Freedom of Speech in the Jungle


There is an expression that "You are free to say what ever you want, but you are not free of the consequences of your speech". Some of these consequences might be death on a cross or being burnt at the stake. We have grown up believing that abstract concepts of civilization are laws of nature. This is reflected in the concept of "natural rights". I have news for you, "natural rights" don't exist under the law of the jungle. We are at all times subject to the law of the jungle where there is no right or wrong.

This doesn't mean that morals aren't a valuable survival skill, they are. It just means that morals are a higher level tool of cooperation which facilitates civilized groups acting with more power in the jungle. However, moral cooperation isn’t the only way to power.

Your freedom of speech is derived from the power you have under the law of the jungle and depends upon your ability to physically defend yourself and your community from those who would threaten you for what you say. Civilized people reach a peace treaty that prohibits physical violence against others for what they say.

Civilized societies also respect freedom of association. As a consequence “cancel culture” is an exercise of freedom of association.

The problem those who are “censored” by Twitter face is that we have enabled too much dependence on centralized entities. This goes beyond Facebook and Twitter and includes AWS, Apple, Google, and the financial system.

The “obvious” solution is to create our own independent infrastructure. We could do this, except that government has “regulated” competition out of existence. The control over the financial system provides control over every industry.

Absent “legal” right to compete by creating our own money, internet, etc, we realize that our freedom of speech is actually being restricted by uncivilized use of “legal” physical force. The peace treaty has been broken and that leaves the oppressed (censored) directly exposed to the reality of the law of the jungle.

Under the law of the jungle, violence is just a part of life. It is neither good nor bad. It is survival.

A dog backed into a corner is dangerous. This doesn’t make it a bad dog.

Ironically, those actively censoring and canceling private forums like Gab, Parlor, and someday Voice are inciting violence by backing a harmless dog into a corner because they don’t like its bark. When the dog finally does bite, it wasn’t the bark that incited the violence.

If you want freedom of speech you need to maintain independence of the infrastructure your community depends upon. If a broader community would deny you the right to create your own independent infrastructure they are denying the right of secession and the right of peaceful coexistence.

With these principles in mind, a truly civilized platform would facilitate a multitude of communities with independent standards. It would allow any and all speech so long as it falls within the accepted standards of the micro community it was posted in. The smallest micro community is the individual. This means an individual should be free to post anything they want to those who want to listen to them and that no one has to listen.

Don't let people gaslight barking dogs for inciting violence because they are backed into a corner by people with guns.