Just to get this out there clearly and openly, “free speech” (in the US, and not everyone reading or posting is from the US) refers to the tenet that the government cannot censor your speech or forbid you from speaking your opinion in public. You can criticize the President, write about your views on the Patriot Act or on gay marriage, or talk about how your sister-in-law is complete idiot, but the Stasi will not show up at your door and threaten you to keep quiet. However, free speech does not mean freedom from consequences. It does not give you the right to say whatever you want in private spaces nor does it obligate other people to listen to you or give you space to hold forth.
This is a privately owned blog; think of it as our living room where we throw big parties that are open to all. However, if you come to our house and insult the other guests, dump your drink on the carpet, and start fights or only shout at people instead of engaging in spirited yet respectful debate, it is perfectly within our rights to throw you out. That’s not shutting down your speech–you aren’t being persecuted, and there are countless other places on the internet where you are free to say and act as you wish. If you violate the terms of our particular community and get banned after a fair warning, it doesn’t make you a martyr denied your rights, it makes you a poor guest.
Moderation and management of this blog is at the discretion of the blog owners and the comment policy is spelled out in the 101 section. Please read it and abide by it. Our vision is to make this a civil space for exchange of ideas and discussion of some tough and sometimes contentious issues. We welcome differing opinions and viewpoints (we even disagree on much amongst the contributors), and disagreement is fine as long as you are contributing in good faith and not concern trolling, picking apart ideas and concepts instead of personally denigrating another speaker, and offering analysis and solutions and not just posting inflammatory rhetoric. If you don’t like what you find here, start your own blog…Wordpress is free and open to all.
Well, looks like I got myself banned already. I will give most of the authors and commentators here the benefit of the doubt and assume you mean well. Unfortunately, it only takes a few idiots to spoil the fun for everyone. My experience on this blog has been that one single author has managed to destroy the message this blog is claiming to make and shut down discussion about it. The result is that this is a classic feminist blog with the standard labeling and banning of anyone who disagrees. Oh, sure, you SAY disagreement is ok, but only as… Read more »