"Free Speech" Moderation, Oxymoron of Today
When big tech colludes with government, it becomes government...
San Francisco, CA December 13, 2023… Appearing in Sunnyvale California on December 12th, Seth Keshel and I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with Californians about the path from republic, to democracy to dictatorship, electile dysfunction and all things inane to civil society. The Liberty Forum, a non-partisan organization, has had many distinguished speakers, and to be included in that calendar was a special honor.
The essence of liberty is freedom of thought, which gives rise to the freedom of expression, and ultimately the freedom of speech. It is indeed odd that the radical marxist front behind the color revolution in America takes great umbrage at messaging that is contrary to their own bigotry and hate. But then, that is the crux of the matter with 5th Generation Warfare (5GW).
In 5GW, the battle space is the mind, the grey matter where thought originates. It is best defined as, “a war of narratives.” So when an adversary seeks to engage in such a battle, the obvious tactic to deny the opposition any resource to defend their position is a means to win the war.
Congress attempted to limit the potential for throttling free speech by big tech by defining platform vs. publisher under 47 U.S. Code, Sec. 230 of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 230; commonly known as the 'Communications Decency Act of 1996).
The law allows online services that rely on user-generated content to get meritless lawsuits against them dismissed without going through much more lengthy and expensive litigation. Moreover, by not holding platforms responsible for the speech of their users, these online services can choose to moderate their platforms to serve the best interest of their community, creating a forum for free speech and open discourse.
But wait a minute, “to moderate a platform” that is in essence colluding with the government, thus establishing a government nexus, and “creating a forum for free speech and open discourse” are in obvious conflict with each other. The whole point of the Fist Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, is to protect freedom of expression, even offensive speech; offensive speech in the context not vulgarity, but of accountability.
Now comes what appears to be a form of schizophrenia coming from the color revolution promotors. “Democrats and liberals, on the other hand, claim the platforms don’t do enough to weed out so-called hate speech and alleged misinformation, which they consider to be pressing social problems.”1 These are the same folks who promote Hamas style antisemitism —hate speech— through the Ivy League universities, and in the streets of major cities all across America.
In a similar way, the media propaganda complex made up of major networks like Fox, NBC, CBS and ABC, and minor if not failing networks like CNN and MSNBC, controlled by a hand full of oligarchs, seeks to control what information the Americans, indeed all of the world sees or is permitted to know about.
So much for transparency…
What action is underway to resist the take over of offensive —as in offensive to the government—speech that holds government accountable? Both Florida and Texas legislatures have passed statutes to regulate what big tech can do to control speech. In a serious blow to the primary information control actor, Google, Dr. Robert Epstein has outed the color revolution’s greatest tool.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Mark Finchem's Inside Track Substack to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.