Conflating:
You might be conflating two things which should remain somewhat separate, that is downvoting (flags) and aspects of the free market which may include exchanges between private property domains.
Dislikes vs Downvotes
So, like I said, two things. First, I would prefer dislikes instead of downvotes. Hypothetically speaking, downvoting private property would be theft, a crime. It would be robbery. It would be stealing.
Lacking Ownership
Now, I don't know if downvoting is theft because one might argue that nobody owns anything on the Internet or at least on Steem or Hive or other blockchains that utilizes cryptocurrencies which are accessed and not actually owned or stored. Well, again, it depends on who owns the rewards pool. Some might say the pool is shared which reminds me of communism. So, long story short, it depends on different things.
Rich Whales
Secondly, and more importantly, I believe in the free market which means I believe in competition. So, in life, we run into filthy rich whales with a bunch of money. I don't want to try too hard to stop them from making money and from doing some things to the extent it does not really aggressively or excessively violate or interfere with the private property rights of other people. I will not try too hard to talk smack on rich people because I want to be rich too. I want to have more money, more power, more influence, more resources, more things, etc. But I am not saying that there should be downvotes at all. I don't like downvotes. But I don't hate money. I love money.
Downvoting is like a Gun
And the voting system is a mechanism, a tool like a gun. I don't hate guns. So, a downvote might be like shooting the bad guy with a gun. But you might shoot a good guy with the gun as well. And good and bad people can have guns like good and bad people can upvote and downvote or simply vote up and down.
free market isn't free, here and practically everywhere in the world. And you'll never get rich just for your a priori love for money drawing you to hive.blog. Believing that the free market means competition means what exactly? Is this a competition? maybe you should spend some time sending search queries through a blockchain explorer. ya know, to at least get that edge to beat the competition.
well you better start talking smack on poor people then, that's how you get rich.
I like to try my best to sell a banana to you. So, I have a banana. So, maybe we will do a trade. Maybe you will give me something for my banana. If I am happy with what you have to offer, then I might give you the banana. If you are not happy with the banana, then you can go. If I am not happy with what you have to offer, be it money, products, services, time, information, etc, then I can refuse to hand over my banana to you. The art of the deal. I like competition. I like the meaning to life. I like the freedom to try to compete, to try to get more and more. I like that. Call me a monster for being greedy if you want to. Alright, I am a greedy bastard. I admit, I am just very greedy. I want. I try to get more and more and more. You can call that anything you want. You can say that is right or wrong. I choose to do these things no matter what they are, even if they are bad things, even if they are wrong. I am choosing to try to work hard to get more. I want to let others have that kind of freedom too to try to trade. I like the art of trade. A relationship between a man and a woman is a trade, a free market exchange. Everything is. We are in a trade in this conversation. I give you words and you give me words back. And I click on the upvote button on your comment right here right now.