Dear @SachaBaronCohen, I am a dogged defender of truth, an evolutionary behavioural scientist, and I happen to be Jewish. As such, Holocaust deniers and evolution deniers are not my favourite folks in the world. And yet, I support their right to spew their grotesque if not
imbecilic falsehoods. In a free society, we do not shut down people because they are wrong, idiotic, imbecilic, mean-spirited etc. The ONLY time that you should be condoning that social media companies intervene is for libel/defamation and a DIRECT incitement to violence.
Never should you be promoting the idea that entities should monitor the veracity of someone's speech. You defeat falsehoods with truths and not via censorship. Incidentally, for many statements, it is unclear what is true or not. Is Trump responsible for the low level of
black unemployment or should Obama take credit for it? Is Trump lying if he aggrandizes his accomplishments? Bottom line: If you support freedom of speech, you should support the right of Holocaust deniers to spew their BS.
I hope that this helps the @ADL and @SachaBaronCohen as they navigate the thorny issues associated with freedom of speech in free societies. Cheers.
