Army Bob: You get free speech unless you diss progressives/socialists

by Robert M. Traxler

In a few media outlets there are reports that the President Joe Biden administration has worked with social media to cancel content they did not approve of as hate speech. The story comes up, but is quickly removed. More than a dozen stories are themselves censored that are sourced and checked but downplayed or not played at all in the mainstream media, covering social media working as an arm of the current government. 

“Social media giants essentially granted government officials the ability to censor and suppress speech in the name of fighting ‘misinformation,’ by providing them direct access to flag posts and an open line of communication with senior executives,” according to a report by The Intercept. 

The Twitter “takeover” by a man who is not a Silicon Valley progressive/socialist has been railed against by President Biden, who does not approve. But did the socialist/progressives say canceling content on social media is not censorship, as social media is privately owned? Not the government, canceling free speech?

Let’s see: when censorship works in favor of the socialists it is not at all wrong, but when it is allowing free, open, not canceled or censored voices on both sides, it is anti-American hate speech. Hate speech has become in the media, entertainment, news, and social platforms, all speech the left does not approve of. A contorted definition of racism, hate and lies is used not to chill free speech but freeze it solid. One must ask, where are the old liberals who championed free speech? Scared to death to write or speak, or the progressive/socialist media, the ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBS, CNBC, educational elite, print media and social media will cancel them.

To be fair, a few liberals have tried to express support for free speech and the First Amendment, but were quickly shouted down in the virtual public square as, you got it, hateful racists, sexists, homophobes, islamophobias and anti-LBGT+, liars and more.

A columnist who writes in this newspaper stated they were an old fashion liberal and a champion of free speech, but later called openly for a commentator to be canceled, proof free speech is not so free in the mind of a traditional liberal. The canceling of a Mr. DTOM (Don’t Tread on Me) is rationalized every which way, but it is humorous that the 1960s, 1970s liberals who run this publication, folks who in a younger life railed against being stereotyped, censored, and called derogatory names are themselves doing what they in their youth argued was wrong. 

The goal of the cancel culture is to make free speech an exercise that folks who are not politically correct must think long and hard before using, any speech that the media mob, writ large, may shout down and then cancel the person who dares to challenge the government or socialist movement. Canceling speech, an act we have seen play out thousands of times in the last few years, especially in social media, is not called censorship; go figure. It has gotten so pervasive that even far left Mr. Bill Maher has objected, one of a very few liberals brave enough to speak out.

The first and most necessary step in a government turning socialist is the media damming up the flow of free speech. Please ask all the folks who advocate for socialism what socialist nation, commune, group or activity has lasted as long as our Constitutional Republic? Ask them why socialism fails every time and in in every place it is tried?

Socialism always ends badly with a dictator, and all power in the hands of a few government officials and not the people. Socialists have murdered millions in the last 110 years; China, 45 million to 70 million, the USSR 13 to 21 million, the National Socialist German Workers Party 6 million, 2 million by the Khmer Rouge, 1.2 million in Viet Nam, North Korea and others. As Lord Acton said, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

An axiom of the socialist movement is that government is the only allowable force for good; all comes from the government, from each according to their ability to each according to their need. That is the holy grail of socialism. 

“If you get vaccinated, you will not get Covid, it is nearly 100% effective.” Remember that one? “Covid is a disease of the unvaccinated.” “President Trump is a paid Russian agent.” “The Inflation Reduction Act will reduce inflation.” “Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation.” “President Biden had no knowledge of his family’s business dealings with foreign agents.” “He will leave no one behind in Afghanistan.” “The massive illegal immigration is nothing out of the ordinary.” “Covid-19 vaccinations will never be mandatory.”

There are many more examples. 

Canceling all disagreement with the socialists as hate speech has become the norm. Elon Musk allowing free speech on Twitter is a threat to Democracy, why?  Who cares, it just is, shut up and be quiet or be canceled.

My opinion.