Is this "anti free speech"? Does anyone think we'd be better off as a society if Kanye's posts were allowed to stay up, and he was able to continue spewing on that platform? This is the argument that I've heard made before, well here's an example. Go ahead and criticize twitter for silencing West.
I don't really care if Twitter bans Ye. They're within their right. I also don't think that Ye is hurting for platforms for free speech.
That being said, I'm going to throw out an unpopular opinion. I read Kanye's tweet. I don't think it was anti-Semitic. I'm not even sure if it was coherent. First, Ye says that all black people are Jewish anyways. (Crazy but whatever). So if Ye thinks that he is Jewish not sure if what he says could be anti-Semitic. I know some people could argue this point. The next point is he says he's going "death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE" (sic). Now, I don't know about you, but "death con 3" can mean a bunch of stupid *censored*. It doesn't necessarily mean that he is going to be violent or advocates violence. *censored*, man. This is Ye. Everyone knows he's off his meds and halfway pbbbpbpbpbpbppbpbpbpbpbb. I understand he has some court recognized anger management problems and has hit some people. I don't think he's that dangerous. Any more dangerous than any other person off their meds. I mean, we're not talkin bout Tupac, or Lil Wayne, or 50 cent. We're talkin bout Ye. I mean, I could say I'm goin "defcon 3" on my son when I get home because he failed a test or didn't clean his room or talked back to his mom. Doesn't mean I'm going to kill him or be violent.
I mean, you can argue the point about the violence, but my personal opinion is that things get labeled as racist that don't meet my own particular strict definition of racism or racist. I think a bunch of things that are just stupid or bad or wrong get labeled as racist because it's easy and gets more results. Calling Ye a dumbass or just wrong doesn't get the same reaction as calling him anti-Semitic. I think this is wrong as well, since I don't consider racism to be a particularly special form of stupidity or wrongness. I don't see how being racist is worse than being sexist, or ageist, or, what, homophobic, etc. I suppose there are good arguments that would suggest that racism in general and anti-Semitism in particular have led to greater crimes than just being sexist or homophobic or whatever. But I really don't know. Plenty of people have been murdered, in droves, not because of their race, but because they were just convenient or they stood in the way of "progress".
I'm not going to criticize Twitter. I was probably the best thing for Kanye. But I notice there are plenty of anti-Semitic stuff out there that doesn't get the same amount of press. I mean, Ice Cube has been more anti-Semitic, and nobody mobbing him. Omar and Talib have put out some stuff that was said to be anti-Semitic. They were spanked but not kicked off Twitter as far as I know. I think the mob against Kanye has other problems with him than just supposed anti-Semitism.
