Steven Crowder vs. Carlos Maza: Is It Really Free Speech If It Hurts Someone's Feelings?

For the past week or so, a Vox.com video producer named Carlos Maza has been throwing a fit about being taunted and disparaged by conservative pundit and comedian Steven Crowder. Maza really doesn’t like Crowder’s mockery and criticism, and is campaigning to get Crowder kicked off YouTube.

Maza, whose Twitter handle is @gaywonk because he’s really happy about arcane policy details, is not happy about Crowder’s hurtful words:

Since I started working at Vox, Steven Crowder has been making video after video “debunking” Strikethrough. Every single video has included repeated, overt attacks on my sexual orientation and ethnicity. Here’s a sample: pic.twitter.com/UReCcQ2Elj

— Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) May 31, 2019

This seems to be the main point of contention:

Good lord. @YouTube says it didn’t punish Crowder because he was “focused primarily on debating” when he repeatedly called me a “lispy queer.”

You can harass queer people as much as you want as long as its sandwiched between “debating.”

Unreal. https://t.co/YpDXjeGAQm

— Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) June 5, 2019

Maza, who describes himself as “queer,” doesn’t like Crowder calling him a “queer,” because Crowder doesn’t treat the word with the respect and reverence it deserves. Maza is here, he’s queer, you must cheer in a way that’s sincere, and don’t you dare call him a “queer.”

I guess the issue is that Crowder is using “queer” as a noun instead of an adjective? It’s definitely not a matter of Maza being completely unable to take a joke, because as he notes:

So, I have pretty thick skin when it comes to online harassment, but something has been really bothering me.

— Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) May 31, 2019

See? You might think you’ve seen thicker skin on soap bubbles, but that’s wrong. Just because Maza has spent the better part of a week throwing a temper tantrum over a mean man making fun of him, don’t mistake that for thin skin. This isn’t about Maza and his hurt feelings, and you’d better not say it is or you’ll never hear the end of it.

Maza’s strenuous efforts to martyr himself have now borne fruit. Crowder is… sorry?

What a dirty trick. If you laughed at any part of that collection of slurs, Dear Reader, you’re a racist sexist homophobic transphobic racist misogynist body-shaming cisnormative ageist lookist racist. Not to mention a racist. I regret to inform you that I am too.

See, it’s like this: In a free society, there are some things you just can’t say. If you use a harmful word to insult someone, or if you say an acceptable word in the wrong tone of voice, it’s literally violence. Sticks and stones just break my bones, but names will cause lasting, searing emotional trauma.

What’s more, the list of words and phrases you’re not allowed to say can change at any moment, for any reason. If you question that, you’re a bigot. Only an intolerant, small-minded sectarian refuses to do what he’s told, without question.

And if you insult somebody, and then other people are even crueler to that person, you’re directly responsible for the actions of those people. You’re “inciting” bad things, in the words of Newsweek ($1).

In other words, you’re guilty of assault with a deadly expression.

Keep in mind, none of this applies to insults and slurs against conservatives, Trump supporters, or anybody else who is not cool. Maybe all you right-wingers should stop whining about getting doxed by professional journalists and hit in the face with flying milkshakes, and start thinking about other people’s feelings.

Only certain people get to be victims. Or as I like to call them: heroes.

YouTube is under no obligation to give a platform to hateful bigots like Steven Crowder. It’s their platform, and they can do what they want with it. Also, it’s an outrage that YouTube refuses to ban Steven Crowder.

Now shut up. Or else.

P.S. Speaking of throwing milkshakes at people for disagreeing with you, that’s protected speech. Unlike calling someone a “queer.”

Milkshake them all. Humiliate them at every turn. Make them dread public organizing. https://t.co/myrCSv07Dx pic.twitter.com/7dozYzJoAl

— Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) May 21, 2019