• protist@mander.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    147
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    5 days ago

    “I’m not going to go to some backwoods country and tell them how to live their lives,” Vance added. “But European countries should theoretically share American values, especially about some very basic things like free speech.”

    The US ranked 26th in the world when it comes to free speech, with several members of the European Union higher up the list, according to the 2024 Global Expression Report.

    😑 I’m going to have to disconnect from the news more often moving forward

    • lime!@feddit.nu
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      63
      ·
      5 days ago

      most of europe explicitly does not have free speech, because it’s commonly understood that harmful speech exists. i don’t know what he’s trying to convey with that idea but he comes across as misinformed, and not a little bit controlling (“should”)

      • curbstickle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        51
        ·
        5 days ago

        American here! Its because this is all rhetoric for the idiots that follow him. He doesn’t care if Europeans see him as an idiot, he cares that the idiots here see him as big brained. And the rubes eat up anything that has “free speech” in it because they generally interpret that as “its OK to be racist and misogynistic, its my right because freedoms!”

        Hope this helped explain.

        And probably also explains why I want to leave.

        • BakerBagel@midwest.social
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          arrow-down
          21
          ·
          5 days ago

          Not sure how Euros haven’t figured out that the main thing America inherited from Britain is our ability to not give a fuck what Continental Europeans think about us. Not sure why Euros keep thinking they can shame or guilt Brits and Americans into doing what they want.

      • cows_are_underrated@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        29
        ·
        5 days ago

        The important thing is, that in Europe free speech is normally defined as the freedom to say everything as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. This is also with a lot of different forms of freedom. Your freedom ends where the freedom of others begin.

        • Eril@feddit.org
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          9
          ·
          4 days ago

          And that is the proper definition imo. Other people are not NPCs, you are not the main character🤷

        • InFerNo@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          4 days ago

          That also exists in the US under libel. You can’t say anything you want if it harms someone, unless I’m mistaken.

          • Sweetpeaches69@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            3 days ago

            But that takes a lawsuit, which takes money. As such, it’s really only a law to prevent the poors from speaking ill of the powerful.

      • Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        20
        ·
        5 days ago

        Americans always freak out when they hear Canada has hate speech laws and claim they’re anti free speech.

        Most of us don’t ever need to worry about hate speech laws, because most of us aren’t going around calling for violence and open bigotry against entire ethnic groups.

      • Saleh@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        17
        ·
        5 days ago

        Not accepting hate speech, in particularly inciting violence is not contradictory to free speech in my opinion.

        We should not follow the US idea, that speech is only free, if any vile poison can be spread. In the context of Musk that is also ironic, as he is using his powers to censor people.