undefined | Better HN

0 pointsysofunny0y ago0 comments

it's a 1st ammendment issue

in the sense in which the entire constitutional apparatus is falling appart

because citizen-president Trump is a power bully

but this was bound to happen. as we transition from orality to literacy to digital-literacy and beyond

consider why the laws are written down. consider the way language became computer languages. and then realize that what was written down must now grapple with the new technological paradigm of digital paper that writes on itself

it's like we have (re-)discovered paper and the very idea of writing down the law is a techno-social innovation sweeping the land

0 comments

lxgr0y ago

A private company restricting speech is a freedom of speech issue in the general sense, but most certainly not a First Amendment issue.

Of course that doesn’t mean that it’s a good thing to happen, or that there should not be any laws preventing it.

cosmotic0y ago

First amendment is protection from the government, not by the government. It wasn't the government that blocked the speech so it wasn't a first amendment issue

zfg0y ago

It is protection by the state. It is how the state is constituted. It's what the state means and offers. It's what the state is for and what, in principle, the state does.

If the state doesn't in fact do these things then you have a different state and the constitution is just a piece of paper.

mulmen0y ago

> It is protection by the state.

It absolutely is not. In fact it is a restriction on the state.

The rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights are inherent. They are not derived from the government. We have them by nature of existing. The Bill of Rights prohibits the government from infringing on these inherent rights.

1 more reply

bluefirebrand0y ago

> as we transition from orality to literacy to digital-literacy and beyond

Really we're going backwards here

Digital literacy in the younger generations is dropping, and even language literacy is not where it used to be

It's kind of shocking to see these stats regress in my lifetime but they are

mmooss0y ago

What metrics are available on these things? Is it based on a survey?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse