That damn report button

Free Speech Alternative to YouTube censors me

Some days you just have to laugh at the insanity of big businesses, big tech and the Internet. I’ve been releasing a podcast for the past couple of weeks and although I discuss the jizz biz, it’s actually very tame by most modern western definitions. When the podcast is uploaded to a mainstream, non-adult tube site, we make sure that the images we chose are not pornographic. Although modestly sexy, every woman in the pictures is fully clothed. The conversation in the podcasts can be a bit colorful; but they’re mostly about business and many Netflix videos have far more graphic dialog than what I’m creating.

One of the sites that the podcasts were uploaded to, bills itself as being a supporter of free speech. Obviously people can’t really go about saying anything, anywhere without expecting consequences. For instance, yelling fire in a crowded movie theater when there isn’t one is an asshole thing to do, someone can get seriously hurt in the panic. However, in the case of Internet platforms that depend on user generated content, I’m comfortably certain that they’ve found ways to pass the responsibility of policing uploads on to algorithms and on the backs of their subscribers. This means a thousand people could have had no problems watching or listening to your creation, but a small handful people either don’t like it or they just want to be jerks and democracy or justice be damned, there is a judgement against you. The result is censorship, demonetization and /or banning and it’s done automatically without human oversight.

Most of these platforms have an appeal process and to a certain extent it works. Unfortunately, more often than not, this is outsourced to poor nations who supply cheap labor. So the people reviewing your content interpret it’s acceptability with their own cultural biases. Take Muslims in India or Pakistan, whose religious conservatism dominates their lives; their beliefs run into conflict with western society. When they don’t believe that women should have a right to even a basic education, you can’t be expected to them to approve content filled with female empowerment. And I’m not comfortable having them review the merits or lack thereof of my work. Perhaps the appeal process was fair and perhaps it wasn’t, but the only certainty is that we have no way of knowing, no information is provided on who the reviewers are or how they arrive at their decisions. And that is just wrong…because you can’t correct a problem, if you can’t identify it, and you can’t defend against bias if you have no proof of it’s existence.

The Masses Are Asses

My real complaint isn’t with these biased reviewers, it’s with the consuming masses that accept and often encourage widespread and rampant censorship without debate. Some think as Descartes that our existence is a quintessential result of thought, or that thought is what gives life purpose. Although I’ve always joked that when compared to other species, humanity can be better defined by the inability of individuals to think for themselves. It’s a sad fact, but the majority of us want to be told what to think and what opinions we should hold. Henceforth proving that Alexander Hamilton was right when he said that the “Masses are asses.”

What truly separates us from the rest of the creatures on this planet is that we engage in politics. Which, is nothing more than large enough group of people allowing very small different group of people or even single individual, to determine what they believe. Censorship therefore, is nothing more than a filter against undesirable thoughts. So the site that proclaimed it was an island refuge for free expression, really only offers freedom of speech for those that share its opinions. Unfortunately, this means that regardless of how tame and vanilla, I can never produce any sort of content that they will find acceptable. The moment anyone finds out that I’m a pornstar and pornographer, I’ll be banned and forced back into the free speech ghetto.

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