS does a great job in keeping conversations on point, while allowing the posters to disagree.

I have made some outlandish disagreements in my decade here, but as long as they were not off topic and forwarded the conversations, they have been allowed.

ATS allows you to voice differing opinions freely in a world where that is dwindling. There are still guidelines and rules because we want to keep our community civil.

Nobody will arrest you.

Would you rather have ATS devolve into a troll-ridden, blatant pussy/dick/fart pit? Its not too much to ask to be courteous and stay on topic. If you don't care for courtesy, they provide you with the mudpit. Sounds pretty fair to me.

ETA: I'm personally more annoyed by the mudpit crawling into other forums than anything. Some of you folks should venture out of there sometimes.

originally posted by: TzarChasm
a reply to: The2Billies

Disagreeing has never been the problem. Organized retaliation and endorsement/facilitation of violence is the problem.

So aNtifa and BLM are the problem

I agree

a reply to: DBCowboy


Oh yes it does!


ATS respects the fact that none of us can be placed in labeled boxes because more often than not we'll find we have some things in common, sometimes.


There. I just exposed the biggest secret on this site.

If you want an example of ATS freedom to speak, make a post here questioning anything related to covid, transexuals, black lives matters, Joe Biden/Democrats and any other 'controversial subject matter.

Then go make a post or video on the same subject on Reddit, Facebook, Youtube etc.

See which one gets deleted or fact check hidden. It won't be the ATS one as long as you're fairly civil.

I think it is pretty damn obvious what separates ATS from any other public forum like platform.

ATS you're pretty free to say whatever you want compared to anywhere else in the world these days, you're just not allowed to be an a-grade nasty little asshole about it. (Being just a regular asshole about it is fine though)

originally posted by: TzarChasm
a reply to: The2Billies

Disagreeing has never been the problem. Organized retaliation and endorsement/facilitation of violence is the problem.

Tell that to BLM.