Free Speech

On X

2010

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

'Free markets', 'tolerance', 'pacifism', 'free speech' etc.. are what physicists call 'effective theories' and require warning labels.

8:03 PM · Jan 22, 2010

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

Obscenity charges against Gonzo pioneer John Stagliano are dropped! Miller v California remains a menace to free speech http://bit.ly/aVTowv

10:10 PM · Aug 12, 2010

2011

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

The "Free speech zone" = X was invented & named in the USA = Y in 1988. Q: Name its even more important set-theoretic complement Y \ X.

4:33 PM · Feb 18, 2011

2016

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

Confused by people promoting free speech by being deliberately offensive when you can offend many more people by simply thinking clearly.

8:04 PM · Jul 22, 2016

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

If you don't define free speech movement goals carefully, you end up complaining about the free speech of others that inhibits yours.

12:07 PM · Nov 5, 2016

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

I'm not as focused on free speech as I am around the "Don't worry, contrarian intellectuals. You'll still have a job on Monday."-movement.

12:26 PM · Nov 5, 2016

2017

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

While often tempted, I'm not a free speech absolutist. I'm an anti-utopian w a commitment to keep our world safe from well meaning utopians.

Most of my friends who are free speech absolutists have never run the simulator forward to see the dystopia total free speech would create.

10:16 AM · Jan 13, 2017

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

I like free speech but not absolute free speech. The US is the finer but not the latter.

4:53 PM · Jan 14, 2017

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

Conclusion: my engagement patterns changed. Some of it is likely algorithmic. We should have a free speech option: time ordered, no filters.

2:40 PM · Apr 09, 2017

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

We're standing up to mob rule to fight for universal civil rights, academic freedom, science & free speech. Safety NOT guaranteed.

Want in?

7:26 AM · Jun 10, 2017

Bret Weinstein

@BretWeinstein

Many have urged me to follow @jordanbpeterson's lead these last 2 weeks--friends, students, strangers. I'm listening

https://patreon.com/bretweinstein

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

VOICE OVER: We've secretly replaced Free-Speech America w new improved Sharia-compliant blasphemy-free America. Let's watch folks' reaction!

12:15 AM · Jul 22, 2017

Susan Swartz

@LKrauss1

Berkeley used to be Free Speech Center! Now KPFA Cancels Richard Dawkins talk because he criticizes Islam? Shame!

https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2017/07/21/richard-dawkins-deplatformed-at-a-book-talk-berkeley-for-abusive-speech-about-islam-on-twitter/

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

Clay, you weren't in a comedy club & your right to free speech wasn't infringed. You just put a colleague in a no win situation...& she won!

9:27 PM · Sep 15, 2017

Clay Travis

@ClayTravis

Here's @cnn video of me saying I love the first amendment and boobs that nearly shut down the network. So great:

https://outkickthecoverage.com/love-first-amendment-boobs/

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

1/ You bet I do: https://youtube.com/watch?v=mn5crhTusSA

Let's analyze why a sports guy like Crash Davis got to be pro-pornography & talk about body parts. https://x.com/EuroPork/status/908809213165604871

Sep 15, 2017

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

2/ Sarandon's character was host to two men. But it was she who turned the conversation sexy. Costner was offended (not outraged) & strong.

Sep 15, 2017

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

3/ Sarandon wouldn't let him stay private crossing into his space. He responded to her as a sexual woman and an equal not a delicate flower.

Sep 15, 2017

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

4/ He also was leaving her space and not remaining on her couch. This gave her choice without having to have her shut him down. A key issue.

Sep 15, 2017

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

5/ My point's simple. These issues are tricky & we've all screwed them up. But we don't just get to say any old thing. There are rules here.

Sep 15, 2017

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

End/ This isn't the crime of the century. But it's also not fair. There are implicit rules about jokes & flirting that aren't "free speech."

3:13 PM · Sep 15, 2017

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

On the death of @hughhefner, I had to remind myself of how a lost thinking US-Left playfully championed free speech:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=iaHDBL7dVgs

12:26 AM · Sep 29, 2017

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

I believe @facebook, @Twitter, @Google are now deploying effective new measures & standards for securing US democracy against a repeat of unwanted involvement by unacceptable outsiders.

What I just can’t shake is fear that those outsiders are our own dissenting fellow citizens.

Dec 20, 2017

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

I should point out that unlike many friends, I’m *not* a free speech absolutist. Not a Trump voter. Not opposed to *some* discretion by the private sector as to whom it can deny service. But these are now utility like companies and something feels too...coordinated?...something.

6:01 PM · Dec 20, 2017

2018

Onnnnni

@onnnnnnnni

How is it that from a vast number of public speakers in the extended @SamHarrisOrg family you @EricRWeinstein seem to be the the first one to bring up the marvelous Marshall Rosenberg and #nonviolentcommunication #nvc ???

