General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Petition to forbid support of the NRA at DU [View all]patrice
(47,992 posts)If, as a private owner of the means of speech, Democratic Underground LLC should choose to not speak in support of the NRA, that's still free speech, because we users don't own the board, Democratic Underground LLC owns this board so it's free to say or not to say, that is have the board say or not say, what it wishes.
DU users own their owns means of speech and to the extent that any given speech is a result of those means, they have a right to free speech produced by those means.
DU users do not own the particular means of speech that I am using right now, this board, we don't own it, so it doesn't have to "speak" what we want, nor, within the established parameters of legal precedent, do we have any right to object to what the Democratic Underground LLC's voice, this board, says or doesn't say.
Progressives oppose fascism and using public resources to make profits without paying for those resources. There is nothing about that which assumes the negation of the rights of others, including the rights to free speech guaranteed to the owners of the means of speech by our Constitution.