1984: Thread

[grarpamp]

When powers diss and disinfo free speech,
it's time to dispense with them...


Robert Reich Goes Full Orwellian: More Freedom Is Tyranny

https://jonathanturley.org/2022/04/13/187265/
https://jonathanturley.org/2022/04/11/the-reeducation-of-america-former-president-obama-calls-on-our-better-angels-to-change-voter-viewpoints/
https://jonathanturley.org/2020/11/02/the-case-for-internet-originalism/
https://jonathanturley.org/2020/05/04/china-was-right-academics-and-democratic-leaders-call-for-censorship-of-social-media-and-the-internet/
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/12/elon-musk-internet-twitter

We recently discussed the gathering of Democratic politicians and
media figures at the University of Chicago to discuss how to better
shape news, combat “disinformation,” and reeducate those with
conservative views.

The political and media elite shared ideas on how to expand censorship
and control what people read or viewed in the news. The same figures
are now alarmed that Elon Musk could gain greater influence over
Twitter and, perish the thought, restore free speech protections to
the site. The latest is former labor secretary under President
Clinton, Robert Reich, who wrote a perfectly Orwellian column in the
Guardian titled “Elon Musk’s vision for the internet is dangerous
nonsense.”

However, the column offers an insight into the anti-free speech
mentality that has taken hold of the Democratic party and the
mainstream media.

Musk is an advocate for free speech on the Internet.

Like some of us, he is an Internet originalist.

That makes him an existential threat for those who have long used
“disinformation” as an excuse to silence dissenting views in the media
and on social media.

Reich lays that agenda bare in his column.

Reich explains that it is not about freedom but tyranny. More free
speech means less freedom.

It is the type of argument commonly used in China and other
authoritarian nations–and an increasing number of American academics
and writers. Indeed, his column is reminiscent of the professors who
have called for the adoption of the Chinese model for censoring views
on the Internet.

In an article published in The Atlantic by Harvard law professor Jack
Goldsmith and University of Arizona law professor Andrew Keane Woods
called for Chinese-style censorship of the internet, stating that “in
the great debate of the past two decades about freedom versus control
of the network, China was largely right and the United States was
largely wrong.”

Reich tells people not to be lured by freedom of speech: “Musk says he
wants to ‘free’ the internet. But what he really aims to do is make it
even less accountable than it is now.” What Reich refers to as
“accountability” is being accountable to those like himself who can
filter out views and writings that are deemed harmful for readers.

Reich then goes full Orwellian:

    “Musk advocates free speech but in reality it’s just about power.
Power compelled Musk to buy $2.64bn of Twitter stock, making him the
largest individual shareholder.”

Reich insists that censorship of views like former President Donald
Trump are “necessary to protect American democracy.” Get it? Less
freedom is more freedom.

The column gets increasingly bizarre as Reich cites the fact that Musk
has continued to express banned thoughts as proof that he is a menace:

    “Billionaires like Musk have shown time and again they consider
themselves above the law. And to a large extent, they are. Musk has
enough wealth that legal penalties are no more than slaps on his
wrist, and enough power to control one of the most important ways the
public now receives news. Think about it: after years of posting
tweets that skirt the law, Musk was given a seat on Twitter’s board
(and is probably now negotiating for even more clout).”

Reich then delivers his terrifying warning:

    “That’s Musk’s dream. And Trump’s. And Putin’s. And the dream of
every dictator, strongman, demagogue and modern-day robber baron on
Earth. For the rest of us, it would be a brave new nightmare.”

That nightmare, of course, is free speech. It is a nightmare that
people like Reich and those at the “Disinformation conference” will
lose control over media and social media.

Imagine a site where people are largely free to express themselves
without supervision or approval. What a nightmare.

[Warning foul language and full irony]