Ch 14.32 - Free Speech/Censorship
"I've been on a watchlist for a while. I am tired of withholding my thoughts in the misguided assumption that I will be spared slightly longer." - Unknown
a. 1st Amendment
---------------------------
”Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” - Bill of Rights, Amendment I - Freedoms, Petitions, Assembly
“Despite what many seem to believe, the law is not that ‘religious beliefs are protected until someone finds them offensive.’ Religious beliefs by their very nature cause offense to those outside of the religion – precisely why our federal and state laws protect religious belief. Per the Supreme Court, religious beliefs are not merely to be tolerated but must receive ‘favored treatment’ in the workplace. One employee’s feeling offended, harassed, or unsafe just because another employee has stated his religious beliefs does not overcome these legal protections. All religions are protected, but recently discrimination against Christians has been on the rise – not an unexpected outcome of the sudden explosion of companies advocating gender ideology, a belief system at enmity with ancient Christian doctrine.” - Chad Sharf's attorney Jennifer Vasquez, of Campbell Trohn Tamayo & Aranda, told Reclaim The Net about why he refused to use gender pronouns and later terminated for putting “Assigned By God” in his bio on Slack.
"The 1st Amendment was intended solely to protect unpopular speech… because popular speech needs no protection." - Unknown
“When they want you silent, speak louder." - Riley Gaines on being assaulted for not wanting to share a locker room and compete against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.
"Threats to freedom of speech, writing, and action, though often trivial in isolation, are cumulative in their effect and, unless checked, lead to a general disrespect for the rights of the citizen." ~ George Orwell
"Can a person walk into the middle of the town square and express his or her views without fear of arrest, imprisonment, or physical harm? If he can, then that person is living in a free society. If not, it’s a fear society.” - Unknown
“When it comes to comparisons, the simplest test for a country's authoritarianism ultimately comes down to one thing. Either you can go to a public square and repeatedly shout insults and criticisms towards your political leaders without getting arrested, or you can't.” - Unknown
"The communist coup of the United States has already taken place. Every action taken against it from this point forward should be considered the counter-insurgency. You may WANT to push back, but make no mistake, if you do they will drop on every single one of you like a ton of bricks. This should no longer be considered a possibility but the expected and certain result of doing so. Freedom of speech is now abrogated as a defense if that speech is against the regime." - Unknown
"We have freedom of speech here in the USSR too. The difference is, you Americans get to exercise it more than once." - Unknown, Old (allegedly) Soviet joke
"I saw an interview the other day about a discussion about free speech in the UK. The interviewer asked how many people had been arrested in Russia due to what they posted online in 2023: the answer, 440. The interviewer then asked how many had been arrested in the UK? The answer: 3,300. You can say what you like, as long its what you are allowed to say." - Unknown
"To find out who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize." - Voltaire
“‘Marginalized voices’ that somehow have the power to destroy anyone who disagrees with them.” - Unknown
"If people had truly free speech, and a forum to express it they'd soon realize the majority of people held similar views, and that is threatening to their objectives." - Unknown
b. Information
---------------------------
"There is the ability to change the narrative. If there wasn't they wouldn't be trying to shut us up and censor us." - David Oneeglio
dis·in·for·ma·tion - noun - any information shared by a person who knows it to be false. Disinformation is synonymous with lying. From Latin dis meaning to have a privative, negative, or reversing force + information
mal·in·for·ma·tion - noun - any information that is true, but used to inflict harm on a person, organisation or country. Examples of malinformation include phishing, catfishing, doxing, swatting and revenge porn. Malinformation is also used to refer to "information that stems from the truth but is often exaggerated in a way that misleads and causes potential harm." Censors typically describe malinformation as information that is true, but contrary to their preferred narrative. From Latin mal meaning bad + information
mis·in·for·ma·tion - noun - any information that is not entirely true, regardless of the intent behind it. A flawed scientific study is one form of misinformation. An imperfect recollection of past events is another. From Latin mis "bad, wrong" + information.
"The word misinformation literally just means being wrong, and disinformation is lying. That’s all they mean. There’s no extra meaning to them. And so, misinformation is entirely subjective. It’s literally an opinion.” - Michael Schellenberger
"The word 'disinformation' is a propaganda tool created by the CIA to brainwash people into believing that they are protecting free speech but ironically are doing the opposite: censoring!" - Unknown
c. Hate Speech
---------------------------
"There's no such thing as hate speech, hate speech is speech people hate, usually people in power." - Tucker Carlson
"But the advent of generative AI must not distract us from the damage digital technology is already doing to our world.
- The proliferation of hate and lies in the digital space is causing grave global harm – now.
- It is fueling conflict, death and destruction – now.
- It is threatening democracy and human rights – now.
- It is undermining public health and climate action – now.
