Posted on 03/21/2024 7:46:10 AM PDT by packagingguy
There was a bit of good news about the future of public discourse this week. The United States Supreme Court, even though stacked with right-wingers, sounded like it was ready to give the Biden administration the go-ahead to try to persuade social-media platforms not to put out content promoting nonsense about the presidential election, conspiracy theories about the pandemic and other assorted bilge and crackpottery...
When other communications revolutions like the printing press, radio, and television came along, they were still largely controlled by the elites. But when the internet came along, regulatory bodies like Canada’s CRTC backed off. It was open season for anything that anyone wanted to put out. No license needed. No identity verification.
What a far cry from the days when the masses had no outlets save things like “man-on-the-street” interviews or letters to the editor or protest placards. We moved from one extreme to the other.
The masses were finally weaponized – not with arms, but with a communications instrument that empowered them against establishment forces like they had never been empowered before. The change represented one of history’s significant power shifts...
The internet undermined the established newspaper business model, greatly reducing the number of papers and coverage and creating a void for Mr. Trump and the like-minded to fill. His cries of fake news had the impact – it’s charted well in former Washington Post editor Martin Barron’s book, Collision of Power – of compartmentalizing the media landscape into left-right silos, which helped bring on the extremes of polarization.
The way to reverse the trend is with rigid regulation, but the free speech lobby in the United States is as fierce as the gun lobby.
(Excerpt) Read more at theglobeandmail.com ...
They might decide to vote for Hitler, Putin, Trump, Poilievre or Attila the Hun.
They might even say something "against establishment forces"!
Heavens to Betsy!
The “War on Free Speech” is in full swing.
I didn’t see the Bee or Onion here.
They’ve said it: “too much free speech!”
And, they aren’t even subtle about it.
“Excessive free speech”
I can’t say I ever expected such a tyrannical phrase to ever be uttered.
Tells you how upset our masters are that we dare have unapproved communications.
” Excessive free speech “.
Chairman Xi couldn’t have said it better.
And, they aren’t even subtle about it.
Thank the US Department of Education
“It is hard for me to believe so many people and institutions are fully embracing the concept of the dystopian world envisioned in book 1984. And, they aren’t even subtle about it.”
Me, too. I don’t think they are self-aware.
Their inability to control the masses is at stake, I guess.
> The way to reverse the trend is with rigid regulation, but the free speech lobby in the United States is as fierce as the gun lobby. <
The article is behind some sort of registration wall. Instead of registering, I’ll just ask: Is this satire?
And if it’s not satire, it’s fascism.
“We can project movies and images on our garage doors in the early night hours.”
Pretty much the same thing that happened 600 years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety-five_Theses
“It detailed Martin Luther’s opposition to what he saw as the Roman Catholic Church’s abuse and corruption by Catholic clergy, who were selling plenary indulgences, which were certificates supposed to reduce the temporal punishment in purgatory for sins committed by the purchasers or their loved ones.
“In the Theses, Luther claimed that the repentance required by Christ in order for sins to be forgiven involves inner spiritual repentance rather than merely external sacramental confession. He argued that indulgences led Christians to avoid true repentance and sorrow for sin, believing that they could forgo it by obtaining an indulgence.”
Wow. This guy is a full blown totalitarian. Imagine complaining about more power going to the “masses” instead of the self-selected few.
Free Speech Is Killing Us
https://babylonbee.com/news/free-speech-is-killing-us
Ketanji Brown Jackson Warns Right To Free Speech Could Lead To People Speaking Freely
DHS Announces They Will Suppress As Much Speech As It Takes To Preserve Democracy
The Second Amendment didn’t get exercised when they took away the Second Amendment.
Will the Second Amendment be exercised when they take away the First Amendment?
Hang on to your hat, because they are giving illegal aliens gun, taking illegal aliens into the army, and before you know they may have illegal alien soldiers quartering at your house. That’s the Third Amendment. That would be next in line, don’t you think?
Come the worst it is possible to distribute sheets of information folded into little packets via stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s at say two or three packets per store visit.
A folded dollar might be placed inside some packets to help ensure the packets get taken home and read.
Wash your fingers before printing, folding and distributing.
Wear gloves when taping so as to not leave fingerprints.
On foggy days, the cellphone could be left at home and packets tossed on driveways while running.
“Drive otside any city in Canada and you will see thousands of “Truck Frudeau” flags fluttering pleasantly in the awakening Canadian breeze.”
You have got to be kidding.
Just like defamation, it ain’t nonsense if it’s true.
Conspiracy theorists are batting a 1000 so the rats and rinos should just STFU.
Lawrence Martin is the reporter who back in about 1974 dutifully reported kindly H Ballard’s comments about how his Toronto Maple Leaf players were garbage and Dave Keon was a weak captain. I guess “excessive free speech” wasn’t a concern of Martin’s at the time.
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