In previous item about modularity I didn’t mention the Fairness Doctrine. It’s an important part of the platform vs publication distinction.
The FD censored broadcasters for a specific reason. Ideally censoring a platform should be wrong, but every platform has rules to keep the traffic going smoothly. Streets have stop signs and speed limits. The post office has weight and size limits on packages. Such rules prevent a monopolizer or criminal from blocking other users.
The FD restricted meaningless argument about meaningless subjects like political parties and religious denominations. When you permit such arguments, you allow monopolizers to dominate the space and drown out real information. This is EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED after the FD was repealed. Fox and MSNBC flooded the space with utterly pointless disputes about who said something to someone, or who failed to condemn someone for not failing to condemn someone for not saying the right thing to someone.
The FCC also censored bad words and profanity for the same reason. When you allow shouting and abuse, bullies WILL take over and block desirable communication.
Political arguments are worse than meaningless. Therese d’Aurignac perfected the technique of creating an argument to LEGITIMIZE A FAKE CONCEPT. She paid a team of adverse claimants to her fake inheritance. The adverse claimants kept up a barrage of lawsuits against Therese’s “real” claims. As long as the lawsuits were running, the inheritance itself was LEGITIMIZED in the eyes of businesses who were extending credit to Therese. Why would people devote so much expense and time to suing if there wasn’t a real fortune to fight about?
Politicians have mastered the d’Aurignac trick. Congress spends all its time in fake disputes about who gets to be Speaker, or who gets to declare a filibuster, or whether we should spend an extravagant outrageous 900 trillion or a frugal commonsensical 899 trillion on torture and genocide. As long as the argument focuses on the amounts or procedures, there’s no need to ask whether speakers or filibusters or tortures or genocides are NECESSARY.
Polistra's Mill 