Leigh Beadon 's Techdirt Comments

Latest Comments (6138) comment rss

  • On the post: Harper's Gives Prestigious Platform To Famous Writers So They Can Whine About Being Silenced

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 08 Jul, 2020 @ 09:44pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    There is no eyeroll in the world that could express my reaction to this comment's stunning mixture of pomposity and naivete - not even one of Tina Fey's.

  • On the post: Harper's Gives Prestigious Platform To Famous Writers So They Can Whine About Being Silenced

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 08 Jul, 2020 @ 09:39pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    But I sincerely do believe that the point raised was necessary and good Honestly, JB, I think it's absurd and just plain bizarre that you are trying to separate "the point raised" from fascism. It was a comment in which the primary point was about fascism. It said it repeatedly, under the title "Where it's headed". It was a comment explicitly and entirely about accusing others of fascism. That was its thesis. That was its theme. That was the beginning and the end of the point being made. And your followup is "well if you ignore the fascism part..." Baffling.

  • On the post: Harper's Gives Prestigious Platform To Famous Writers So They Can Whine About Being Silenced

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 08 Jul, 2020 @ 08:35pm

    Re: Re:

    It has been a while since I've seen it so I didn't get the reference, but now I'm about to go watch it again, because one thing I definitely do remember about it is the inimitably awesome Tim Curry.

  • On the post: Harper's Gives Prestigious Platform To Famous Writers So They Can Whine About Being Silenced

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 08 Jul, 2020 @ 08:32pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Might it be that I just happen to agree with his point? "His point" was to use the word fascism/fascist ten times in a short comment, and your "agreement" was to immediately suggest that it's unfair to focus on that or treat it as a primary component of his point, and that the reasonable thing to do is ignore that and engage with the point as though it was a completely different point. That's what I mean about falling for a grift, and letting yourself be manipulated into doing heavy lifting to legitimize someone's argument and respond to it in good faith even though they did nothing to deserve that.

  • On the post: Harper's Gives Prestigious Platform To Famous Writers So They Can Whine About Being Silenced

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 08 Jul, 2020 @ 08:18pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Suit yourself. You know what I think.

  • On the post: Harper's Gives Prestigious Platform To Famous Writers So They Can Whine About Being Silenced

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 08 Jul, 2020 @ 07:45pm

    Re: Re: Re: I'm unconvinced

    Dumber than "fascism isn't about right-wing extremism or racism, it's about being hating opinions that are different than yours?" Heh okay fine, fair point :) It's the most specific and novel dumb thing.

  • On the post: Harper's Gives Prestigious Platform To Famous Writers So They Can Whine About Being Silenced

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 08 Jul, 2020 @ 07:35pm

    Re: Fantasy

    The only consequences for ridiculous speech is: no consequences at all. That's easy man - just go stand in a closet where nobody can hear you, and you can say absolutely anything you want! Shout, swear, use racial slurs, recite Hitler's speeches, whatever floats your boat. You won't face a single consequence. If you go out on the street and do that, some people are going to hear you and make their own decisions about how to treat you and think about you in future based on what they hear; if you go to work and do it, your boss might decide he doesn't want to employ you anymore. So I suggest avoiding that. But luckily it's easily avoided with the aforementioned closet strategy. If you have neighbours and thin walls, I recommend acoustic foam (fairly cheap online) or in a pinch just egg cartons pinned to the walls.

  • On the post: Harper's Gives Prestigious Platform To Famous Writers So They Can Whine About Being Silenced

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 08 Jul, 2020 @ 07:15pm

    Re: I'm unconvinced

    He talks about counterspeech, but the state is employing counterspeech when the prosecutor makes his case Out of all the idiotic takes being shared in response to the letter, this might be the dumbest of all.

  • On the post: Harper's Gives Prestigious Platform To Famous Writers So They Can Whine About Being Silenced

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 08 Jul, 2020 @ 07:01pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    By the way, you're even doing it right now with Koby. You're defending him, even going out of your way to correct his wording and offer up a new version of what he said in order to turn it into a serious thing that we must discuss. Go have a look at his past comments. He conned you, buddy - he's not appreciative or respectful of your attempt to engage with him in good faith, he's laughing at you for falling for his grift and being so easily trolled.

  • On the post: Harper's Gives Prestigious Platform To Famous Writers So They Can Whine About Being Silenced