Jan 02, 2018

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

I don't know that I am. But it seems weird to me that I haven't heard it from anyone else given the amount of attention to "hate speech" and "speech as violence". If I have this wrong, point me to others discussing this in the context of free speech/hate speech. Thx!

8:53 PM · Jan 02, 2018

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

“So, quick summary: There is no campus free speech crisis, the kids are all right, those that say otherwise have lost all perspective” -@JeffreyASachs

But we do have some lovely parting gifts for our contestant Jeffrey here on “Let’s-Build-a-Strawman!”

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SynqYb-6bXY

5:00 PM · Mar 11, 2018

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

1/2 The free speech community is itself divided as to whether the case for free speech is better made focusing on speech specifically intended to offend, or necessary speech deemed outrageous & attacked by authoritarians wishing to control & stigmatize reasonable civil discourse.

Mar 16, 2018

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

2/2 While I understand and can make *both* cases, I'm solidly in with the latter. It's now so easy to be attacked by a vengeful mob by simply saying true, reasonable things, that I can't find any advantage in confusing the story with being mean or teasing the weak & vulnerable.

12:13 PM · Mar 16, 2018

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

Oh this is good: "Free Speech Grifters"! Let me save you time Mari. Everyone needs to be very very afraid of: @BretWeinstein, @clairlemon , @DouglasKMurray, @CHSommers, @jordanbpeterson, @RubinReport, @joerogan, @SamHarrisOrg, @benshapiro, me etc..

Why? We're not MSM compliant. https://x.com/mariuyehara/status/975754244904161281

4:26 PM · Mar 20, 2018

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

There is not one single word or phrase in any language ever spoken that is without potential wholesome legitimate use by anyone living anywhere.

No language-level bans can withstand scrutiny. Not one.

And, for the record, I‘m not even a free speech absolutist...

5:04 PM · Dec 20, 2018

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

Advertisers vs Riskvertisers:

An advertiser is a company commandeering attention to promote a product. A riskvertiser, by contrast, would be a courageous firm that underwrites important speech others wish to ban, and asks the public to consider its product in return for courage.

Dec 21, 2018

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

We the public and the creators need to stop supporting advertisers who buckle to sanctimonious mobs out of cowardice when the charges are frivolous.

More importantly, WE need to lead and build the Riskvertising industry. Let’s reward those companies that treat us as adults.

Dec 21, 2018

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

The following is an (unauthorized) RISKVERTISMENT for @DrBronner.

I love DR BRONNER soap! Their luxurious Castille soaps are no less amazing than their corporate bravery in support of Psychedelic Research on substances which are currently illegal!

Dec 21, 2018

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

#RewardCourage #Riskvertise. If you know of other firms that don’t buckle under pressure and who are interested in underwriting free speech, psychedelic research, and other unpopular worthy causes, please let me know! Let’s experiment with paying it forward until we find underwriters who don’t cut &run.

Dec 21, 2018

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

And note: this isn’t about Tucker. It’s about general ambient pressure that seems more about sanctimony than ethics.

9:28 AM · Dec 21, 2018

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

1/ The Christmas Thread.

First off, Merry Xmas to all.

I’m asking for your help. I want to know whether any of you know about any quiet working groups or meetings involving but not limited to Visa/MC/PayPal/etc working on the issues of “populism”/“radicalization” as euphemisms.

Dec 25, 2018

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

2/ This would be organized by by some group like CFR, NAS or some other blue chip institution. It would be looking to figure out how to handle the “problems” of popular nullification of institutional objectives. In short it would view Brexit, Trump and restrictionism as “hate”.

Dec 25, 2018

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

3/ This quiet meeting would bring together the major “stakeholders”(?) which would not include the public. The twin problems the meeting would actually be trying to solve are “free speech” and “democratic choice” which the public generally doesn’t want solved at all.

Dec 25, 2018

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

4/ The meeting would explore the question of how to use the existing anti-terror programs & platform level controls to handle garden variety dissent contributing to popular nullification as if it were “hate speech”, which it would claim was akin to, or a gateway for, terror.

Dec 25, 2018

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

5/ I’m not asking b/c I have any information that such a meeting occurred. I, in fact, have NO such information. However, I am well aware of how coordinated action has been made to look more “emergent”, in the past & I now think we’re at a very dangerous juncture between 2018-20.

Dec 25, 2018

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

6/ This all now looks way off to me. Patreon is just the window through which we are glimpsing it. Why? Because they‘re clumsy. I fear we‘re seeing some plan to reestablish the former power of the Gated Institutional Narrative well above Patreon’s paygrade using payment networks.

