WHAT'S WORSE, GOING VIRAL OR VERBAL QUARANTINE?
Author | Singleton, Marilyn M. |
Position | Life in America |
"... Political opinions should go viral, not be quarantined. Many folks with opinions differing from those of the tribal chieftains find themselves whispering in dark corners like drug dealers."
CENSORSHIP has consequences not only for public safety--such as from the coronavirus--but for shrinking the marketplace of ideas. Thus, with all the issues about which to educate ourselves, we should all be outraged at the proposal of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D.-Mass.) to censor "disinformation" on social media. At present, her plan to "create civil and criminal penalties for knowingly disseminating false information" is limited to influencing elections, but once acquiesced to, censorship tends to metastasize to other areas. The paternalistic powers that be, worried that the unwashed masses will not be able to discern conspiracy theories from alternate positions, will determine your opinion for you.
Social media, while ubiquitous and public, is private speech. For years, social media platforms have "moderated" content using opaque algorithms that finally are coming to light. While safeguards supposedly were designed to eliminate dangerous or abusive content, certain viewpoints are more likely to be censored by Twitter and Facebook than others, perverting the marketplace of ideas.
Censorship now has infiltrated our routine social interactions under the guise of offensiveness. There was a time when the seven words you cannot say on television were blatant profanities. Now, it is like whack-a-mole trying to keep up with what we are allowed to say not only online but in polite company. California tried to pass a law where someone using "he" instead of "she" could face a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail. It has gotten to the place where animal lovers are offended if we call our dogs "pets" rather than our companions.
Most importantly, political opinions should go viral, not be quarantined. Many folks with opinions differing from those of the tribal chieftains find themselves whispering in dark comers like drug dealers. Actually, drug dealers in San Francisco have it better: they can sell drugs openly on the street without recourse. The LGBT tribe attempted to quarantine gay conservatives who did not fit the mold by cancelling scheduled #WalkAway town hall venues citing #WalkAway as a hate group. The hate?--urging the LGBT crowd to leave the Democratic Party. Undeterred, they moved the town halls to the streets. Scott Presler, a conservative gay man who...
To continue reading
Request your trialCOPYRIGHT GALE, Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.