FreeSpeech and Censorship: Thread

grarpamp grarpamp at gmail.com
Tue May 10 22:43:46 PDT 2022


Leftists Hate Free Speech Because They Fear Dissent, Not "Disinformation"

https://alt-market.us/leftists-hate-free-speech-because-they-fear-dissent-not-disinformation/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4KYDnjdZkc
https://www.kron4.com/news/elon-musks-bid-for-twitter-poses-threat-to-democracy-says-csu-professor/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quU_Tbv96Wk

I think one of the most bizarre social developments of the past 10
years in the US has been the slow but steady shift of the political
left as supposed defenders of free speech to enemies of free speech.
The level of mental gymnastics on display by leftists to justify their
attacks on freedom and the 1st Amendment is bewildering. So much so
that I begin to question if liberals and leftists ever actually had
any respect for 1st Amendment rights to begin with? Or, maybe the only
freedom they cared about all along was the freedom to watch
pornography…

One can see the steady progression of this war on speech and ideas,
and the end game is predictable: Is anyone really that surprised that
the Biden Administration is implementing a Ministry of Truth in the
form of the DHS Disinformation Governance Board? Can we just accept
the reality at this point that leftists are evil and their efforts
feed into an agenda of authoritarianism? Is there any evidence to the
contrary?

Before I get into this issue, I think it’s important to point out that
it’s becoming tiresome to hear arguments these days suggesting that
meeting leftists “somewhere in the middle” is the best and most
desirable option. I see this attitude all over the place and I think
it comes from a certain naivety about the situation we are facing as a
country. Moderates and “normies” along with people like Bill Maher and
Russell Brand are FINALLY starting to realize how bag-lady-crazy
leftists are and the pendulum is swinging back slightly. But, it was
conservatives that were calling out the social justice cult and their
highway to hell for years.

While everyone else was blissfully ignorant, we were fighting the
battles that stalled the leftist advance. This is not to say I’m not
happy to have moderates and reformed liberals on board, it’s a great
thing. However, the time for diplomacy and meeting leftists halfway is
long dead.

There is no such thing as a “center” in our society anymore, either
you lean conservative and you support freedom, or you lean left and
support authoritarianism. There is no magical and Utopian in-between
that we need to achieve to make things right. We are not required to
tolerate leftist authoritarianism because of “democracy.” Sometimes
certain ideologies and certain groups are mutually exclusive to
freedom; meaning, they cannot coexist within a society that values
liberty.

We need to be clear about where the lines are drawn, because sitting
on the fence is not an option. Walk in middle of road? Get squished
like grape.

To understand how leftists got to the point of enthusiastic hatred of
free speech rights there are some psychological and philosophical
factors that need to be addressed. These include specific ideals that
leftists value that are disjointed or simply irrational:
Hate Speech Is Real And Must Be Censored?

First, as I have argued for many years, there is no such thing as
“hate speech.” There is speech that some people don’t like and speech
they are offended by. That is all.

Constitutionally, there is no hate speech. People are allowed to say
any offensive thing they wish and believe however they wish as long as
they are not slandering a person’s reputation with lies or threatening
them with direct bodily harm. If you are offended by criticism, that
is your problem.

Leftists believe the opposite. Instead of growing a thicker skin they
think that “hate speech” should be illegal and that they should be the
people that determine what hate speech is. This is a kind of magical
door to power, because if you can declare yourself the arbiter of hate
speech you give yourself the authority to control ALL speech. That is
to say, as the thought police all you have to do is label everything
you don’t like as hate speech, no matter how factual, and you now
dictate the course of society.

No one is capable of this kind of objectivity or benevolence. No
person alive has the ability to determine what speech is acceptable
without bias. Like the One Ring in the Lord of The Rings, there is no
individual or group capable of wielding such power without being
corrupted by it. Either there is no hate speech, or everything becomes
hate speech.
Free Speech Is Negated By Property Rights?

