Millennial Z and Boomer X open podcast #34 up talking about the freedom of speech and whether or not it is dead. Does it still exist? The United States has the individual right of freedom of speech and the ability to protest peacefully enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution which is the bedrock of the government and its authority. Many countries do not have this right recognized by its respective governments and the people therein do not have the right to voice their opinion or dissatisfaction even if they are merely pointing out facts, and that’s Western, so called, enlightened countries. Looking at you, U.K. and other European countries.
Obviously, freedom of speech isn’t “dead” or we wouldn’t be able to make this podcast or write this article about it; however, it is in need of medical attention. Now! Ironically, it is the conservatives who are now championing freedom of speech and the dissent of opinion as opposed to the left liberals of the past many decades. You can always tell what type of government is in power and controls the media by the voices of dissent who are repeatedly ignored, or worse, extinguished. Boomer X remembers those in power who were conservatives in the 1960s and 1970s, and if they were as intolerant as the liberals of today there are many programs, ideas, issues and organizations that simply wouldn’t exist today not to mention the government departments and jobs created by liberal causes that receive trillions of tax dollars over the years. And you know what? That’s a good thing! Dissent creates open minded thinking and alternative viewpoints. Different opinions let you know that there are other perspectives and concerns that need to be addressed and considered.
The Associated Press reported in August 2021 that the Louisiana Attorney General and the Alabama Attorney General requested complaints of anyone who had been censored on social media for expressing conservative views. We discuss how social media, especially the large ones such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc., is obviously censoring content with a decided left leaning slant, and admitting the censorship, while claiming to be a private company and not held to the same restrictions as a government entity when violating people’s rights. Millennial Z disagrees stating that when you offer free public access and activity you open yourself up to being subject to governmental restriction the same as if a mall or private retail business opens it’s doors to the public cannot discriminate based on race, nationality, religion, sex and refuse service to those it doesn’t like, neither can a private social platform open to all discriminate based upon a simple opinion you don’t like that isn’t violent, inciting violence, nor is even disrespectful or rude, it simply doesn’t want that viewpoint expressed.
Georgia and Ohio are in the process of passing state laws banning social media censorship. That’s a step in the right direction. However, with the U.S. government creating the Disinformation Bureau that will reportedly not attempt to determine fact from fiction that can’t possibly be a good sign. What will its purpose be then? Making sure that only the government’s version of “truth” is the one repeated in mainstream media? If that’s not Orwellian, I don’t know what is. Well, perhaps cameras at every significant intersection in the country with live monitors 24/7 is pretty Orwellian, too.
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