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 08 Jul, 2020 @ 06:50pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    To me it looks like those attacks are coming from one side of this "debate," if we can even call it that. Nonsense. If you genuinely think only "one side" engages in attacks and attempts to deplatform, you definitely have not been paying attention or even trying to pay attention. Burn them! If not literally, then certainly in spirit. Every time you invoke literal, forcible punishment then attempt to bridge the gap between that and simple counterspeech and public opinion - then from that point on proceed to discuss the two as if they are roughly the same - you expose the core of why this whole thing is utter crap. If your analysis involves lumping those two things together, it's worthless. Liberal society only works if if ideas can exist independent of speakers Explain. Because that sounds obviously false. Only a fool defaults to presuming every idea is always offered in good faith; only a fool refuses to analyze a person's motives and true intent and meaning by applying broader context to their words. Probably the NUMBER ONE thing undermining "liberal society" right now is people credulously seriously engaging with bad faith ideas - that's the attitude that leads people to suddenly praise (reservedly, but praise nevertheless) Donald Trump as "presidential" because he kept his shit together for five minutes; that's the attitude that allows people to rehabilitate George W. Bush or Mitt Romney; that's the attitude that led to a year of everyone acting like Michael Avenatti was a super awesome liberal hero because he was opposing Trump, even as plenty of people could see he was a grifter who would probably end up in jail; that's the attitude that leads to mainstream media fawning over alt-right nazis as trendy fashionable provocateurs; that's the attitude that led the New York Times to publish Tom Cotton calling for troops to come in and brutally suppress American citizens. Stop. Being. So. Easily. Grifted. People like Jesse Singal who signed that letter are laughing at you. Hell, they're even laughing at me for continuing to talk about this. They won, because we keep letting them win, because some people insist on treating them as good faith interlopers with ideas that command serious consideration. Just like Tom Cotton openly laughing and mocking the NYT for losing subscribers after it published his column - he trolled them, successfully; they took the bait, and he thinks it's hilarious that they are such rubes. And that is what I think the authors of the letter are trying to point out This specific letter exists, right now, on the pages of the prestigious Harper's, for exactly one reason and one reason alone: because the exceedingly wealthy and famous J. K. Rowling is upset about about the current backlash over her transphobia. You know it. I know it. Everyone knows it. You know damn well that if that wasn't big news in the past couple weeks, this particular letter wouldn't even exist, and we wouldn't be talking about it. Stop letting people who are obviously operating in self-serving bad faith manipulate your liberalism and turn it into naivety.

  • On the post: Harper's Gives Prestigious Platform To Famous Writers So They Can Whine About Being Silenced

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 08 Jul, 2020 @ 12:03pm

    Re: Where It's Headed

    This is a uselessly vague and abstract definition of fascism that allows you to apply the label to virtually anything you want. Any attempt to describe fascism in a way that is completely divorced from any consideration of structures of power and coercion is, frankly, nonsense.

  • On the post: Hello! You've Been Referred Here Because You're Wrong About Section 230 Of The Communications Decency Act

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 24 Jun, 2020 @ 08:06am

    Re: Re:

    We understand that the current law does not appear to make this distinction, but we want that distinction to be made. lol, maybe you understand that now - after months or years of everyone who knows the law explaining to people that they are wrong when they insist that the publisher/platform distinction already exists. It finally got through most people's heads that the distinction they dreamed into existence is not real, and so you pivoted to calling yourself a "reformer" who "wants" that distinction added. Notably absent, of course, was the intermediary phase where you "reformers" took a breath, acknowledged that you had critically misunderstood the law and been loudly repeating an utterly false claim, and spent some time learning and listening before demanding that the law be changed to render your false claims into reality.

  • On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 14 Jun, 2020 @ 01:23pm

    Re: Wow.

    I don't play favourites (mostly)! And I think the readers notice a lot more patterns than I do - I'm generally not thinking so much about who has won in the past or how often. Indie artists talking about their own experience with copyright and the recording industry and how it doesn't serve them is something I always like to highlight though, for sure.

  • On the post: John Oliver Says What Needs To Be Said About Why Defunding The Police Is The Right Thing Right Now

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 09 Jun, 2020 @ 02:06pm

    Re: Who should decide this issue?

    Hi is this your first time in a representative democracy with the freedom of public assembly? Because this is how a lot of important things happen.

  • On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 08 Jun, 2020 @ 09:34am

    Re: Re: Re:

    Fair enough - and I didn't think you were saying it's what you want or anything. But I do think a whole lot of people are being shockingly casual about raising the specter of America sending its army to forcefully stop its heavily-armed and militarized police which, again, to me sounds like undeniable civil war.

  • On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 07 Jun, 2020 @ 06:42pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Fair point. Though at the moment it is mostly ground forces being discussed for actual use against the protests, so that tends to be the main comparison coming up

  • On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 07 Jun, 2020 @ 04:10pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    To be honest, before even getting to the difference, I have a lot of issues with the way this frequently-raised comparison between cops and soldiers paints the US military as being totally innocent of misconduct and atrocities.

  • On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 07 Jun, 2020 @ 02:07pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    I understand what you mean but they are issued official service weapons, trained to use them, and authorized to use legal deadly force. The fact that their training sucks and they ignore most of it and exceed their authorization with impunity doesn't change the fact that they are trained killers.

  • On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 07 Jun, 2020 @ 12:21pm

    Re:

    If political leaders order the police to stand down and they refuse, then we can talk about whether a different government force is required to step in, at which point America is in a state of full-blown civil war. Until then, I refuse to engage in the "which force of trained killers with guns do we want on the streets?" discussion.

  • On the post: If The NY Times Doesn't Publish My OpEd On Why James Bennet Is An Incompetent Dweeb, It Must Hate Free Speech

    Leigh Beadon ( profile ), 05 Jun, 2020 @ 05:45pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    I can certainly understand how some parts of the world with entirely different political situations might have a different immediate opinion about the presence of soldiers on their streets, but please don't act like you're completely unfamiliar with the idea that "soldiers occupying domestic cities and policing the civilian populace is a bad thing"

Next >>