On 12/21/2020 9:55 PM, John Levine via mailop wrote:
when antivax nonsense persuades people who would otherwise get
vaccinated that they shouldn't, they or people they infect may die.
The politest term I have for Sendgrid's actions here is deeply irresponsible.
The moment "spam" gets away from "consent" and goes into "content"
(specifically *legal* content) - there are enormous problems - because
it then becomes one person's often very subjective opinion - against
another' subjective opinion - about the content. So I 100% strongly
disagree with this opinion that Sendgrid should be the political
"thought police" for LEGAL content that is sent from their platform.
Someone might respond... "But but but - lives are at stake" (1) a
pro-lifer could make the SAME argument about Sendgrid allowing some
organization like Planned Parenthood to use their platform! So should
that pro-life person or group's subjective/personal political opinion
prevail? AND (2) this wouldn't be the first time that the "conventional
wisdom" about COVID from on-high got something very very wrong and they
later changed their minds. For example, I'm old enough to remember when
Facebook fact-checkers were linking to articles that used as their
"proof" a study that has since been pulled for being fraudulent
(Surgisphere), and the same article FB was using (actually, a few
different articles did this) said that Remdesivir was our BEST med for
fighting COVID, yet the WHO recently recommended against use of
Remdesivir due to the WHO *now* claiming that it is ineffective. My
point? The "science" is often NOT as settled as many claim - as we've
ESPECIALLY learn in 2020 - and so this is all the more reason we
shouldn't be the "thought police" who try to shut down opposing viewpoints.
PS - I'm NOT an antivaxxer - my 4 (now young adult) children got ALL of
the vaccines recommended by the government and the major medical
organizations. ALL. OF. THEM. (Does that sound like an antivaxxer?) But
there was ONE optional one that our doctor recommended that my wife and
I didn't feel comfortable with. GUESS WHAT - it LATER got pulled off the
market due to causing too much harmful collateral damage. If ESPs
existed back then (early 2000s), I abhor the idea that a healthy debate
about that one that got pulled off the market - might have been silenced
by the "thought police"!
--
Rob McEwen
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