When social media emerged a generation ago, digital platforms were embraced as exciting new ways to connect. And, indeed, they have supported communities in times of crisis, elevated marginalized voices and helped to mobilize global movements for racial justice and gender equality. Social media platforms have helped the United Nations to engage people around the world in our pursuit of peace, dignity and human rights on a healthy planet. But today, this same technology is often a source of fear, not hope. Digital platforms are being misused to subvert science and spread disinformation and hate to billions of people." - UN Secretary-General's Press Briefing on Policy Brief on Information Integrity on Digital Platforms, 12 June 2023
"General Code of Conduct for Information Integrity on Digital Platforms Translator 2023 Edition:
Commitment to Information Integrity = Government Approved Fact Checkers Only
Enhanced Trust and Safety = AI Thought Police
Increased Transparency = Less transparency
Respect for Human Rights = No Dissenting Opinions
Scaled-up Response = Monitor Communication
Strengthened Research and Data Access = Prevent Information Flow
Stronger Disincentives = Social Credit Scores
Support for Independent Media = Shadowbanning Independent Media
User Empowerment = User disempowerment" - Unknown
d. Censorship
---------------------------
"Threats to freedom of speech, writing and action, though often trivial in isolation, are cumulative in their effect and, unless checked, lead to a general disrespect for the rights of the citizen.” - George Orwell
"If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that government officials have no business deciding what's true and what's false—even though it’s a power they clearly desire." - Unknown
"Let's not forget that book bans cut both ways-- 'liberal' and 'conservative.' I've seen many classics 'no longer taught' in schools, such as Heart of Darkness, Too Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, etc. Should students read (age appropriate) books even if they're 'controversial' and even if they disagree with the content?" - Unknown
cen·sorship - noun - any deliberate suppression or prohibition of speech, whether for good or ill. In the United States and countries that have adopted its model, censorship induced by governments and their appendages is constitutionally prohibited except in the narrow category of "illegal speech"—e.g., obscenity, child exploitation, speech abetting criminal conduct, and speech that incites imminent violence. Because censorship involves exercising power to silence another individual, censorship is inherently hierarchical. A person who lacks the power to silence another cannot censor them. For this reason, censorship naturally reinforces existing power structures, whether rightly or wrongly. From The Latin, censere "to give as one's opinion, to assess [by the magistrates for appropriate morals/conduct]."
"The information they censor is exactly what you need to know." - Unknown
"Always a sign of how confident you are in your positions when you want anyone who disagrees with you silenced." - Unknown
"The censors’ shears were bayonets that not only formed a rear-guard national defense but also struck hard at the enemy in all three phases of warfare—military, economic, and psychological." - Theodore Koop, Silent Weapons, on the information war campaign he ran during WWII
"Government with censorship technology is just like an alcoholic with a barrel of wine." - Unknown
"Censorship is NEVER done for good. It is only used to protect lies. The truth will ALWAYS stand on its own. Therefore, whichever side censors are guaranteed to be the side of the lie in ANY topic of discussion. I can think of NO historical example where censorship of speech or ideation protected the truth. Let THIS fact be your beacon when weighing thoughts on any topic." - Unknown
"Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself." –Potter Stewart
"When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar; you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say." - George R.R. Martin, Cancel Big Tech censorship
"Once a country accepts censorship of the press and of speech, then nothing can be won without violence. Therefore, so long as you have free speech, protect it. This is the life and death issue in this country: do not give up the freedom of the press, of newspapers, books, magazines, television, radios, movies, and every other form of presenting ideas. So long as that's free, a peaceful intellectual turn is possible." - Rand Paul
"Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear." - President Harry S. Truman
"Censorship Is Control. The fundamental aim of censorship in Bradbury's dystopia is to control the population. Captain Beatty explains to the protagonist, fireman Montag, 'You can't build a house without nails and wood. If you don't want a house built, hide the nails and wood.' The 'house' Beatty is referring to is opinions in conflict with the "official" one. "If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it." - Ray Bradbury
“A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. You read a few lines. Ready to blow up the world. Chop heads off. Destroy authority. I know. I’ve been through it all. Now what do you want to do?” - Farenheit 451
e. Self Censorship
---------------------------
"If publishers and editors exert themselves to keep certain topics out of print, it is not because they are frightened of prosecution, but because they are frightened of public opinion. In this country intellectual cowardice is the worst enemy a writer or journalist has to face, and that fact does not seem to me to have had the discussion it deserves. At this moment what is demanded by the prevailing orthodoxy is an uncritical admiration of Soviet Russia. Everyone knows this, nearly everyone acts on it. Any serious criticism of the Soviet regime, any disclosure of facts which the Soviet government would prefer to keep hidden, is next door to unprintable." - Unknown
