Social media is defined by two things:
(1) intolerance
(2) the inability to pay attention to nuance and complexity
(1) intolerance
(2) the inability to pay attention to nuance and complexity
Karl Popper's "Paradox of Intolerance" doesn't mean what you think it means. Yes, if a group is trying to violently suppress speech, then no, we shouldn't tolerate that. But if they are merely expressing intolerant opinions, then we still have to tolerate their opinions.
I hate to bring up Antifa because it's a group whose importance is exaggerated by Trump, Cotton, etc., but it's them who Popper is talking about. Antifa's sole reason for existence is to violently suppress the speech of others.
We don't have fascists in America. The way Antifa works is to unjustifiably label those they disagree with as "fascist" as an excuse for violent suppression of their speech. Virtually everyone opposes fascist, so it's a convenient excuse.
Again, it's a hard topic. The Trump administration has sooooo many parallels with Nazi Germany and other authoritarian regimes. We shouldn't ignore the lessons of history. But at the same time, we shouldn't get blinded by our hatred of Trump and ignore the differences.
