Right or left, you should be worried about big tech censorship
The censorship debate always reminds me of the 2000s after 9&#x2F;11 where anyone who opposed going to war in multiple foreign countries which had nothing to do with 9&#x2F;11 were labelled &quot;terrorist sympathizers&quot;. Taking advantage of this, they also passed a mass spying bill - the Patriot Act. Stating &quot;man cannot be a woman&quot; or &quot;men shouldn&#x27;t compete in women&#x27;s sports&quot; is considered transphobic in current climate. Regardless of which side of the Palestine-Israel conflict you fall one, either or both sides can be censored by labelling it as &quot;anti-semitic&quot; or &quot;islamaphobic&quot;. Speaking out against the Patriot Act and forever wars would be (and was) labelled &quot;unpatriotic&quot; and &quot;terrorist sympathizer&quot; and censored. Speaking out against healthy living would be labelled &quot;fat phobic&quot;. Or the opposite could also happen. All the groups which speak out against fat shaming could also get censored because it&#x27;s dangerous to public health. The government and big tech would start censoring you for advertising soft drinks&#x2F;chips and other junk food. Since all religions oppose gay marriage, when super religious are in power, they would censor LGBT content. Pro-choice would get censored for religious reasons and Pro-life would be censored for racism&#x2F;dangerous or other reasons.<p>Just a few days ago there were 2 posts on HN:<p>Rival weightlifter speaks out on transgender Hubbard&#x27;s Olympic place:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=27598383" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=27598383</a><p>The blackout Palestinians are facing on social media:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=27645282" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=27645282</a><p>In the first case, my women friends are too afraid to speak up because they are afraid of being labelled a transphobic. 3 of my female friends have lost sports scholarships to biological men.<p>In the second case, the reasoning provided is &quot;Criticism of Israel is Anti-Semitism. Really.&quot;:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;blogs.timesofisrael.com&#x2F;criticism-of-israel-is-anti-semitism-really&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;blogs.timesofisrael.com&#x2F;criticism-of-israel-is-anti-...</a><p>Here is a partial historical list of scientific consensus &quot;deniers&quot; proven right which this sort of censorship will either silence by big tech or due to self-censorship:<p>1. Ignaz Semmelweis, who suggested that doctors should wash their hands, and who eliminated puerpal fever as a result, was fired, harassed, forced to move, had his career destroyed, and died in a mental institution at age 47. All this because he went against consensus science.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Ignaz_Semmelweis#Conflict_with_established_medical_opinion" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Ignaz_Semmelweis#Conflict_with...</a><p>2. Alfred Wegener, the geophysicist who first proposed continental drift, the basis of plate tectonics, was berated for over 40 years by mainstream geologists who organized to oppose him in favour of a trans-oceanic land bridge. All this because he went against consensus science.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Alfred_Wegener#Reaction" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Alfred_Wegener#Reaction</a><p>3. Aristarchus of Samos, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, brilliant minds and leaders in their field all supported the heliocentric model. They were at some point either ignored, derided, vilified, or jailed for their beliefs.
All this because they went against consensus science.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Galileo_Galilei#Controversy_over_heliocentrism" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Galileo_Galilei#Controversy_ov...</a><p>4. J Harlen Bretz, the geologist who documented the catastrophic Missoula floods, was ridiculed and humiliated by uniformitarian &quot;elders&quot; for 30 years before his ideas were accepted. He first proposed that a giant flood raked Eastern Washington in prehistoric times, and who suffered ridicule and skepticism until decades of further research proved his thesis. All this because he went against consensus science. He was eventually awarded the Penrose Medal.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.seattletimes.com&#x2F;entertainment&#x2F;books&#x2F;bretzs-flood-for-geologist-states-great-flood-is-a-story-of-ridicule-redemption&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.seattletimes.com&#x2F;entertainment&#x2F;books&#x2F;bretzs-floo...</a><p>5. Carl F. Gauss, discoverer of non-Euclidean geometry, self-censored his own work for 30 years for fear of ridicule, reprisal, and relegation. It did not become known until after his death. Similar published work was ridiculed. His personal diaries indicate that he had made several important mathematical discoveries years or decades before his contemporaries published them. Scottish-American mathematician and writer Eric Temple Bell said that if Gauss had published all of his discoveries in a timely manner, he would have advanced mathematics by fifty years
All this because he went against consensus science.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Carl_Friedrich_Gauss#Personality" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Carl_Friedrich_Gauss#Personali...</a><p>6. Hans Alfven, a Nobel plasma physicist, showed that electric currents operate at large scales in the cosmos. His work was considered unorthodox and is still rejected despite providing answers to many of cosmology&#x27;s problems.
All this because he went against consensus science.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Hannes_Alfvén" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Hannes_Alfvén</a><p>7. Georg Cantor, creator of set theory in mathematics, was so fiercely attacked that he suffered long bouts of depression. He was called a charlatan and a corrupter of youth and his work was referred to as utter nonsense.
All this because he went against consensus science.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Georg_Cantor" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Georg_Cantor</a><p>8. Kristian Birkeland, the man who explained the polar aurorae, had his views disputed and ridiculed as a fringe theory by mainstream scientists until fifty years after his death. He is thought by some to have committed suicide.
All this because he went against consensus science.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Kristian_Birkeland#Legacy" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Kristian_Birkeland#Legacy</a><p>9. Gregor Mendel, founder of genetics, whose seminal paper was criticized by the scientific community, was ignored for over 35 years. Most of the leading scientists simply failed to understand his obscure and innovative work.
All this because he went against consensus science.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Gregor_Mendel#Initial_reception_of_Mendel&#x27;s_work" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Gregor_Mendel#Initial_receptio...</a><p>10. Michael Servetus discovered pulmonary circulation. As his work was deemed to be heretical, the inquisitors confiscated his property, arrested, imprisoned, tortured, and burned him at the stake atop a pyre of his own books.
All this because he went against consensus science.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Michael_Servetus#Imprisonment_and_execution" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Michael_Servetus#Imprisonment_...</a><p>11. Amedeo Avogadro&#x27;s atomic-molecular theory was ignored by the scientific community, as was future similar work. It was confirmed four years after his death, yet it took fully one hundred years for his theory to be accepted.
All this because he went against consensus science.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Amedeo_Avogadro#Response_to_the_theory" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Amedeo_Avogadro#Response_to_th...</a>