Dec 25, 2018

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

7/ I hope this is wrong. But if it‘s correct, “improper” bitcoin transactions will start to carry serious criminal penalties. Further @jordanbpeterson will not deliver a technological fix as indicated.

Watch @datasociety, @nytimes coverage & payment channels.

Happy Holidays.

6:23 PM · Dec 25, 2018

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

Free speech isn’t a fascinating topic.

At least to me, it’s more like “air hunger”: when you‘re being choked, it’s always super important to you above everything else, even if simple breathing isn’t really something upon which you ever expected to focus your intellectual energy.

8:42 AM · Dec 18, 2018

2019

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

1/ I’ve been noticing a ubiquitous technique recently upon which I have seen little commented. “Punchable face”, #killallmen, “Open Borders”, “Tax is Theft”, “Believe Women”, “Free markets”, “Free Speech” and uptalking are examples. I want to explain here what I see linking them.

4:22 PM · Jan 28, 2019

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

Things important to me in a true progressive agenda:

Free Speech
Normalization of Intersex
Median Family Formation/Security
Economic Recognition of Kin Work
Neuro Diversity/Inclusion in Schools
Ending Labor Subsidy for Employers
Ending Race Based Incarceration
Stakeholder Value

6:49 PM · Mar 14, 2019

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

No. 🛑.

Gay Marriage & rights. Workplace safety. Breaking Appalachian slavery of the coal Barons. Interracial marriage. Civil rights issues. Free speech movement. Cannabis acceptance. Vietnam War protests. Etc...

The history of the Left has no shortage of high points @prageru.

5:40 PM · Mar 27, 2019

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

I am not a free speech absolutist.

I also introduced the IDW term. Get it right.

3:49 PM · May 08, 2019

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

Well this is cool. @CIGS_INET is starting off a YouTube channel with a bang: @SamHarrisOrg interviews @NAChristakis on the evolutionary pressure on free speech after the digital revolution. Subscribe on YT to get them to continue making more great content! https://youtu.be/2oNLoPAf1hg

12:35 AM · Jul 02, 2019

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

[My audience isn’t exactly clamoring for me to interview Billy Bragg. It was supposed to be a reciprocal show of solidarity in the face of four more years of Trump on the horizon if we don’t come together. You‘re not wrong whoever you are. Nothing to do w/ “gladiatorial combat”.]

Sep 20, 2019

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

[And thank you for trying @BluesClown. After hearing about being a “free speech warrior” (false), trying for gladiatorial confrontation (false) and having heard that I’m an “investment banker” (false), the public mischaracterization feels infinite. He can always find me in DM.]

Sep 20, 2019

Billy Bragg

@billybragg

Stop whispering Eric, we can all hear you. If the ‘challenge’ of debating me on your podcast is withdrawn, then maybe you should change the name of your club to the Intentionally Dark Web, and stop getting upset when people say you won’t debate them.

Sep 20, 2019

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

Cut it out. I wasn’t looking to debate you on your stage. Just play two songs that came out of two adjacent counties in Appalachian Kentucky we lost to Trump in 2016 in solidarity w workers & boost your book tour on a podcast after your show. Then you said “no thank you”. So Ok!

Sep 20, 2019

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

It was about solidarity w decent people getting screwed over by both political parties & the Left not eating itself, but actually doing something to come together. But you weren’t interested and I accepted that. Okay. Move on. But Pete Seeger would have shaken my hand. As he did.

Sep 20, 2019

Billy Bragg

@billybragg

I’m happy to shake your hand. I just don’t understand why you’ve withdrawn your initial invite to debate the issue on your podcast? Was it conditional?

Sep 20, 2019

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

Yes and no. I wasn’t looking to debate you. You wanted that. I’m not a free speech warrior. You said that, not me. I’m not an investment banker. I heard you think I am.

That sounded fishy. But you have been a person of integrity for a long time. 1/2.

Sep 20, 2019

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

Music to me is like breaking bread. I won’t have a man to my house who won’t have me to his. I wouldn’t invite a man playing the Saul Alinksy ridicule game. My audience isn’t going to like the Internationale. But I would have stood up for you. DM if you like for a call. Peace 2/2

Sep 20, 2019

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

And it would be an honor to shake yours. Thanks for standing up for the voiceless during the dark times. Even if we disagree.

2:13 PM · Sep 20, 2019

Eric Weinstein

@EricRWeinstein

There‘s a sizable number of white supremacists who latch onto legitimate free speech, meritocracy, islamofascism & immigration issues like free-riding remoras. If these are issues you discuss you *must* piss these folks off regularly as if rubbing against a reef to dislodge them.

4:13 AM · Nov 18, 2019

Related Pages

• Intellectual Dark Web
• Totalizing Ideologies

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