I think warnings about information being actively harmful have been pretty rare, though.
There are very few, if any, societies without censorship.
But then there’re rare one-offs, the ones that people have called basilisks, and with confirmed deaths or psychological injuries to their credit. These are clearly not in the same league.
I need examples, more than the present post (“hey, here’s a rambling crackpot 2000-page suicide note”) or, in the case of the LessWrong forbidden post, individuals with known mental disabilities (OCD) getting extremely upset. (I don’t deny that they were upset, or that this is something to consider; I do deny it’s enough reason for complete suppression.)
Would your criteria ban the song “Gloomy Sunday”?
It seems to me that starting with analysis at a distance is a necessary (but not necessarily sufficient) precaution in that handling.
No. Mainly because enforcing a ban on any song requires arranging society in a bad way. Also because I don’t consider the mood shift from a depressing song to be much of a harm, and the title is sufficient warning for anyone who wouldn’t want to listen to something gloomy. However, my criteria would imply that you should think twice before adding it to your playlist, though, thrice if people subscribe to that playlist who don’t want to or ought not to want to listen to it.
jimrandomh had other very apposite comments in private message which I’ve responded to. I don’t think we deeply disagree on anything much to do with the issue of the necessity of learning to stare back at basilisks.
There are very few, if any, societies without censorship.
I need examples, more than the present post (“hey, here’s a rambling crackpot 2000-page suicide note”) or, in the case of the LessWrong forbidden post, individuals with known mental disabilities (OCD) getting extremely upset. (I don’t deny that they were upset, or that this is something to consider; I do deny it’s enough reason for complete suppression.)
Would your criteria ban the song “Gloomy Sunday”?
It’s catalogue of citable examples time, then.
Claims of real-life examples of the motif of harmful sensation are not rare at all. Substantiated ones are rather less common.
No. Mainly because enforcing a ban on any song requires arranging society in a bad way. Also because I don’t consider the mood shift from a depressing song to be much of a harm, and the title is sufficient warning for anyone who wouldn’t want to listen to something gloomy. However, my criteria would imply that you should think twice before adding it to your playlist, though, thrice if people subscribe to that playlist who don’t want to or ought not to want to listen to it.
Sorry, I should have given a link. I speak of the claims of it inducing suicide.
What I’m saying is that you need actual evidence before invoking claims of harmful sensation.
jimrandomh had other very apposite comments in private message which I’ve responded to. I don’t think we deeply disagree on anything much to do with the issue of the necessity of learning to stare back at basilisks.