There’s a tired, bad argument regarding de-platforming that goes something like this:
“Everyone on the Right should be concerned about the banning of Dissident X. Soon, they’ll be no conservatives left on social media!
“Everyone on the Right should be concerned about the banning of Dissident X. Soon, they’ll be no conservatives left on social media!
Sorry, but no. Most conservatives need not worry about de-platforming: they’ll be free to praise free-markets and family values and fret over creeping anti-Semitism unimpeded for years to come.
Opposing deplatfroming is about *supporting dissident political thought*. Period. De-platforming is a direct attack on key individuals and specific kinds of speech. The vast majority of people engaged in system-approved, meaningless political chatter simply won’t be affected.
The only question is: Do you take dissident political thought seriously or not? Pleading to conservatives on the basis of empathy or their own self-interest is fruitless.
Most conservative leaders wouldn’t mind seeing Dissident X get screwed. It makes them the only viable opposition. Others tell themselves that they’d be winning if it weren’t for those damn “radicals” and “white supremacists” who make them look bad.
