How Facebook violates our freedom of speech, which is enshrined in the US Constitution
This is a copy of the post at https://www.facebook.com/seva.brodsky.1/posts/10156180700040143
In https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10205483659726245&set=a.1059948354298 Pegibas Irina posted the following photo with a caption on June 17 at 5:59 PM:
In jest, I left the following comment:
"Все пидоры!"
This innocent and sarcastic comment led to the following actions on the part of FB:
Furthermore, FB suggested that I review their “Community Standards” (which is but a euphemism for their totalitarian speech codes) at https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards/ - I couldn’t get past the first paragraph, though, as their tree-hugging Kumbaya nearly made me puke.
This is what I submitted to FB after they refused to invalidate and lift their ban:
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When a friend of mine posted a photo of a street in Tel Aviv in the wake of the annual "gay pride parade" (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10205483659726245&set=a.1059948354298) and mentioned that the ultra-orthodox shouldn't be getting all the bad rap for trash on the streets, I left a humorous and sarcastic comment "Все пидоры!", which was a Russian pun, the meaning of which is that everybody is a jerk.
Let's look at the dictionary definitions of the term, shall we?
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/пидор states the following, inter alia:
1. (vulgar, offensive) fag, faggot (homosexual)
2. (vulgar) asshole (mean or rude person)
The Synonyms section of at this link also offers the following synonym: "козёл (kozjól)" - which in Russian means a male goat, also used as a derogatory term for someone who is a jerk or is behaving like one.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pidor states the following, inter alia:
Russian slang word for the gay, very offensive. Often used as common insult towards to non-homosexual men.
https://context.reverso.net/translation/russian-english/пидор offers the following translation pairs, inter alia:
Этот пидор пугает всех до усрачки. -> People out there so scared of this motherfucker.
Этот мелкий пидор забрал дерьмо себе. -> That little motherfucker took that shit for himself.
Да по-любому ты не в тот район угодил, пидор. -> Either way, motherfucker, you're in the wrong neighborhood.
Никаких проблем не было, пока этот пидор нам говна не подкинул. -> Ain't no one have a problem with it till the motherfucker gave us one.
https://en.bab.la/dictionary/russian-english/пидор states the following, inter alia:
пидор (also: сука, заеба) -> motherfucker {noun} [vulg.]
I’m sure that you will agree that English terms such “fag” or “faggot” and the like are not used exclusively to address or indicate a gay person - quite often these terms in English are meant to denote a jerk. And so, within the context of the aftermath of the gay pride parade in Tel Aviv, what with the garbage strewn all over the streets in its wake, this terminology would constitute a pun in English as well, which has nothing to do with one’s sexual orientation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_(slang)#Television is quite instructive and illustrative here:
In November 2009, the South Park episode "The F Word" dealt with the overuse of the word fag. The boys use the word to insult a group of bikers, saying that their loud motorcycles ruin everyone else's nice time. Officials from the dictionary, including Emmanuel Lewis attend in the town and agree that the meaning of the word should no longer insult homosexuals but instead be used to describe loud motorcycle riders who ruin others' nice times.[35] The episode is a satire on the taboo of using the term, as it goes against political correctness.[36][37]
https://ru.wiktionary.org/wiki/пидор offers the following meanings of the term, inter alia:
перен., вульг., бранн. плохой, неприятный, вредный человек - this translates that it’s a transitive, vulgar, and swear term, which means a bad, unpleasant, malign person.
In the Синонимы (Synonyms) section of this same entry the following are offered: козёл, мудак, гондон, гандон - none of which have any sexual connotation but are simply meant to denote a jerk, an idiot, or an asshole.
http://cyclowiki.org/wiki/Пидор mentions a popular song by a very popular Russian performer Sergey Shnur that was used in a popular Russian film “The Election Day”: «Выборы! Выборы! Кандидаты - пидоры!» - песня Шнура. This translates as “Elections! Elections! The candidates are faggots!"
Now, was my innocent joking comment off-color or a rude one? Some may say so while others may disagree. But that’s not really the point, is it? After all, if censorship starts here, with such innocent stuff, where will it end? Especially given the protections given by the 1st Amendment to the freedom of speech. I realize that FB is a private entity, but in view of the fact that, for all intents and purposes, it’s a monopoly, it loses a right to discriminate at will against free speech as long as no laws are broken - and the only exception in American jurisprudence (at least insofar as I am aware) applies to incitement to violence. I have not broken any laws with my innocent pun.
If some some hypersensitive PC "snowflake" who either (a) has no sense of humor, or (b) doesn't know all the common meanings of the term, or (c) has an axe to grind with me personally, decided to report my innocent comment to the FB thought police censorship department, which probably passed the complaint over to its Russian minders, this certainly should not have resulted in my being suspended for 3 days. Such a complaint should have been “laughed out of court” - only it wasn’t. Your Russian moderators decided to take away my ability to post or comment and my request for a review has only confirmed the validity of their actions.
Such a blatant violation of my free speech rights is not only incredibly frustrating and infuriating - it is frivolous, malicious, arbitrary and downright illegal. And if you do not think it is illegal, you just wait - there will be a class action law suit against FB sooner or later. FB will either be punished monetarily, or an injunction will be issued against FB’s censorship practices, or a worthy free-speech-respecting competitor will come along and destroy your company by taking away people who are sick and tired of your free-speech-intolerant and totalitarian practices.
