Banning InfoWars: About Censorship or About Time?

Eduardo and Andy discuss the recent ban by Facebook, YouTube, Apple and Spotify on InfoWars (and others). Should these actions be supported or opposed?

What's Left? Website:

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What’s Left?: On Independent Media

Obama’s use of Espionage Act

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Another point of view on Brest-Litovsk

The Smith Act (1940)

What’s Left? Socialism 101

Alexandra Kollantai

Her writings

Robert Mueller released his indictment alleging that 13 Russian nationals colluded to disrupt the 2016 elections. Who are these Russian nationals sowing discord? And who are these Americans that were manipulated??

•The Curious Case of the Russian Flash Mob at the West Palm Beach Cheesecake Factory

•Karl Popper: ”Less well known is the paradox of tolerance: Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. — In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant.”

Popper, Karl, The Open Society and Its Enemies, volume 1, The Spell of Plato, 1945 (Routledge, United Kingdom)

•Correction: I stated Radio Lab had reported on the Alaskan immigration town debate. It was actually This American Life that had reported on it.

Episode 621/21 July 2017

Fear and Loathing in Homer and Rockville

Two towns where people got really upset about undocumented immigrants, even though in both places, that did not seem to be the most important thing happening at all. One of the towns, a small town in Alaska, has no undocumented immigrants at all, but the possibility of them arriving put the whole town at each other’s throats.
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/621/fear-and-loathing-in-homer-and-rockville