Censorship can be a slippery beast, as can the whole notion of "free speech."
The heart of the matter often seems to be the inconsistencies within the human mind.
When you are given "freedom," by extension I get the same freedom.
When you have the freedom to run off at the mouth about whatever you want — however absurd, inflammatory or sociopathic — I have the freedom to disagree with you and tell you you are wrong.
That's where we run into problems.
A lot of people extend their "rights" to not be censored to include "not being disagreed with."
Not how it works. You can't expect to put out something dodgy and not get "in kind" responses.
As for the "income" part; nobody works for Steem, nobody is under contract with Steem, nobody was promised a damn thing here. People tend to forget that and slip into this whole notion that they are "owed" something, as a result of their participation. If you want "protected" income, go schlep drinks at a bar or drive a delivery truck... and don't say "but I INVESTED!" Maybe you did... but so what? If you bought Amazon stock, do you seriously think anyone would care that you're unhappy about the dividend the stock paid, last quarter? Not a chance. WHY would this be any different?
=^..^=
It is funny that it needs to be given, isn't it?
Yep and it is a completely opt-in system and, opt-out also. People come to earn off steem which is fine but expect that anything goes still gets paid as if that is the way it should work. Free market means, anything goes, including retaliatory flags if someone chooses to.
You are incorrect.
Free markets do not encompass retaliatory actions as part of the dynamic.
Retaliation means in reaction to an aggressive action ( contravening the non aggression principle)
If the NAP is not contravened, it cannot be retaliatory , but initiated.
The upvotes given are a positive action - free market.
The downvote is a negative action - not free market.
defending the action 'becuase that's the system does not make it morally correct, using the true free market principles as the template.