Okay, the old hackneyed “Hey, hey, ho, ho” chant sounds a lot more intimidating coming from a stud-faced, 400-pound demi-woman with purple hair who looks like and probably identifies as a triceratops. But to my knowledge, the phrase hasn’t been copyrighted, so I’m taking it back. Get over it, Moonbeam. I am also stealing a quote from my favorite computer game, Alpha Centauri:
“As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth’s final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.”
True, this quote is from a game describing an alternate future, but take a moment to read it again.
Our would-be media masters are currently very upset regarding the new day dawning at Twitter. In fact, “very” may be too soft a word. Newsbusters notes that over at The View, the collection of coffee-swilling gargoyles who can shatter glass with their nagging voices was simply aghast over the concept of free speech. Newsbusters even provided a transcript:
ABC’s The View
October 28, 2022
11:02:41 a.m. Eastern
(…)
JOY BEHAR: Is he going to do anything to fix that or is it just going to be continuously free-for-all? What do you say?
SUNNY HOSTIN: I think it’s going to be a free-for-all hellscape, and I imagine that Trump will return to unleash his vitriol. Others that have been banned will return to unleash their vitriol. I’m always conflicted about the issue of free speech, which doesn’t even apply here because he’s a private owner.
I learned in law school that —
BEHAR: Explain what free speech really is.
HOSTIN: It’s really, you know, it’s the First Amendment. It’s the freedom to express yourself, and —
BEHAR: Not be censored by the government.
HOSTIN: Without being censored by the government.
And what I learned was, you want to protect the most hateful speech actually. You go to the extreme when you are protecting free speech because if you don’t protect the most hateful speech, you don’t really protect any speech.
I mean, there are exceptions like inciting violence and that kind of thing, but most speech is protected. And so, you know, if he’s talking about making this the public square, I guess that’s okay because really under the communications act, Twitter, social media, they’re just third party platforms. They’re not necessarily considered publishers. They’re not necessarily considered the people that are, you know, putting the stuff out there. They’re just a platform.
What we really need to think about is why is it a hellscape? It’s a hellscape because of the people that are on it, and the vitriol that anonymously they think they can spew out there.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: And therein lies the problem. Social media has had a way of bringing out the worst in humanity and it does — by the way, there’s a lot of good stuff that’s come from social media, but people give into their basest instincts when they’re hidden behind anonymity.
HOSTIN: Behind the cat icon and the frog and all that, the dog.
FARAH GRIFFIN: And the vitriol and the hatred. It’s interesting because democracy has never really been stress tested for the digital age.
(…)
11:05:46 a.m. Eastern
SARA HAINES: Shouldn’t we be expecting more of ourselves? Because the fact people can go to bed at night having said some of the things they’ve said, I always question that. You can give me anonymity, and something new and ugly isn’t going to come out because who I’m accountable to are the people I pray to, the people I’m an example for with my parents and my children. So, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night with some of the things that happen on there.
BEHAR: Well, you have a conscience.
HOSTIN: They sleep very well.
BEHAR: They don’t care.
HAINES: But I’m saying that the disgusting part is we ask so much of our leaders and yet the people that are inhabiting Twitter, to me it’s a digital rage room. People go there to act out the therapy they’re not getting and they’re really hateful and awful. And I know there are some good people, and shout out to those that do that, but they’re in the minority.
(…)
11:06:44 a.m. Eastern
ANA NAVARRO: Listen. This is not a free speech debate because he doesn’t need to respect free speech. The First Amendment does not apply to this. He is now – He is now the solo owner of this. He’s taking it private. He doesn’t have a board of directors. He doesn’t have SEC filings that he has to do.
I think government regulation is behind the curve on this because when you take a look at the audiences –
BEHAR: Yeah.
HOSTIN: It has been.
NAVARRO: — and viewers that TV networks have. And, you know, we were under FCC regulation. This is zero regulation and they frankly have far more viewership, eyeballs that they reach nowadays than networks or newspapers or anything of the other news outlet.
(…)
11:08:32 a.m. Eastern
BEHAR: So, these Republican stop BITCHING about cancel culture! And about how they’re the victims! You own everything!”
Hellscape. Free speech is a hellscape.
Related: Let’s Check In With the Celebrities Who Said They’d Quit Twitter if Elon Musk Took Over
CBS was up bright and early Friday morning, with its hosts and guests shedding crocodile tears into their coffee over Musk, warning that the development was a “threat to democracy.” Paul Vigliotti lamented:
“I want you to keep in mind U.S. Prosecutors determined in 2016 that a Russian agency used Twitter and other social media sites in an attempt to sway the election. Even Twitter’s founder said misinformation about false election claims led to the attack on the Capitol last year.”
As of this writing, the identity of the attacker on Paul Pelosi is in the process of being revealed. Fox News has been circumspect about it, while other news outlets are salivating with glee that the attacker had some right-wing ideas bouncing around in his head. And so of course, anyone who is not a Democrat is now guilty of the attack by virtue of political similarity. This is despite the fact that the New York Post has information that CNN was told by acquaintances of the attacker that he was a drug addict and a nudity activist who lived in a storage unit in Berkeley. It is true that at the moment, no one is completely sure of the man’s motives. But to tell the entire story or even explore all of its facets would rob the MSM of a chance to skew the vote in the preferred direction. It might invite a discussion about addiction, social media, and the way California has handled its homeless situation. It might show that there was more that drove this man than MAGA propaganda. Everything must be perfectly spun, tailored, and designed to drive the narrative, as the media gathers to feast on this incident. The damage, injuries, and even murders inflicted by Left-wingers over the years matter naught. And while the assault on Pelosi is tragic, is it any less so than the assaults against everyday citizens that are piling up in New York and elsewhere in cities under progressive leaders? His life matters, but so do theirs. The members of the MSM want you to see that there is only one side to every story, and you had just better accept it with a nod and a smile. They do not want cooler heads to prevail. Cooler heads won’t win elections or ensure power.
Some of this is the result of our schools and universities, as many of these people have been carefully raised to see only the left side of any issue. Some of this is the result of being bought and paid for by the people in power on the Left. And some of it is sheer hubris. During the earliest moments of the Uvalde tragedy, a TV anchor with whom I used to be friends waxed poetic on the role of journalists. He wished his brothers and sisters well, hoped that they would stay safe, and said that this was when journalists needed to step up. Or words to that effect. The emphasis was on the brave and selfless reporters, not on the massacre they had been sent to cover.
The MSM’s fear over Twitter is that the public square will be returned to the public. Their fear is that people might make room for ideas other than the ones sanctioned by them and their government. They are afraid that their editorial protocols and accusations of “whataboutism” in the face of new or conflicting information will no longer have the firepower upon which they depend. Your masters are afraid of you.
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