This is in direct reference to social media websites and it’s an
oversimplification of the issue of free speech and large social media
platforms. Here is the conundrum or “false paradigm” if you will:

Leftists argue for private property rights, but only when it comes to
vast corporate big tech platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube,
etc. They like private property rights for companies that they think
are on their side politically; they hate private property rights for
everyone else. Just look at their response to Elon Musk’s recent
Twitter buyout; the leftists are demanding that Musk be stopped at all
costs, and they demand that the SEC and FCC step in to disrupt the
sale because they claim Musk’s purchase is a “threat to democracy.”

The media itself is clamoring to disrupt Musk’s takeover of Twitter.
Whether or not you trust him, Musk’s acquisition of the platform has
at least exposed the totalitarian attitudes of mainstream journalists
for everyone to see. They are now even admitting on air that THEY
control public discussion; that it is “their job,” and they see Musk
as a threat to that monopoly.

Why are Elon Musk’s private property rights less important or
protected than the original shareholders of Twitter (Vangaurd,
BlackRock, Morgan Stanley and a Saudi Prince)? Because Musk does not
claim to represent leftist designs and interests? Leftists have no
principles, they only care about manufacturing consent. Their method
of winning requires that they never restrict themselves within the
boundaries of values or morals. Again, this is the epitome of pure
evil.

Beyond that irony, though, is the deeper issue of government
intervention vs business rights. Many people seem to think that
government power is supposed to balance out corporate power when the
truth is that governments and corporations work hand in hand; they are
often one in the same entity.

Twitter and other Big Tech platforms receive billions upon billions of
dollars in government stimulus and tax incentives every year.
Corporations as a concept are essentially a socialist creation. They
enjoy limited liability and corporate personhood along with other
special protections under government charter. With all these
protections, incentives, bailouts and stimulus measures it is almost
impossible for small and new businesses to compete with them. They
represent a monopoly through cartel; they control the marketplace by
colluding with each other and colluding with the government.

A perfect example of this would be the coordination between multiple
Big Tech companies to bring down Parler, a conservative leaning
competitor to Twitter. This required some of the biggest companies in
the world working in unison along with the blessing of government
officials to disrupt the ability of a new company to offer an
alternative, and all because Parler was getting too big.

In the case of a private person’s home or their small business or
small website, it’s true that there are no free speech rights. They
can kick you out and they don’t have to give a reason. But when it
comes to massive conglomerates that receive billions in OUR tax
dollars in order to stay alive, no, they do not deserve private
property rights. They have now made themselves into a public utility,
and that means they are subject to constitutional limitations just as
public schools and universities are.

This is a concept that leftists just don’t grasp. They view corporate
power as sacrosanct…as long as it serves their interests.

Consider global corporations like Disney and their open intention to
undermine the passage of Florida’s anti-grooming bill; this represents
Disney’s vocal support for the sexualization and indoctrination of
children in Florida schools. Leftists cheered the announcement and
claimed that without Disney, Florida’s economy would be wrecked.
Instead, the state turned the tables and took away incentives they had
been giving to Disney for decades. Leftists responded by accusing
Governor DeSantis of being a “fascist” and attacking free speech.

But let’s break this down: Leftists happily supported Disney, a
massive conglomerate, and their efforts to undermine the will of the
voters in Florida. The state government stops them from undermining
the voters by taking away the money and special incentives that belong
to the voters. In turn, leftists claim this is a violation of Disney’s
rights?

The disparity between leftist arguments on Elon Musk’s takeover of
Twitter vs. Disney’s attempted sabotage of Florida law could not be
more confused. When it comes to Twitter they love the idea of
censorship and react with panic when the mere prospect of free speech
(within the confines of US law) is presented. When it comes to Disney,
they say they love the idea of free speech, and anyone that wants to
limit the corporation’s influence within Florida, no matter how
criminal, is accused of fascism.

The difference is obvious – Musk appears to be an uncontrolled
element, while Disney is an “ally.” Free speech and property rights
are only allowed for one side of the cultural divide. Leftists
attacking freedom is free speech; defending ourselves against those
attacks is a threat to democracy. It’s absurd.
Disinformation Is A Threat And Censorship Is The Solution?

The holy grail of censorship is not website filters and algorithms,
because as we have seen with Twitter, those platforms could be built
or purchased by someone that does not share in the leftist agenda.
Instead, government intervention and the ability to define what is
proper and improper discourse is the ultimate goal. The end game of
authoritarians is always to write mass censorship into law, as if it
is justified once it is codified.

