YouTube has suspended the accounts of the James Randi Educational Foundation and the Rational Response Squad. Also I know at least 1 other individual on YouTube, Inmendham, who’s had their account suspended as well.
Please send a complaint to YouTube demanding these accounts be reinstated. None of them is guilty of copyright infringement or hate speech of any kind. Someone or more likely someones are almost certainly repeatedly flagging their videos.
This should concern everyone, regardless of whether or not you agree with their positions, because this is a free speech issue. Last year, when the YouTube posterboy for creationist stupidity, VenomFangX, had his account unfairly suspended, atheists and others who accept Evolution fought to get his account reactivated. This goes beyond personal politics and beyond religion. An attack on free speech is an attack on us all.
I’m not really sure what can be done. I already sent a complaint. We need a more concrete plan of action if we are to be taken seriously. We simply do not have the funding, or the numbers that the fundies who most likely are behind such events have. What we need is a petition, stating that unless these accounts are reinstated we will all leave youtube and encourage our friends to do so. There are other sites available that provide the same service after all, and we need to consider them as an option.
Of course this petition idea will also need to have signatures from people of all faiths who simply respect free speech. Due to the power of the internet, we could even create our own site (well I can’t because I have no idea how but I’m sure somebody in the Atheist or even free speech community can) which we could use in place of youtube.
Also with the numbers we are able to generate by showing this to be a free speech issue, we could boycott any advertisers on youtube as a way of showing some unity. By letting them know that we will not support anybody who supports youtube they risk losing advertising dollars. Perhaps contacting the ACLU is in order? I know this sounds extreme but we need to start standing up for ourselves in a very vocal manner. In a weak economy where companies are already losing money, the idea of a boycott, even by just a few thousand people (although we can certainly draw larger numbers) is something that many companies do not want to deal with.
The JREF is already in contact with the people of YouTube to clear the matter up. Also, numerous blogs and YouTubers with tens of thousands of readers and viewers have already gotten the word out. And I’ve personally informed 1500 of my Myspace friends. So the account will in all likelihood be reinstated shortly.
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