First they came for Donald Trump, and I did not speak out …
Then they came for Alex Jones, and I did not speak out …
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
- Martin Niemöller
Patrick Henry had an excellent take on this.
“Gentlemen may cry, peace, peace; but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field!”
Make no mistake about it. The evil empire has declared war on America.
Dropped out of Facebook months ago. Looks like YouTube is dead to me now.
These people are enemies of reasoned debate, enemies of reason, enemies of freedom. And this is how our freedom of speech dies; you’re free to speak, but no one can hear you.
Sure hope the blogosphere doesn’t just “go away”.
Here’s and interesting discussion of the Alex Jones shut-down, ironically enough, on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEYkux0YNEE
Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube are public-sector companies, and can do what they want. But they are not monopolies, they are just currently widely used. We need to find alternatives on the internet. If half of their business goes somewhere else, they may have second thoughts. Perhaps alternatives which support the first amendment will start to thrive.
That’s how capitalism works. These service thrive because of capitalism, and they may die because of it.
Angel,
Check out the video I posted above for an alternative analysis.
But I agree that alternatives on the internet will be big revinue killers for the on-going free-speech censorship we’re seeing. Alex Jone has moved to BitChute for example; and his viewership is simply huge. Personally, I’ve watched a few of his vids but he’s not a big favorite of mine but he has an amazingly huge following.
That is the old “blacks can eat at a different restaurant” argument.
There are huge volumes of civil rights law which affect private companies, particularly monopolies.
If you can force a baker to bake a cake for a gay couple, then you can most certainly force a media company like Fakebook, Twatter and YouTube to publish your free speech, unimpeded.
The level of hypocrisy by the left on these topics is absolutely mind blowing.
That is if they are Christian not Muslim
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmdiqB_8l2k&t=3s
Angel,
Yes, they are public companies, but they cannot do what they want. They have owners and boards with fiduciary responsibility, and there are hosts of laws that apply to corporate behavior.
In addition to the adaptive responses of the users you mention, there are other adaptations that are available, and multiple channels for action. These take time to play out. None of that prevents Alex from crowdsourcing a litigation, which I think he should do.
This is the sort of thing that the ACLU in former days would be all over. Today, not so much.
IMO there is a strong case to be made that this action on the Media’s part opens them to lawsuit exposure, potentially a large class-action. Up until now, the services have tread the fine-line of being able to avoid accountability for what is posted. Stepping over this line, they could now be forced to defend why it is there… which is what litigation is for… testing the line.
Once people buy into the idea of “hate speech” anything goes, the First Amendment first.
Faceberg and Googull operate in the “public square”. They engage in “interstate commerce”. They are regulated by the SEC and a host of Federal agencies. There’s many ways to put pressure on them
I’m still gloating… the Dem’s got beat again on Tuesday! Their pathetic mouthpieces in the media went around yesterday announcing “we won a moral victory”. They are incapable of learning from their mistakes! I’m loving this…
This seems a good place to note that you should go see “Death of a Nation.” It traces the real history of the Democrat Fascist Party (my new name for Democrats after seeing the movie). You will see the actual connections between the NAZI party and Democrats in plain view. D’Sousa’s interview with Richard Spencer, who created the Wall Street Occupation and the Alt-Right on display at Charlottesville reveals that he is actually on-board with the Democrat agenda. D’Sousa maintains he is actually a tool of the Democrat Party.
Having researched some of what the film offers myself, I was not stunned at some of the revelations that were new to me. I will do my best to see that my family and friends sees this on Blu-Ray.
Another interesting story. This chap was banned from Twitter:
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/i-was-banned-for-life-from-twitter/?mc_cid=f4df893caf&mc_eid=029e9cbd30
“Once upon a time an easy solution to corporate censorship was to take one’s business elsewhere. In 2018, the platforms in question are near-global monopolies. Pretending Amazon, which owns the Washington Post and can influence elections, is just another company that sells things, is to pretend the role of unfettered debate in a free society is outdated. Censored on Twitter? Try Myspace, and maybe Bing will notice you. Technology and market dominance have changed the nature of censorship so that free speech is as much about finding an audience as it is about finding a place to speak. Corporate censorship is at the cutting edge of a reality targeting both speakers (Twitter suspends someone) and listeners (Apple won’t post that person’s videos made off-platform). Ideas need to be discoverable to enter the debate. In 1776, you went to the town square; in 2018, it’s Twitter.”