Big Tech, Fascism and Freedom
The media and tech giants have shown their true colours:
There is now no question which side Big Media and the Big Tech Giants are on: they have deliberately and defiantly chosen to stand with fascism as they stand against freedom. We have been aware of this ominous move for quite some time and we have countless examples of this already.
But each month we find even more new and alarming indications of this. They have decided that censorship, the manipulation and control of information, and the banning of any contrary points of view will be their preferred operating policy. Any dissenters WILL be harshly dealt with.
Bad Think WILL be crushed. The left abhors anyone who dares to dissent. Consider the latest example of all this tyrannical thought control and cancel culture. YouTube has just taken down 130,000 verboten videos, with many more to come. As one write-up explains:
Google-owned YouTube said on Sept. 29 that it will ban all “harmful vaccine content” from its platform, including claims that vaccines are ineffective at reducing transmission of disease, prompting concerns that the firm will escalate censorship of dissenting viewpoints.
“We’ve steadily seen false claims about the coronavirus vaccines spill over into misinformation about vaccines in general, and we’re now at a point where it’s more important than ever to expand the work we started with COVID-19 to other vaccines,” YouTube wrote in a blog post. So far, the Bay Area-based company said it has removed 130,000 videos for violating its policies that it claims were created in tandem with various “experts” to deal with alleged “COVID-19 and medical misinformation.”
Now it removes content that claims “approved vaccines are dangerous and cause chronic health effects, claims that vaccines do not reduce transmission or contraction of disease, or contains misinformation on the substances contained in vaccines,” YouTube stated on its blog, saying that its policy will now apply to content that questions the efficacy of all vaccines, not just those for COVID-19.
“These policy changes will go into effect today, and as with any significant update, it will take time for our systems to fully ramp up enforcement,” the company wrote. “Personal testimonials relating to vaccines will also be allowed, so long as the video doesn’t violate other Community Guidelines, or the channel doesn’t show a pattern of promoting vaccine hesitancy.”
A spokesperson for the company confirmed to news outlets that accounts operated by Joseph Mercola and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who have frequently raised questions about vaccines over the years, were banned from the platform. https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/youtube-bans-all-harmful-vaccine-content-from-its-platform_4023425.html
Wow, scary stuff indeed. Now YouTube has decided that you are only allowed to hear and see information on health and medical care that they approve of. All other points of view will NOT be tolerated. And I should know, since YouTube has already taken down one of my videos that dared to ask a few hard questions. (And Facebook is worse, having permanently banned me!)
As with all forms of fascism, we have new demonised groups – those who are considered to be unclean, to be enemies of the state, to be those who must never be heard nor seen. Today one of the most evil things that can be said about a person is that they are an “anti-vaxxer”.
But like most pejorative terms, there is little truth to it. The reality is, the overwhelming majority of people who have hesitancy and legitimate questions about the new Covid vaccines are NOT anti-vaxxers. They simply are waiting for more clarity as to just what these vaccines are all about, how safe they are, how efficacious they are, and so on.
One American commentator who has just written on these matters is Michael Brown. Early on in his piece he says this: “But let me say at the outset that I am not an anti-vaxxer myself. My official, oft-stated, public position on the COVID vaccines is this: Do the research, pray for wisdom, and make an informed decision. As for my personal choices, I’m keeping those personal, since I do not have the health expertise to influence others in either direction.”
Brown continues:
While a million viewpoints on a million subjects can be freely discussed, including what foods are or are not healthy and what diets are or are not healthy and what exercise regimes are or are not healthy or what drugs for different illnesses are or are not healthy – etc., etc. – there can be no open discussion about what vaccines are or are not healthy. This is utterly outrageous. Talk about a frontal assault on our freedoms. And what a dangerous new precedent this sets when it comes to future censorship of banned ideas.
The rationale behind the decision is this: “Misinformation researchers have for years said the popularity of anti-vaccine content on YouTube was contributing to growing skepticism of lifesaving vaccines in the United States and around the world. Vaccination rates have slowed and about 56 percent of the U.S. population has had two shots, compared with 71 percent in Canada and 67 percent in the United Kingdom.”
