Sunday, March 30, 2008

AOSHQ vs. 'free expression'?

I read Ace of Spades HQ mainly for the jokes, but Ace is also excellent when it's time to get serious, as for example when a post about terrorism elicited some anti-Muslim comments that were inexcusably hateful.

Ace deleted the thread and warned the morons:
This is a business. People do read this at work.
I am getting tired of having to remind people of these basic facts. You are threatening my very g-d----d livelihood and no, your "right" to free expression is not going to trump my right to make a buck.
It's an important distinction. The First Amendment does not require the proprietor of a blog to publish your comment. You can't complain of an infringement of your "rights" if the blogger bans you or deletes your comment. You can argue that the blogger is treating you unfairly, but it's his blog, not yours. If you don't like it, go start your own blog and write whatever you want there.

Exit question: Ace hasn't linked me in at least six or seven days. Does that make me an oppressed victim? Is he attempting to stifle dissent? Is there a "chilling effect"? Does anybody even care if my "exit question" is actually four questions?

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