Comments on: For Sale: a Like-New gripped Sony a9 Mirrorless Digital Camera Body, and Whatever Happened to Freedom of Speech? https://www.birdsasart-blog.com/baa/2020/05/08/for-sale-a-like-new-gripped-sony-a9-mirrorless-digital-camera-body-and-whatever-happened-to-freedom-of-speech/ The blog of bird photographer Arthur Morris Fri, 07 Mar 2025 15:46:53 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 By: Arthur Morris/BIRDS AS ART https://www.birdsasart-blog.com/baa/2020/05/08/for-sale-a-like-new-gripped-sony-a9-mirrorless-digital-camera-body-and-whatever-happened-to-freedom-of-speech/comment-page-1/#comment-1784448 Wed, 13 May 2020 14:58:31 +0000 http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/?p=67283#comment-1784448 In reply to Stanley L Sizeler.

Stanley,

Thanks for your thoughtful, kind, and supportive comments.

with love, artie

]]> By: Stanley L Sizeler https://www.birdsasart-blog.com/baa/2020/05/08/for-sale-a-like-new-gripped-sony-a9-mirrorless-digital-camera-body-and-whatever-happened-to-freedom-of-speech/comment-page-1/#comment-1784413 Tue, 12 May 2020 23:44:55 +0000 http://www.birdsasart-blog.com/?p=67283#comment-1784413 Artie,
The “drug/vaccine folks” required that they be indemnified from liability, except intentional malfeasance, or they would not make the vaccines because they might be subject to numerous lawsuits for improper vaccine effects upon those who got them. This problem arose from the polio immunizations in the 1960’s. Liability lawsuits against the vaccine makers abounded at that time.
As to anyone being able to say whatever they wanted on the various social outlets: If the general public was as knowledgeable as you and most ( if not all) of the BAA participants, people could publicly espouse any idea they wanted, as you suggest, but much of the USA population is NOT knowledgeable or as educated as BAA people. Hence, they accept much of the misinformation as fact and act accordingly.

Much of the rationale for the creation of the FDA, and its subsequent regulations, was to protect the public from ineffective and/or harmful medications. The FDA policy has been largely effective and its purpose generally achieved.

The same idea “First of all, do no harm” should be applied-if possible- to the misinformation
promulgated by many regarding vaccines, masks, etc. The underlying problem regarding this standard is that it is next to impossible to regulate ‘free speech’ since if it is regulated, it is by definition is not ‘free’. You obviously feel that ‘caveat emptor’ applies to this kind of speech or comment, even it causes harm to those to take misleading advice. The FDA creation removed that risk from ‘quack’ or harmful drug sales, and since much of the public is unable to separate fact from opinion, I think that the social networks can do the same, even if some political bias creeps in, for the greater good.

Idealistic theory must be abandoned when its action causes significant harm.

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