But what if it is not just misinformation? What if there are genuine scientific concerns? What if there is a growing body of anecdotal evidence supporting those concerns? And, in any case, who decides what is and is not “misinformation”? More importantly, who decides which “misinformation” is permitted and which is forbidden?
Should a video with blatant misinformation about the Bible be permitted on YouTube, even if it will lead many people astray spiritually? (The answer is yes, it should be permitted.) What about a video with misleading information about UFO’s? Should that be permitted? (Again, the answer is yes.) But if you have genuine, well-researched, carefully-considered issues with vaccines in general, not to mention COVID vaccines in particular, your content will be banned on YouTube. This really is ominous.
He concludes:
In the past, a major newspaper like USA Today may have had 2-3 million subscribers, while, to this day, major network news shows may draw 5-7 million viewers per network. In contrast, YouTube currently has 2.29 billion users, meaning that when YouTube bans you, it really hurts.
Add to this the fact that we began this year with Twitter banning the most powerful man on the planet from its platform – the sitting president of the United States – and you realize that things are quickly spiraling out of control. https://mychristiandaily.com/why-youtubes-banning-of-anti-vaxxers-is-so-ominous/
They sure are. Let me finish off this discussion by recommending one new resource on Big Tech fascism. A very clear and informative 20-minute video put out by Prager U is well worth watching and sharing: https://www.prageru.com/video/restricted
It is high time to stand up and fight this new fascism.
[1105 words]
We are becoming more like the former Soviet Union.
We sure are Ken.
Dear Bill,
Thank you for the article. One letter writer to our local paper thinks people who worry about freedom are ”silly” and thinks being kept ”safe” from a ”deadly disease” is more important than freedom. Another writer to the same paper is ”astounded” about the justifiably hesitant who she conveniently lumps altogether as ”anti vaxxers” and compares being vaccinated against Covid to children being vaccinated against diphtheria etc. This is the alarming ignorance we are up against from a population which has never known what the loss of freedom is. All I can say is they need to go and live in China and they will soon change their minds.
Thanks Patricia.
As long as those RUNNING big tech are ideologically left NOTHING WILL HAPPEN! The dems won’t stop them as they have no reason to neither do the many RINO’s and while many conservative Republicans talk a good game they are either too weak to take them on OR simply out numbered. And don’t even start on the libertarians. We are seeing the fruit of cultural disengagement. Unfortunately while the pulpits refusal to engage got us here we have such WEAK INEFFECTIVE COWARDS in the pulpits now we can NOT count on them to get us out. It has take 120-150 or so years but a might nation built on a foundation of God is about to fall and take the West with it! If we haven’t fought back yet we aren’t going to. If haven’t woken up yet we won’t.
The sad thing is that shutting down information is currently costing massive amounts both in dollars and people’s wellbeing. For instance I understand there has been a study that showed that the Astra Zenica vaccine was up to 67% effective in preventing transmission in a household situation. Good news if you want to slow the demand on hospitals. The problem is that it is not the “up to” figure that’s the problem – it’s the “down to” figure that is the issue and with the transmission effect less than the quoted effectiveness and the vaccines waning in effectiveness, even markedly by three months, the “down to” figure for transmission prevention is likely to approach zero reasonably quickly. Until we get multiple data points we won’t know just how quickly and it is probably better putting our energies and dollars into alternate solutions anyway.
YouTube preventing access to this sort of information, that is even admitted by the manufacturers, can only ever help to lead to more of the irrational actions we have already witnessed with Covid 19 and this is before, as you point out Bill, the massive ramifications of globalist, big tech controlling our thoughts and access to information. If we don’t wake up quickly with the examples we now see it will clearly only get worse in the future.
The people who falsely believe the state will not come for them are badly mistaken. Today they may be favoured but the parameters will constantly change. More and more categories will be invented for what is deemed wrong think or evil and new groups will be targeted often. Those who are of the wrong thinking or belonging to certain groups will be labelled subhuman or at the very least undesirables. Then we will see people who are punished by guilt of association. Meaning people who are just going about their lives will be targeted if they are seen to talk to, befriend, or do business with the ‘out’ group. These ideologues want everyone to be forced to take a position even unwillingly. Under a totalitarian system you have to take a side, no one will be left to just go about their lives. You are either with or against.
Correct Philippe.