I'm not going to tell anyone here to like and accept kiwifarms. I'm not going to tell anyone to even begrudgingly support them. I'm not even going to ask that you reconsider any moral stance that you have. I'm just going to warn you against the "I don't like x thing" mentality.
So, I'm just supposed to not have opinions about things now in general? Uh, what?
On another note, why should anyone be forced to allow content that they didn't feel comfortable allowing within their own internet community? Note: I'm not saying that people with more power than me should curtail anyone else either. I don't think anyone should be arrested for saying anything like this, but at the same time, I wouldn't want to provide them service either.
There could be legitimately government funded websites that allow all forms of speech, and in that case, there would be no cause to censor anything that wasn't directly illegal, but the government really has no reason to put money in to something like this (due to stagnancy I suppose and general ineffectiveness, but that's another conversation entirely). Additionally, personal freedom cuts both ways. If you had a website, wouldn't YOU like to be in charge of what you decided to allow there? The Agora forum admin certainly has this privilege, one they have used to cultivate a pretty great community. Still, I'm not in any position of power, nor are most people in society. I'm just one man with an opinion. I'm always happy to hear the opposing arguments, though.
We saw with Covid instances where the feds strong armed prominent social media to introduce "fact checks" and ban "misinformation." That's where this line of "it's just a private company!!" starts to become very blurry.
Tell me exactly, what would the ramifications be for not putting up a 'fact check' or 'misinformation' claim on something when asked to by the government? Would you be arrested? Would your tax status change? Could the government do anything to you besides ask you to do these things, in an admittedly fairly authoritarian voice? No? Then, the most likely scenario is that they complied with the request because they too believed that it was in their best interest for whatever reason, or were too spineless to hold up to their principles when given a toothless request. The government doesn't have as much power as is portrayed here.
The problem is that when too many people think this way (And by too many, I mean practically everyone), no one gets the help that they need. Kiwifarms may seem extreme now, but there may come a time when this forum seems extreme for even allowing for open discussion on this subject (inb4 muh slippery slope).
People not getting help is an excellent point. It's very easy to dismiss people that are being dismissed because they're so outrageous to your sensibilities. This goes for everyone. It's not really an easy problem to solve, and I imagine it's something that far easier to handle on an individual basis rather than an organizational one, because if you talk to a single individual for long enough, anyone really, you start to realize they're an actual person. We evolved to have a very us vs them outlook in general... not really the fault of anyone in particular, it's how we're programmed, but it's something that takes a lot of effort to overcome. I think that places like this that allow for a wide variety of discussions with people that have varying beliefs and feel comfortable expressing those differences is the best way to help, though.
As for the slippery slope argument, I'm sure this forum is already considered extreme to many because it allows these conversations to exist in the first place, but this is a knee jerk reaction to not wanting to be associated with something that feels disgusting to a person. However, nuance is found in the details of these conversations, which is something that The Mob will never see. I have no doubt that there are some nuanced discussions at Kiwifarms with real humans that have lives as rich as anyone else, but I still have no desire to be a part of a community that intentionally goads people to kill themselves. That is extreme to me. These are actual people's lives here. It's not a fucking game. It's the 'not realizing someone is a human' thing I was talking about before. It happens a lot more frequently and with more intensity on the internet, it seems. Not that I haven't been young and accepted all of this 'anything goes regardless of the circumstances' decades ago either, but I've aged and my perspectives have shifted as a result.
We all draw our own boundaries somewhere, even those that feel as though everything should be acceptable everywhere.
I do appreciate that differing opinion seems to be welcome here though and discussions are respectful. I don't like that people are guided in to echo chambers in most parts of the internet.