Q&A of the Day – Censorship. The revolution of 2021 is online.
Each day I’ll feature a listener question that’s been submitted by one of these methods.
Email:brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Parler: @brianmuddradio
Today’s entry: Brian, thank you for your comments today especially about the message from the village leader in Nairobi. I turned on the radio and just caught the last moments of your presentation and it deeply touched me. I hate the discord and chaos and violence that took place in Washington on Wednesday, and I am not condoning it in any way. I hear people say how un-American it was, but I keep thinking what would our country be if revolutionaries had not done what they did in the 1770s? If it’s true that the fraud was massive and the election was in fact stolen (and that’s another question I’d like to ask you, do you think it’s true?) what’s the line between sedition and patriotism? Of course, I am not talking about Antifa or provocateurs etc.
Thanks for your levelheaded commentary.
Bottom Line: As I’ve said from time to time over years, generally in the context of 2nd Amendment related debates, the reality of the importance of our Constitutional rights is an uncomfortable one for most. It’s not a mistake that the first Amendment to the US Constitution is freedom of expression with the 2nd Amendment being the ability to arm yourself to protect your rights from being taken from you. The uncomfortable truth about the founding of this country is indeed what you’ve referenced. Our founders used guns, knives, cannons and anything else which proved useful, to kill as many British soldiers as was necessary until they recognized our independence. In this context, and with this critical moment in American history upon us, your point is well taken. That being said, the answer to the revolution that’s being fought right now isn’t one which requires violence to win – in fact, violence will only help those censoring our first Amendment rights.
The war that’s being fought threatening our freedom is happening online. And it’s been building up for a long time. It’s been years that conservative voices have either been silenced on platforms operated by Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc. Or they’ve been throttled to mitigate their reach. A few years back Project Veritas produced an expose using engineers which work at these companies demonstrating how they do it. Aside from specific tests I’ve run, like posting material and checking with followers of mine to see if it reaches their feed, to overt acts of undermining (like Twitter stripping me of my verified status after five years while guest hosting for Mark Levin without any warning or explanation).
What’s been happening with the growth of online censorship is the boiling frog effect. We’ve slowly observed the temperature rising but it had just been uncomfortable. We’re now at the point where if we do nothing... Well, you know what happens to the frog in this analogy. Our country was literally founded on first Amendment principals. If we allow them to be taken away through online censorship – we're the frog.
No more principal in our society is more important than freedom of expression. With the actions taken by Amazon to shutdown Parler’s servers, Apple & Google to remove the app from their stores and Twitter to permanently ban the President of the United States from communicating with the American people, among other acts of censorship over the years – this moment in American history is an important one. This moment in time really is different. Clearly these tech execs feel emboldened by the incoming Biden administration along with Democrats completely controlling Congress. It’s now sadly safe to say that if you voted for Democrats for federal office this November, you voted for censorship. It’s a warning many of us have echoed for years with the examples we’ve witnessed but now it’s here. So...How to combat censorship?
The most effectual way to exact change at Amazon, Apple, Google, Twitter, etc. is to realize they are all publicly traded companies which are accountable to their board of directors and shareholders. It's to be determined what will happen in our legal system, however they're all held to account by their shareholders. I've never supported boycotts but I do support voting with my own choices. Imagine for a moment if Amazon, Google, Twitter & the rest suddenly dropped even a quarter of their domestic customer base. What do you think investors would say? I'll not calling for a boycott, however if you'd like to make a difference you may consider doing what I've done as a start.
1. I deleted all of my Google accounts & deleted Chrome from all computers (other browser and search options are better than you might think).
2. I'll not purchase anything from Amazon. Period.
3. I'm still debating what to do with my Twitter and Facebook accounts but for now they're being used to promote Parler.
Apple's especially complicated for me... There’s not a good action item here yet for me but you get the idea. For those who want to talk in terms of action and revolutionary thoughts. Understand violence isn’t the answer, because this isn’t a physical battle. It’s all happening online. This is a time for choosing because censorship really is that big of a deal. If you don’t stand for freedom of expression...What do you stand for?