Well 2021 has certainly started off with a bang!
A worldwide pandemic and riots at the capitol building. It is all scary. We sit in disbelief and watch the chaos happening. The censorship that has begun with the banning of the president from Twitter and Apple and Google removing Parlor from their app stores.
At first I was thrilled that Trump had been removed from Twitter until I realized what this means. Or rather a friend from another part of the world commented that he never thought the US would move towards socialism and more censorship. And he's right.
I do believe those who rioted and caused damage should be prosecuted. I also believe after watching Trumps speech that morning that he encouraged it. But I don't think it took too much to encourage it.
Protests are a way of getting a message across. There has been a lot of protesting in the past few years. The problem is when protests turn to riots. The initial message gets lost when death and destruction take over. No one wants to support a cause when all you see is destruction, even if the cause is worthy.
We are at a turning point in our country. One where we move towards heavier government control and censorship of those who do not agree with the "majority".
We argue about "Free" healthcare and college education. While we all know that it is not really free. Nothing is ever really free. But the idea of it is a great selling point. The idea of not paying to go see a doctor is very appealing. Who wouldn't love that! But do we really want our government to be in charge of that? I am not sure I want to trust them with my health.
Our country is so incredibly divided. We watch as the extremes of the left and right scream and yell and drown out the logical speech. We wish for some middle ground but the extremes are so incredibly vocal that it makes it impossible for anyone else to be heard.
It is time for the middle ground, the logical speakers to push back against the extremes.
OK time to get off my soapbox.
I don't want to get into my political views but I do want to clarify something that is quickly becoming a pet peeve: Twitter is not a public utility. It is not run by the government. It's a private business that, as part of their own freedom of speech, can decide who and what is posted on their service. Think of them like a publishing house--they don't have to print every book that's submitted to them. It's not censorship if they decide not to publish your book. You still have the constitutional right to find a different publisher, publish yourself, etc. Trump can (and probably will) start his own social media service, but he doesn't have a consitutional right to have his words aired specifically on Twitter. --OK that Civics refresher lesson is done-- Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteOh I know :D Twitter is not a public entity. It is not just Twitter. Companies ban Trump because they don't like him, then who is next? And where does it end? Not that I am for Trump, LOL. Like I said, I kinda rejoiced at first.
DeleteIt just sets a bad precedent IMO.