YouTube today
Tuesday April 03rd 2018, 10:53 pm
Filed under: Friends,History,Life,Politics

She was going out to dinner near the airport with her best friend, who was then going to drop her off for her flight.

She glanced at her phone as we started out. Great, there’s been a shooting.

In San Bruno.

We were headed to San Bruno.

On some level, it just didn’t sink in; it just made no sense.

She read on. The shooter was already known to be dead; we didn’t think we were going to be too close to the scene anyway.

But after I got home I found out a friend had marked himself as Safe on Facebook (Oh is that where your new job is) and another had said that she was pinging her co-workers, hoping to hear that they were okay. She later deleted the post: no sense in letting the crazies know where she worked.

These are the times we’ve been allowing ourselves to live in and creating for our children to inherit.

Meantime, another friend had a small fender-bender near there and a witness waited with her for the police to come–and for friendly chat to pass the time he asked her, Did you hear about YouTube? When she said no, he (with expletives) said that they deserved it because they were threatening our Second Amendment rights.

Wait. YouTube said they would no longer allow videos that made them a party to gun sales. They didn’t say you couldn’t sell, they didn’t say you couldn’t speak, they didn’t outlaw your guns, they’re not the government nor are they a public utility nor are they censoring speech, they simply said that on the platform that they own and pay people to manage, on the machines and electricity bills that they pay for, these were some of the rules for participating.

Anybody can still make their own video and host it on their own server.

This man actually thought it was okay to wish a death sentence on innocent people out loud to a total stranger–and he assumed she would agree with him!–for YouTube’s unwillingness to be a party to what they felt was promoting gun violence. This afternoon that issue was forced into their very workplace and I imagine their decision gained both clarity and a deep-seated sense of righteousness.

If people like him think that they’re a majority, then clearly that would suggest he could strike it rich with his own startup: video hosting for people who think like him. Literally nothing right now is stopping him. Venture capitalists in Silicon Valley constantly chase the next big money-maker, go make your pitch to them.

You see? That First Amendment: and it came first for a reason.

But it does not include the right to force someone else to pay to issue your speech for you.


4 Comments so far
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WOW! SMH! I have no words…well…I have them but I’ll keep them to myself. How have we come to this place and what will it take to return to civility?

Comment by Jody 04.04.18 @ 3:24 am

We live in some very, very scary times, indeed. I truly hope that this gentleman’s opinion is simply rhetoric, not an actual wish for anyone to die. I often wonder if people who say these things think about what they are saying in a larger context? I am afraid that we are not as careful with our words as we could be. This makes me sad. Words have such power.

Comment by Pegi 04.04.18 @ 3:48 am

I’m hardly a constitutional scholar, but it’s kind of scary how many people really don’t understand what the first amendment means.

As for the “it can’t happen here,” I totally understand how hard it is to let go of that. There was a violent episode near me this year, not a shooting, but still terrifying for being so close. Not there! It can’t be!

Comment by ccr in MA 04.04.18 @ 5:41 am

The state of this country’s politics has gotten very, very sad. I was just having a conversation in my office with our City’s mayor (I’m a Public Works Director for a small town in Kansas), and he was apparently asked by our former Governor about being nominated to fill an opening in our House of Representatives. Anyway, when the committee came to interview him, all they cared about was his position on gay rights/marriage, abortion and the second amendment. When he informed them that he was more concerned about education, health care, taxes and social issues they dropped him like a hot potato. At the confirmation hearing, all they talked about was gay rights/marriage, abortion and gun rights.

It is very sad to think that these are the top issues concerning our politicians today. I’m not sure how we can start moving things back toward dialog and opening hearts and minds at the highest levels. Lord help us!!!!!!!!!!!

Comment by Anne S 04.04.18 @ 6:37 am



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