Yes, you can make this stuff up.
But long before you could add your implausible idea to your farfetched script about the weird dystopian future or recent tyrannical past, some big-tech social-media company will have galumphingly implemented that notion.
Former Congressman Ron Paul said the following on Facebook, reprinting a column on his site:
“Last week’s massive social media purges — starting with President Trump’s permanent ban from Twitter and other outlets — were shocking and chilling, particularly to those of us who value free expression and the free exchange of ideas.
“The justifications given for the silencing of wide swaths of public opinion made no sense, and the process was anything but transparent. Nowhere in President Trump’s two ‘offending’ Tweets, for example, was a call for violence expressed explicitly or implicitly. It was a classic example of sentence first, verdict later.”
Then Facebook blocked Dr. Paul.
“With no explanation other than ‘repeatedly going against our community standards,’ Facebook has blocked me from managing my page,” he reported on Twitter, itself no sturdy redoubt. “Never have we received notice of violating community standards in the past and nowhere is the offending post identified.”
Can humongous corporations really jerk people around so dishonestly? Is it legal?
Paul further argued that “this assault on social media” is not merely “a liberal or Democrat attack on conservatives and Republicans.”
“As progressives like Glenn Greenwald have pointed out,” explains the doctor, “this is a wider assault on any opinion that veers from the acceptable parameters of the mainstream elite, which is made up of both Democrats and Republicans.”
The narrowing of opinion down to what elites find acceptable is one definition of fascism: a no-opposition-allowed corporatist state.
I’m not making this up.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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11 replies on “Ron Paul & the Fascisti”
We have freedom of speech because of the first amendment to our constitution. But that freedom is limited. The amendment says: “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech… It does not require that private citizens or corporations will repeat or publish anything anyone says. I don’t believe free speech should be limited to bakeries who do not wish to serve customers whose lifestyles they find abhorrent. It should also apply to corporations who find hate speech abhorrent or simply do not want their names associated with those who publicly support those who do support them. Free speech means freedom from governmental prosecution for what we say. It does not protect us from other consequences of our words.
What about the many civil rights laws that require equal access? A hotel is a private company, but it is not allowed to discriminate against people seeking a room. Stores are places of public accommodation, too. The federal government broke up Standard Oil. It broke up AT&T. Both were private companies. These tech companies may be private enterprises, but they still operate in the public domain and should be subject to limits on their power to ‘just say no’. RICO and antitrust legislation have set a precedent for government regulation of private enterprises.
Where is your reaction to the storming of the U.S. Capitol?
AMEN!
We are witnessing the triumph of globalism over free people everywhere.
Still waiting your response to the storming of the U.S. Capitol. This is the most important event in my lifetime but your silence says volumes about your character.
Grow some gonads!
Are you still on that kick?
The Capital police let the protesters in, even invited them.
I guess you haven’t bothered to check out all of the videos available proving this.
Ayn Rand pointed out long ago that the United States (and other countries) were moving in the direction of Fascist socialism whereby ownership of the means of production remained in private hands but every move within a business would be subject to government control. In the last year we have seen Facebook, Google and Twitter all but beg for government control–control in which they would continue to dominate their fields as “partners” of government. We are moving to fascist socialism at an increasing speed with the means of protest being denied. I do not condone government regulating those companies in any way. I can only hope a competitor will rise for me to support.
Marxists, once achieving power, immediately take steps to stifle any and all dissent.
Banks cutting ties with Trump!
Guess yoiu think that is illegal; it isn’t!!!
This outrage is nothing less than Nazi bookburning for the 21st century