The Evils of Libertarian Censorship

Is censorship on a libertarian blog the way to go? Is it the right, ethical, and moral thing to do? That's the question that has been weighing on my mind today. As the head of a blog that I already operate (yes, it's Let Liberty Ring for those who don't already know), I don't let censorship become the norm on the site. I let people blog, as long as it's about human liberty.

I don't care what your stripe of libertarianism is. If you're a geolibertarian, free marketeer (like Yours Truly), paleolibertarian, voluntaryist, anarcho-capitalist, anarchist, and whatever label you happen to go by, you have to believe in free speech and respect that right, even if it is deemed unpopular by the other bloggers and commentators on the site. There is a crucial question that needs to be asked: is it moral, ethical, and right to censor a blogger, not because he or she allegedly attacked the owner of the blog, but because he spoke out against the drama and the crud that have become the standard and the norm on the site? That's the question someone needs to ask.

As of today, Tuesday, November 4, 2008, I was kicked off of Last Free Voice. The reason for my boot? Because I wrote an even-handed, very reasonable piece about the drama and childish nonsense that was becoming part and parcel of the problems on LFV. Most of the drama centered on the allegation that our former Chairman Jim Davidson called Elf Ninos Mom "a child abuser," when he never did such a thing.

I basically, in a nutshell, wrote that everyone had a complicit part in the attacks and drama on the website. I never resorted to name-calling, and I never resorted to threats or abuse of any kind towards ENM. If I wanted to be abusive towards her, I would have employed every single four-letter word in my response to her. I would have been hateful to her about it, and I know that I would have been outspoken about it as well.

ENM's husband, who has obviously taken control of the entire site (because, apparently, ENM is not a happy camper that I and a few other people have been outspokenly scrutinizing her), has decided to attack me and my character because of it.

This is what he has said in the comment section of the LFV site (interestingly enough, my post and the comments that follow are no longer on the site):

"ENMHUSBAND: As I already said, "Todd", I wipe my ass with your opinion of me. You have been here all of five minutes and you think it's appropriate to post this kind of shit? ENM, where the hell do you even get these rocket scientists?

I did a little checking and see that you are one of this Jim Davidson's friends. That wasn't hard to find at all. It also wasn't hard to find that you and this Davidson asshole ganged up to abuse a woman who said she was raped as a child. Big men, both of you.

Yea, you are gone. I said no warnings and I didn't fucking stutter."

When I logged onto the site before I was kicked off, my post was no longer on there. It was "pending review" on Wordpress's server. And then, after that, the entire post was removed, along with all the comments. I still have the comments in my inbox. Minutes later, I was no longer a contributor to the site, and how I found out was that, once I logged back into Wordpress, I could no longer access LFV's dashboard. I can no longer write a post or manage a post like I did hours and days before.

As for the comments in my inbox, they were not written and blogged in a private setting. They were made public. Therefore, Elf Nino's Mom's Husband cannot attack me for posting his comments on a public website, such as the BTP.

Plus, ENMHusband and ENM have been very arrogantly spiteful and hateful towards the BTP, and therefore this does involve the Party, whether we care to acknowledge it or not. The level of nastiness and childishness that have become a part of the LFV showcases exactly how off the rocker a number of these LP partisans and their sycophants have become.

What has transpired on LFV was an act of censorship. It sends the following message to libertarian bloggers and posters: "You are not allowed to freely post your views and comments that are not partial to the Libertarian Party and the Last Free Voice. You have no right to criticize the owners of a blog for their own biases, even if your criticisms do not involve ad hominems or berating of any kind. You are not allowed to speak freely about your feelings of any kind if it's not politically correct or in favor of the Libertarian establishment or, better yet, the Last Free Voice establishment."

These are the evils of libertarian censorship. It has become a disease in our own movement. It has become a disease in the LP. And that disease has now infected LFV.

The question is: will it infect the BTP? I pray that it doesn't. Otherwise, liberty in this country is doomed, and we all will pay a huge price for it.

[*Note: Crossposted on my blog on the Boston Tea Party website.]