Conor Friedersdorf

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@pheedthemonkey @ijbailey I don't see anyone arguing that "free expression absolutist" is the correct position. Rather, I see people arguing that this goes farther than is good or prudent in undermining free expression. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

RT @glukianoff: Unconstitutional. If this bill passes I would love the opportunity to challenge it in court. 'South Carolina bill outlaws… — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey It is possible for something to both be reasonable and to limit free expression — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@DerrickTPerkins Okay, you've got me there. A city! — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @CathyYoung63 @drethescientist @TheFIREorg *hypotheticals that illustrate the downside of my position are unproductive* — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ethelredunread Yes. Absolutely. For a fleeting base pleasing stunt they're losing the middle and undermining their ability to credibly critique left excesses — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@joshzancan Same. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@lauber_andy Would you agree that the result of sticking with the workers rather than finding new ones was less overall expression and fewer kinds of expression? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ethelredunread Because parts of the left, in an epic own goal, are coding free speech as a right-wing value. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ethelredunread No, I don't think the right believes it. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

This is a private venue. The workers break no laws and express their earnestly held qualms. Is their newly activist approach good or bad for free expression? And should the theater owner keep them on or find new light and stage operators? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

As well they (lawfully) pressure the theater owner to reject a three-night run of a play by a local high school student who featured a youth gender transition, portraying it in a positive light. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

They believe BLM protests are associated with higher murder rates, so they announce that they will not run the lighting or curtain for a talk with 3 prominent activists that was scheduled. And no 1619 Project anything, they say preemptively. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

As it happens, the spotlight operator and the two guys who know how to work the moving parts on the stage are populist right types. And after reading about Dave Chappelle and the theater workers they decide to start using their influence in accordance with their politics. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

I've got a hypothetical to test your intuitions about free expression. It takes place in a made up town of 100,000 people in Idaho, a long drive from anywhere. There is one privately owned theater in town, and for the last few decades it has never turned down a booking. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @CathyYoung63 @drethescientist @TheFIREorg If a group of conservative custodians at Davidson College decided to stop making repairs in a space used by a progressive student groups, hoping it would harm their ability to promulgate their left wing agenda, how would you react? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @rasmansa @KralcTrebor @TheFIREorg @CathyYoung63 "or otherwise" is incorrect, and you still haven't explained why this is "partisan." What do you understand that word to mean? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

RT @reason: Some California NIMBYs are trying to repeal two new state laws that give property owners more freedom. https://t.co/LajK2XnhK0 — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@davidminpdx No one made any claims about "liberty" being denied. If the jurors at the Tribeca Film Festival were ready to watch it, but then the security guards employed by the festival said they wouldn't work if your film was screened, would that have been a bad thing? Yes or no? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@davidminpdx We both know that in the hypothetical below, you would believe that the projector operator did something worthy of being criticized, and that it would be a shame that your movie didn't show for the audience that showed up because of his veto. https://t.co/tMVPtGcylk — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@davidminpdx *And that was a bad thing.* — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

If @davidminpdx made a film about criminal justice reform, and on premier night the only employee who knew how to work the projector decided to deplatform the film by refusing to do the work to protest criticism of cops, would David think free expression was harmed? I would! — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @Akashandhisls @TheFIREorg ??? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

These workers exercised their right to freedom of association in a way that undermined freedom of artistic expression. They are lawfully entitled to do so. & an organization called the Foundation for Individual Rights ***and Expression*** should criticize them. This isn't hard. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @aphofer @TheFIREorg How is this "partisan"? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey @Akashandhisls @TheFIREorg Dave Chappelle is a left-of-center Democrat and you're talking like FIRE defending him makes them a right-wing organization. It makes no sense. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@aaronleedowell If you made a film, filmmaker, do you think whether it's shown or not should come down to whether the projector operator on a given day happens to agree with it, the 300 people who bought tickets be damned? If you sign up for a job facilitating art, that's the work — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@sgcafan @Virtual_Mexican @MPAVictoria @AndySpacek85 @rajandelman I suspect that the more people tell him he can't say something the more he will say that thing, and that once people stop trying to deplatform him for talking about a subject, he will talk about it much less. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@Pinkerite1 @rajandelman I'm a soulless money-grubber because I am against deplatforming talented leftist comedians from performing arts theaters? Stop siding with the authoritarian neo-puritans. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey I am against neo-puritans whether they are on the right or the left, and against performing arts venues giving staff veto power over artistic expression. If that's the future the left wants they'll be pursuing it without me and most other Americans. — PolitiTweet.org