Internet Censorship Advocates Ought To Consider The Consequences

It's fashionable for people of a left-leaning ideology to advocate for censorship on the internet. As people on the right are being censored and in some cases deplatformed, people on the left are cheerleading the situation. They love to cite the idea that sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are owned by corporations. Therefore, they say the corporations are within their rights to stifle some speech while allowing other speech.

Often times, it's unfairly applied. Certain people are allowed to spew hate and even threaten others, and they don't even get a warning. Some people are shut down immediately. For the record, it shouldn't be okay to threaten physical harm to anybody online. If it's seen as a legitimate threat, the platform in question might have to take action if it's brought to their attention. If it's merely somebody putting out an opinion that other people don't like, it's freedom of speech. At least ways, that's how it should be. 

The advocates of censorship have no understanding that censorship can be turned against them eventually. Since they appear to be echoing the opinions that are approved by the social media platforms, they feel safe. They feel as if their team is able to do whatever they want, and their speech is important. The other side has it wrong, you see. Therefore they must be shut down and ridiculed. The other side shouldn't be allowed to say a word while the left says whatever they want against them.

We have to beware of what we advocate and understand that for every action there is an opposite reaction. In politics, there are times when we see certain powers and abilities given to the politicians. The ones in power think it's great because it allows them to do whatever they want without as many checks and balances. The ones not in power lament the fact that they are left at a disadvantage. 

However, the politicians in control change. Eventually, the other side gets the control and gets to use these new powers against the other side. In other words, people advocating for censorship against opinions they don't like may be the victims of that censorship one day. 

Consider the story that was presented in the movie V For Vendetta. In this case, it was conservative religious types who had the power, and they used it to shut people down. One of the groups that was persecuted was the LGBT community. They were hunted down and locked away. I know people on the conservative side may have bristled at the way their ideology was being depicted in the movie, but it's not like things like this haven't happened when conservatives were in power in the past. They already talk about the LGBT community engaging in sinful activities according to their religious doctrines.

Right now, it seems safe to be a member of the LGBT community. Whether you're gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or what have you, there are efforts to not only acknowledge you but also celebrate you. Therefore, there are many people in the LGBT community who advocate for censorship on the grounds that they believe questioning them is hate speech. Right now, powers that appear to be on the left are controlling this narrative, but what happens if that power changes hands? How safe do you suppose the LGBT community will be if certain conservative, religious elements gain control?

A Lie Repeated Is Still A Lie

The television is an amazing thing. We can turn it on and watch entertaining pictures on our screens. A good show will take us away from the very couch we are sitting on. Suddenly, we are transfixed to the screen and taken to that place in the story. We don't even realize we are sitting on a couch in a living room watching the TV screen. We are in another place for as long as the story is being told. Then, a commercial might interrupt the story. Does that commercial affect your buying habits?

Similarly, whatever the news tells us is often taken at face value. If it's a big story, we might even change the channel and see the other news outlets telling the same story. There isn't much variation in the way the story is being told. Is it because this is how things happened, or are they trying to frame a narrative that we are expected to believe? How often do we consider what we are being told by the media and whether it is the actual truth or not? How often do we go around repeating what we were told by the media? 

Many of us have our own BS detectors. We've learned a thing or two in our lives about the people we deal with face to face. When you talk to certain people, you become a pretty good judge of character. That person standing next to you that you happen to bump into on the street might tell you a story. You know that person, so you pretty much know whether you can believe what they say or not. You also know well enough to know if anything that person says can be trusted or not. Are you putting the media up to the same standards? 

The internet is going to evolve and change. We aren't going to be able to have the same discussions we have taken for granted for years. We've discussed subjects of many types. Some things are more serious than others. 

For instance, we can discuss that TV show or movie in many different ways beyond the sorts of discussions the studios may have intended. It may seem harmless, but even those discussions might not be allowed because the opinions expressed will hurt certain people's feelings. Beware of the change that's already begun and how much worse it will get.

The Internet has also been a tool to allow us to get more information. Because there's been a free flow of ideas exchanged on the internet, we've learned many things. We've learned beyond what our very media or even our elected leaders intended for us to know. 

Understand that in some cases what we think we've learned has been untrue. In other cases, we've learned a truth that they really never wanted us to know. The very tool that we've used to discuss everything beyond what we are being told will change. Those discussions will be slowly going away. 

Here's what I believe, despite repetition to the contrary. What happened in the United States in early November of 2020 when people went to the polls is suspicious. People voted, but did they get an honest outcome? Was it a fair contest? 

I have not been given the information that leads me to believe it has been fair. I have been given repetition of the same story. They say it's all been fair. Trust what you are being told and believe it all. If you don't believe it, you're a bad person. Repeatedly, day after day, this has continued. I believe we are being lied to repeatedly. 

This is an unpleasant truth that many people will refuse to believe. They know in their hearts what the real truth is. They know the fix was in. The media had their story set, and everybody followed the script. This time, the internet was better controlled with the repetition of the same story. People were "fact checked" and even censored.

Why would they do that without even bothering to explain? They know why. The repetition of a lie will hit you at your core. You will suddenly question whether what you believe to be true is really true. Soon, you'll give up and accept their story as the truth. It's called gaslighting, and they do it because it's effective.

Questioning the election results is not going to be allowed. It's a banable offense. There could even come a time when you will lose your freedom if you question what they say. That won't make what they are saying truthful, but that won't matter to them. Their narrative will be the official one, and the truth will be buried and deemed a lie. 

There are people who know it's a lie because of the one mistake they made on election day. There were too many votes to alter the results on time. For lack of a few hours or a day at the most, they could have had the results on the screen before election night was over. Had they done that, many more people would have believed the official narrative immediately.

Ultimately, it's up to each individual to believe what they believe. Nobody can tell you what to think, but there are certain people who will shame you or attempt to force you to believe as they command. That doesn't change what happened on the night in question, and millions of people understand that. 

Millions of people are living with a sad reality because of what happened that night and how it's been handled in the weeks and months since then. It boils down to an honest question. Can we ever trust that an election will be fair in this country again? The answer is bigger than any politician you may like or hate. What do you believe? It's not up to me to tell you what to think.