Corporate elites and political puppets like Biden pontificating about
the threat of “disinformation” is hilarious for a number of reasons,
but mainly because it is the power brokers and the media that have
been the main purveyors of disinformation for a long time. Suddenly
today they care about the spread of lies?

I think it is obvious that such people are far more worried about the
spread of facts, evidence and truth. They cannot debate on fair ground
because they will lose, so, the only other option is to silence us.
The institution of the Disinformation Governance Board is a clear
indication that the establishment and the useful idiots on the
political left are becoming DESPERATE.

Their grip on the public mind is slipping, and we saw this during
their recent attempts to enforce medical tyranny across the country in
the name of covid. Luckily, conservatives in at least 20 red states
fought against the implementation of covid lockdowns, mandates and
vaccine passports which would have annihilated our constitutional
rights forever.

For years I heard the argument that when the jackboots arrived
conservatives would do nothing, and now we know this is nonsense. Some
of the few free places in the world during two years of pandemic fear
mongering were red states in America, which coincidentally also have
the highest concentration of conservatives.

If you want to know what our country would look like had conservatives
not stopped the tide of tyranny, just take a gander at China today.
They have some of the strictest covid mandates on the planet and yet
they are once again locking down millions of citizens due to “high
infection rates.” Not only that, but they are starving their own
people in the process.

It’s madness, and it’s exactly what leftists were arguing in favor of
just a few months ago. The US is mostly open today, just as red states
like mine have been free for almost the entirety of the pandemic, and
what has changed? Half the country is still unvaccinated – Is there
mass death in the streets? Nope. Nothing has changed in terms of
covid. The mandates made no difference whatsoever, other than to
disrupt the economy and reduce people’s freedoms.

Not long ago, pointing out this fact was considered “disinformation”
that needed to be silenced in order to “save lives.” The Hunter Biden
laptop story was called disinformation. The Wuhan Lab story was called
disinformation. Fauci’s gain of function research on covid at the
Wuhan lab was called disinformation. The fact that vaccinated people
still contract and die from covid was called disinformation. In other
words, what the government and corporate oligarchs call
“disinformation” today is eventually called reality tomorrow.

I would be happy to enter into a fair debate with White House Press
Secretary Jen Psaki on any of the above issues and her views of what
constitutes “disinformation,” but she would never do such a thing
because she knows she would be crushed like a bug. It is not the
government’s job to protect the public from information, whether real
or fake. It is not their job to filter or censor data or ideas. They
are not qualified to do this. No one is.

Leftists operate from a collectivist mentality and this makes them
believe that society is a singular entity that needs to be managed and
manipulated to achieve a desired outcome. They have no concept of
individual responsibility and discernment, but that is a side note to
the real problem. They support information control because facts and
ideas outside of their narrative could possibly damage that narrative.
And, if the narrative is damaged they lose their feeling of power,
which is all they really care about.

If your narrative is so fragile that it does not hold up to scrutiny
or alternative viewpoints then it must not be worth much of a damn. If
you have to force people or manipulate people into believing the way
you do, then your ideology must be fundamentally flawed. The truth
speaks volumes for itself and eventually wins without force. Only lies
need to be forced into the collective consciousness. Only lies require
tyranny.

Eventually reality wins over propaganda, unless total censorship and
totalitarianism can be achieved. Nothing has changed in the 200+ years
since the creation of the Bill of Rights. Free speech is still
integral to a functioning society. Without it, society crumbles. They
will claim that today things are different and that society needs to
be “protected from itself.” This is what tyrants always say when
trying to steal power.

Most people reading this know by now that this is a war. It’s not a
political debate that requires give-and-take, but a full-bore
winner-take-all conflict. A DHS faction which is mandated to monitor
our speech and propagandize the public is unacceptable and must be
eliminated. Leftist and globalist monopoly of social media
communications platforms is unacceptable and must be eliminated. The
imposition of leftist and globalist ideology into the media narrative
while censoring any contrary information is unacceptable and must be
eliminated. This is about saving the remaining embers of American
culture. If we do not take an aggressive stand now, the next
generation may never know liberty. Everything we hold dear is at
stake.


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