I'm distressed and saddened at how many of the free speech proponents on HN are treating the events of January 6 as if it was just another protest and not an existential threat to the republic.
The president's followers said for weeks that "the storm" was coming Jan 6. Nobody took them seriously. Look what happened. The president and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and other followers incited it. Yes the execution of the insurrection was ham-fisted, and it failed to prevent the electoral count from completing, but that's irrelevant. If the mob had managed to find and destroy the electoral certificates, or if the flex-cuffs guys had captured members of congress, we would be talking about something very different now.
The president has a history of responding to setbacks by doubling down. His followers have now begun talking about returning with arms. Only fools would assume that these threats are idle talk or jokes.
The western liberal value of free speech has never extended to incitement of violence. My assumption is that the leaders of Apple, Google, and Amazon don't want to provide a platform for sedition.
The president's followers said for weeks that "the storm" was coming Jan 6. Nobody took them seriously. Look what happened. The president and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and other followers incited it. Yes the execution of the insurrection was ham-fisted, and it failed to prevent the electoral count from completing, but that's irrelevant. If the mob had managed to find and destroy the electoral certificates, or if the flex-cuffs guys had captured members of congress, we would be talking about something very different now.
The president has a history of responding to setbacks by doubling down. His followers have now begun talking about returning with arms. Only fools would assume that these threats are idle talk or jokes.
The western liberal value of free speech has never extended to incitement of violence. My assumption is that the leaders of Apple, Google, and Amazon don't want to provide a platform for sedition.