This is a potentially controversial thing to say but in certain scenarios I believe that free speech (with a particular and specific focus on the US in this article) shouldn’t be so free. And maybe certain people shouldn’t be allowed the speech part either. (I’m just joking).
Call me a villain, label me as ‘restrictive’, sacrifice me as a peace offering to the god of free speech, but I believe in censorship when we’re talking about spreading hate. Or maybe I recognise the difference between free speech and hate speech, but it seems like there is a majority that doesn’t. Free speech is not supposed to instill fear in marginalized groups. There’s a difference between freely discussing your opinions in regard to pineapple on pizza and discussing your immoral opinions which ultimately promote violence. Words are powerful, and they are enriched in power when you have a platform, much like Kanye West’s.
Kanye West’s twitter/X rampage.
Kanye West recently had another twitter/X rampage (are we surprised?) between 6th-9th February, posting bigoted and harmful statements such as “I’m a Nazi” and “I love Hitler”.
The ADL responded to West’s rampage, highlighting and reminding social media users of the approximate 30 antisemitic incidents that occurred as a result of West’s twitter rants in 2022. They labelled West’s “a flagrant and unequivocal display of hate”. Evidently, what he says and tweets provokes and emboldens further far right conversations. He was allowed to promote such hate with little consequences over several days on X, sending the message that it is acceptable for other far right advocates to promote their hate and violence. He also tweeted “I can say whatever the f*ck I wanna say forever” highlighting his awareness of the lack of consequence for his open hate. This makes Elon Musk also complicit in allowing him to maintain his platform for so long.
Alongside his blatant racism, he also tweeted concerning statements in regard to his wife Bianca Censori, claiming that he has ‘dominion’ over her, as well as expressing his support for P Diddy. He has also posted pornography. This is evidence of his misogynistic and sexist perspectives, which arguably promotes further hate and violence against women in a world that already treats them in a contemptible manner.
West’s X account was eventually deactivated however there is debate as to whether he did so himself, or whether it was deactivated by X. Musk flagged his account as ‘NSFW’ and although his pornography posts were disturbing, there appears to be a lack of focus or consideration for his other tweets.
Kanye West & his psychotic superbowl advert.
Following his twitter rants, he has also recently been rightfully criticized regarding the ad he displayed during the Super Bowl (February 9th). The advert was promoting his website, a site that was selling a swastika t-shirt. Alongside the shirt, there was a code stating “HH-01” an antisemitic dog whistle meaning “Heil Hitler”. Psychotic and disturbing.
His site was deactivated on Shopify and he was dropped from his talent agency.
Shopify said “All merchants are responsible for following the rules of our platform. This merchant did not engage in authentic commerce practices and violated our terms, so we removed them from Shopify”.
Alongside this advert and his twitter/X rants, he has reached large audiences with his hateful messages. This is impactful, dangerous and concerning. The platforms that helped him promote these messages are also complicit.
It isn’t controversial to call him out.
It shouldn’t be controversial to acknowledge that Kanye West’s actions are disgusting, and that they promote hatred and far right perspectives, resulting in real life violence against these communities. He has around 30 million followers on X and the Super Bowl is an anticipated and closely watched event. Therefore his message is widely seen.
People who promote violence do not deserve a platform, and it is unfair that there is a lack of consequence for them. West’s actions are not at all comparable to actual instances of free speech, for example individuals like Chris Kluwe, who got arrested for his free speech, even though he was promoting peace,
This is evidence of the far right rising and it looks really ugly in this world. It would actually be pretty great if Elon Musk did figure out a way to get to Mars and all the nazis/fascists could scooch over there and maybe West’s disturbing merch would sell better. But here, right now, this was a huge Kanyuck moment (although does he have any KanYAY’s?) (did you get the pun?)