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Aperture: vrc.group/APTR.5481

Ministry: vrc.group/MINIST.7453

NOTE: Seems like the Windows 11 update messed up access to VRC CC, I can't edit Aperture's venue tonight. Posters will likely reflect .007 (the wrong night)! Sry for that!

Personally, I'm over it. If I talk to a bigot, imma block them. If I encounter a bigot, they're not welcome in my venue.

They're entitled to their opinion, and I'm entitled to how I respond.

The bigoted right love to yell FS and than gag you the second they're able.

So ummm... yeah. Free speech is a bullshit concept when it's yanked out of it's legal context and used as a blanket statement for anyone disagreeing with a bigot.

Don't let them own the narrative. Disagreement and kicking is not silencing. It's private space, FS doesn't apply.

So let's not do this. Let's not play that game. If someone is a bigot, they are causing harm. Very likely, they are breaking a groups rules.

Protecting them means empowering the aggressor and silencing the victim. I've seen it so much in virtual communities.

And let's be real. A bigot claims free speech after being hateful. The victim challenges it and are painted as silencing shit as an SJW. And people move to protect the bigot.

It's messed up.

A chilled atmosphere for "free speech" means that oppressed people can easily be intimidated into silence. Aka, they lose their free speech

The "free speech" of right wing assholes shatters the free speech of their victims. The entire concept is a house of cards burned with fire

And to my own assertion in the above article, when we give hate groups and bigots the go ahead to do whatever because of a vague notion of "free speech", their violence and intimidation chills the air for oppressed people.

Meaning....

You absolutely do not have a right to stay in a space where people want you out and gone because of you're shitty views and unsavory behavior.

Free speech only applies to how the state treats you. Not to the communities you call home.

🚨OH BUT THERES MORE!

If you get kicked from an instance, blocked by your friends, or full out banned from a community...

The "free speech" card doesn't protect you from that.

Personal, community and private company spaces aren't policed by that legislation.

If you say something racist, and you're met by angry people. You can't just yell "free speech" as a get-out-of-jail card.

All you're doing is showing the truth of what you believe in your heart. That you're somehow superior. which is pathetic.

🚨BUT WHAT IS REALLY RELEVANT:

People using the "free speech" card that goes beyond their rights in relation to the state.

For instance, your right to free speech does not protect you from other people's opinions. It does not protect you from social consequences.

The State can police speech and expression that is used as a form of violence. For instance, if you misgender someone in the workplace continuously with malicious intent.... that's harassment.

When speech becomes violence. That's a nono.

The "free speech" rhetoric is often used by people on the political right to justify prejudice against minorities and marginalized people (aka, transphobes and racists).

I'll swing back to this, but yeah they suss.

Freedom of speech and expression is a legal expression. Though this varies across nations, the core concept is that the government can't suppress beliefs & practices within reason.

For instance, holding political viewpoints is a right. Hate crimes are often suppressed.

Also, we are just about to hit 500 members of our VRChat group and I just want to say oh-mah-gawd-thanks-for-your-support!!! <3