Writing is not really speech either, since it's written (?)
Free speech generally includes written forms of communication, since they are equivalent to vocal sounds in terms of their intent and capacity to cause change.
Of course, freedom of expression does not include violence...
Only really because we generally agree that we don't want violence. In a pure sense, violence is expression of what is inside of us.
I don't agree with curangel (pharesim) downvoting you this much, but your speech is still visible at the end of the day.
It's only visible to the extent that the Hive websites ensure that it is - some do this more than others.
Also it is not impossible to power up enough to counter these downvotes... but that's another pointless debate.
It's not completely impossible, but only possible for individual people in the top 1% of the world's wealth distribution. In powering up, they also create a situation where the current stakeholders can take some of that invested money for themselves. However, the reward pool is stakeholder's money to begin with - so arguably that isn't so much of an issue overall. It is still the case, though, that by creating a tension through downvoting that promotes buying stake to resolve it - the downvoters could think that they create a buy pressure.. However, at the same time they may also create a sell pressure as people get annoyed and just leave.. In that sense, downvoting is arguably more of a creator of sell pressure than upvoting is, since upvoting entices people to buy in and compete with their content (plus is obviously part of the fundamentals of the system, which is more obvious to many people than the effect of downvoting is).
The main problem here is the unbalanced distribution of stakes ...and it has been since day 1.
That's a key issue - but since Hive can be bought using Fiat money and the Fiat money has been created totally fraudulently in massive quantities for a long time, there is very little chance that Hive will be distributed in concordance with genuine consensus via POB.
Acting like whatever you say should not have an economical impact of sorts has little to do with the right to express yourself freely.
For me, this issue circles around POB since it entices investors and creators to envision a meritocratic, consensus based system where good content gets more eyeballs and therefore advertising. It's a great idea, but it falls apart to some extent when 'the wisdom of the crowd' becomes 'the opinion of a whale'.
Not much left to say here...
That, I fully agree with.
I think we need more small accounts powering up.
I am running for witness, too.
I have been around since almost the beginning.
I have a long history on chain, including saying some stupid stuff and downvoting posts...
I have always tried to help increase wider distribution of stakes.
I have been curating by hand with only my own account for 5+ years now.
For the most part, I try to stay out of political debates (on Hive), but sometimes, I can't help it. I have opinions on all sorts of topics, but avoided downvoting posts for political reasons.
Not sure, if I actively support free speech and what you mean by that, but a witness vote would help me a lot.
It has been a bit worryingly difficult to get witnesses to do anything at all to try to receive a large witness vote from me here. In fact, I don't think anyone has provided any evidence at all yet!
I am looking more for actions than words, though publicly spoken words in important conversations/ways/places is relevant. Examples might include organising counter upvotes on dubious downvotes, developing apps that change how Hive works in order to protect free speech, being a free speech activist outside of Hive in some way - these sorts of things.
Promoting decentralisation in practical ways is also relevant, but since anyone can just say 'I support free speech', we need something more than words.
I understand.
I am probably not the right candidate for what you want to see, then.
Anyone can take action now to become such a candidate! :)
As mentioned above, I see enough potential here to increase the freedom of expression for all sorts of people.
I think I can have more impact, if I don't fight against windmills. My main mission is to support weaker accounts in building their own hive power and reach and not by opposing other people.
I have downvoted ocd for a while, confronted acidyo on chain and pharesim in private, but that's a about as much as I see beneficial for what I am trying to achieve.
When the weaker accounts are crushed routinely, with no way to respond then there is only so much help that can be provided without addressing the cause of their issue. Sure, accounts that post unchallenging content may not have such problems, but then what is the point in saying we support freedom of expression if the caveat is that the expression has to conform to a few people's opinions? lol.
If you provide some links to your downvotes and discussions with these folks then I'll definitely take a look. Thanks.
Phew, that would take me a while.
I don't think it's worth it, as I am not who you are looking for anyways.
Maybe if I find the time, I'll write a script for finding those downvotes and discussions, as some of that stuff is old... and I want to show proof, just for the record.