Conor Friedersdorf

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey *rent — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey I don't think they should be fired for objecting. I think they should be fired if they refuse to do their jobs when they disagree with the people who aren't the venue. If the spotlight operator won't work you need a new spotlight operator. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

The left could simply ally w/ people who think it's a mistake for performing arts venues to deplatform artists over their political views, because free artistic expression is that important and valuable. Instead some are ceding that position to the right. It's a huge mistake. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@MPAVictoria @ish_other @rajandelman Familiarity with survey data and an assumption that trans people are no more authoritarian in their free speech attitudes and less puritanical in their attitudes as compared to the average American. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@MPAVictoria @ish_other @rajandelman I think a poll of trans people would show a majority oppose deplatforming comics on their behalf, and I side with that majority. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@MPAVictoria @ish_other @rajandelman You're evading my question. How many people have to tell you that deplatforming Chappelle from a venue does harm for you to abandon your position? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@MPAVictoria @ish_other @rajandelman What if multiple members of a discriminated against minority told you that petitioning venues in that way is harmful? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@MPAVictoria @ish_other @rajandelman I don't think you would — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@MPAVictoria @rajandelman No, you don't have to let Nazis use your theater. But if you start to treat mainstream liberals like Nazis I'm going to start to criticize your judgment — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rajandelman So no evidence that the jokes themselves caused harm? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rinanpakkala @ijbailey So the light operator just gets a veto on any performance based on their personal politics? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rinanpakkala @ijbailey But no community decided anything in this example. Venue workers decided. What community are they supposed to stand in for? Surely *the politics of the workers at a given venue, whatever they are* is a suboptimal standard for whether a stage performance happens or not — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rinanpakkala @ijbailey Yes. We should stop trying to deplatform artists as a political tactic, we should stop alleging without evidence that their expression causes harm, and we should regard people who try to censor artists as harming social justice, not advancing it. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rinanpakkala @ijbailey Would you object if a theater cancelled a pro-gay marriage comic's show because a Christian light operator objected to working it? — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rinanpakkala @ijbailey Freedom of association needs to be protected too, even when people exercise it poorly. Breach of contract is a different thing — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rinanpakkala @ijbailey No, that would violate free association rights — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rinanpakkala @ijbailey As a theater owner I wouldn't compel their labor I would simply hire new workers who value artistic freedom and let neopuritan censors work elsewhere — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rinanpakkala @ijbailey I think artists should be judged by the aggregate of individual judgments, not by offended people intervening to make it harder for the good of performers getting paid by audience members who want to pay them. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rinanpakkala @ijbailey Yes I think that is a bad thing. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rinanpakkala @ijbailey No, that's wrong. By market standards Chappelle would be fine. This isn't an application of market standards. It is workers saying their moral concerns should override what the public judges as funny and want to see as well as what Chappelle can pay to book the venue — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rinanpakkala @ijbailey I agree that should be able to take a stand. They can and have. I disagree with this particular stand because it is a blow against artistic freedom and strengthens a viewpoint discrimination approach that will harm everyone insofar as it takes hold. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rinanpakkala @ijbailey I agree that artists are frequently targeted by people who dislike their politics. I think that is a bad thing to be lamented. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rinanpakkala @ijbailey It's other comedians and artists who will bear the brunt of this, not Chappelle, who will probably respond by telling more trans jokes — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rinanpakkala @ijbailey I want norms that protects all comedians, including trans comedians with the opposite perspective as Chappelle, from having venues cancel on them because venues workers don't like their politics. My norm would value and protect artistic expression and avoid chilling effects. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rinanpakkala @ijbailey Okay, in this case, workers allying with trans activists by protesting the comedian the activists have repeatedly targeted for deplatforming — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@rajandelman It seems to me that you can provide no evidence of harm, just assertions that harm was done and unsupported speculation that some always unnamed joke somehow influenced legislation. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey When they make that choice based on a particular metric, like *told jokes trans activists object to* the effect is to chill all jokes that comedians regard as potentially upsetting trans activists. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey The affected group here is *artists who talk on stage* not all of us. — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@ijbailey No, if venues don't make these choices everyone will know that they can say what they like because venues wouldn't make such choices — PolitiTweet.org

Conor Friedersdorf @conor64

@JaymeNiezgoda68 @ijbailey @danielwinlander Exactly. If a theater booked NHJ for a one woman show, then cancelled because theater staff objected to the content of the 1619 Project, that would be an unfortunate exercise of free association rights that harmed free expression. — PolitiTweet.org