The courtesy of your reply is hereby respectfully requested - although I’d be pleasantly surprised if you do answer. But hey, surprise me, why don’t you?
In https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10205483659726245&set=a.1059948354298 Pegibas Irina posted the following photo with a caption on June 17 at 5:59 PM:
In jest, I left the following comment:
"Все пидоры!"
This innocent and sarcastic comment led to the following actions on the part of FB:
Furthermore, FB suggested that I review their “Community Standards” (which is but a euphemism for their totalitarian speech codes) at https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards/ - I couldn’t get past the first paragraph, though, as their tree-hugging Kumbaya nearly made me puke.
This is what I submitted to FB after they refused to invalidate and lift their ban:
-------------------------
When a friend of mine posted a photo of a street in Tel Aviv in the wake of the annual "gay pride parade" (https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10205483659726245&set=a.1059948354298) and mentioned that the ultra-orthodox shouldn't be getting all the bad rap for trash on the streets, I left a humorous and sarcastic comment "Все пидоры!", which was a Russian pun, the meaning of which is that everybody is a jerk.
Let's look at the dictionary definitions of the term, shall we?
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/пидор states the following, inter alia:
1. (vulgar, offensive) fag, faggot (homosexual)
2. (vulgar) asshole (mean or rude person)
The Synonyms section of at this link also offers the following synonym: "козёл (kozjól)" - which in Russian means a male goat, also used as a derogatory term for someone who is a jerk or is behaving like one.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pidor states the following, inter alia:
Russian slang word for the gay, very offensive. Often used as common insult towards to non-homosexual men.
https://context.reverso.net/translation/russian-english/пидор offers the following translation pairs, inter alia:
Этот пидор пугает всех до усрачки. -> People out there so scared of this motherfucker.
Этот мелкий пидор забрал дерьмо себе. -> That little motherfucker took that shit for himself.
Да по-любому ты не в тот район угодил, пидор. -> Either way, motherfucker, you're in the wrong neighborhood.
Никаких проблем не было, пока этот пидор нам говна не подкинул. -> Ain't no one have a problem with it till the motherfucker gave us one.
https://en.bab.la/dictionary/russian-english/пидор states the following, inter alia:
пидор (also: сука, заеба) -> motherfucker {noun} [vulg.]
I’m sure that you will agree that English terms such “fag” or “faggot” and the like are not used exclusively to address or indicate a gay person - quite often these terms in English are meant to denote a jerk. And so, within the context of the aftermath of the gay pride parade in Tel Aviv, what with the garbage strewn all over the streets in its wake, this terminology would constitute a pun in English as well, which has nothing to do with one’s sexual orientation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_(slang)#Television is quite instructive and illustrative here:
In November 2009, the South Park episode "The F Word" dealt with the overuse of the word fag. The boys use the word to insult a group of bikers, saying that their loud motorcycles ruin everyone else's nice time. Officials from the dictionary, including Emmanuel Lewis attend in the town and agree that the meaning of the word should no longer insult homosexuals but instead be used to describe loud motorcycle riders who ruin others' nice times.[35] The episode is a satire on the taboo of using the term, as it goes against political correctness.[36][37]
https://ru.wiktionary.org/wiki/пидор offers the following meanings of the term, inter alia:
перен., вульг., бранн. плохой, неприятный, вредный человек - this translates that it’s a transitive, vulgar, and swear term, which means a bad, unpleasant, malign person.
In the Синонимы (Synonyms) section of this same entry the following are offered: козёл, мудак, гондон, гандон - none of which have any sexual connotation but are simply meant to denote a jerk, an idiot, or an asshole.
http://cyclowiki.org/wiki/Пидор mentions a popular song by a very popular Russian performer Sergey Shnur that was used in a popular Russian film “The Election Day”: «Выборы! Выборы! Кандидаты - пидоры!» - песня Шнура. This translates as “Elections! Elections! The candidates are faggots!"
Now, was my innocent joking comment off-color or a rude one? Some may say so while others may disagree. But that’s not really the point, is it? After all, if censorship starts here, with such innocent stuff, where will it end? Especially given the protections given by the 1st Amendment to the freedom of speech. I realize that FB is a private entity, but in view of the fact that, for all intents and purposes, it’s a monopoly, it loses a right to discriminate at will against free speech as long as no laws are broken - and the only exception in American jurisprudence (at least insofar as I am aware) applies to incitement to violence. I have not broken any laws with my innocent pun.
If some some hypersensitive PC "snowflake" who either (a) has no sense of humor, or (b) doesn't know all the common meanings of the term, or (c) has an axe to grind with me personally, decided to report my innocent comment to the FB thought police censorship department, which probably passed the complaint over to its Russian minders, this certainly should not have resulted in my being suspended for 3 days. Such a complaint should have been “laughed out of court” - only it wasn’t. Your Russian moderators decided to take away my ability to post or comment and my request for a review has only confirmed the validity of their actions.
Such a blatant violation of my free speech rights is not only incredibly frustrating and infuriating - it is frivolous, malicious, arbitrary and downright illegal. And if you do not think it is illegal, you just wait - there will be a class action law suit against FB sooner or later. FB will either be punished monetarily, or an injunction will be issued against FB’s censorship practices, or a worthy free-speech-respecting competitor will come along and destroy your company by taking away people who are sick and tired of your free-speech-intolerant and totalitarian practices.
The courtesy of your reply is hereby respectfully requested - although I’d be pleasantly surprised if you do answer. But hey, surprise me, why don’t you?