"I don't say you're self-censoring. I'm sure you believe everything you're saying. But what I'm saying is that if you believed something different you wouldn't be sitting where you're sitting." - Noam Chomsky about the way critical journalists are filtered out of the mainstream media
“When you are crazy you learn to keep quiet.” - Philip K. Dick, VALIS
"Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view, is silence about truth. By simply not mentioning certain subjects… totalitarian propagandists have influenced opinion much more effectively than they could have by the most eloquent denunciations." – Aldous Huxley
f. Memory Holes
---------------------------
"Thousands of people last week discovered that Amazon had quietly removed electronic copies of George Orwell's 1984 from their Kindle e-book readers. In the process, Amazon revealed how easy censorship will be in the Kindle age..." - Unknown, on why electronic books are not a good idea
"Those who burn books today will be burning bodies tomorrow." - Heinrich Heine
"Canadian Highschool Goes Full 1984 – Removes All Books Published Before 2008 in Diversity Audit" - Unknown
"If all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed - if all records told the same tale, then the lie became the truth." - George Orwell, 1984
g. Social Credit
---------------------------
"Low value people love social credit because obedience is one of the few things they can be competitive with." - oldstocky
“Leftists revel in the argument that 'freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences'; they seem to think it is rather clever. I would say, actually, yes, that's EXACTLY what freedom of speech means. Freedom of speech means that no single group can use fear, intimidation, and punishment to compel silence in other groups or individuals that disagree with them. With corporate monopoly and government on their side, it is clear that leftists have appointed themselves the sole arbiters of 'consequence,' which violates the constitution in every conceivable way.” - Unknown
h. Social Networks
---------------------------
"Social media represents the intersection of technology and journalism, and there are few parts of American society more bound up with the national security state than those." - Unknown
"Jeff Bezos’ [founder of Amazon] grandfather, Lawrence Preston (L.P.) Gise, was Director at the Atomic Energy Commission, and helped to form the US Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), from which ARPAnet evolved. During his tenure, Gise approved and provided funding for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) – which would eventually invent the Internet." - Josh Stylman via the Brownstone Institute,
"Google's popular origin story of the web search titan is that it was the brainchild of two scrappy boy-geniuses at Stanford who were looking for a better way to find and present the ever-growing depth and breadth of information being uploaded to the web. Conspicuously missing from that official story is the part about how Google started in 1995 as a DARPA-funded grant project for the CIA & NSA joint Massive Digital Data Systems Program. Google’s ambitious creation was funded and coordinated by a research group established by the intelligence community to develop and implement ways to track individuals and groups online." - Josh Stylman via the Brownstone Institute,
"The Pentagon (specifically, DARPA) apparently foresaw the usefulness of collecting the breadcrumbs of people’s behavior when they started working on LifeLog, a project to track a person’s “entire existence” online. It’s ambiguous what happened but they shut the project down on Feb 4, 2004. As fate would have it, that same day – February 4, 2004 – was the day that Facebook (then, TheFacebook) launched at Harvard. That is a weird coincidence that Aaron Sorkin didn’t mention in the movie version, but it’s probably nothing. DARPA even denied having a connection, so I guess we’ll have to take them at their word." = Josh Stylman via the Brownstone Institute,
"Freedom of speech but not freedom of reach... If it is lawful but it’s awful, it’s extraordinarily difficult for you to see it." - Linda Yaccarino, X CEO
"Thinking Elon Musk bought Twitter to preserve free speech is like thinking Bill Gates bought 68,000 acres of farmland to stop hunger." - Unknown
“1% control the world. 4% are puppets. 90% are asleep. 5% know what is happening and are trying to wake up the 90%. The 1% don't want the 5% waking up the 90%.” - Unknown
“This is why most news sites dropped their comment sections. Bloomberg was one of the first to drop it. Then the others followed.” - Unknown
“Not too long ago, even local news channels had online comment sections, then suddenly, no more. What are they afraid of? The truth?” - Unknown
“How can you tell the truth is being told? When Facebook blocks it. Twitter deletes it. Google hides it. YouTube bans it. Your Government forbids it. And media brands it as a Conspiracy Theory.” - Unknown
"I don't get it. Who wouldn't want to spend hours a day reading and making insightful, but respectful, comments about government approved propaganda? [Threads] still sounds like a slam dunk. Maybe Zuckerberg needs to make a public appeal? Everybody loves him." - Unknown, on the failure of Twitter clone created by Facebook
“This is why they desperately seek to control/censor the internet. People may be easily propagandized, but if they are exposed to enough actual information, they start to see through it. When the owners say 'threat to Democracy,' they mean threat to them. Because, at the moment, they decide who we vote for on both sides, and they still essentially control the narrative.” - Unknown
"Tik-Tok is a mirror - and some people don't like it." - Unknown
"I don't use Tik-Tok, in my mind it's infested with narcissistic idiots, but be certain that same people who wants to ban it - would've banned the printing press if they were around to do so." - Unknown
"There is one piece of media that our owners do not control. Tik Tok. That is not allowed in our democracy." - Unknown
"I find it ironic that arguably the greatest 'social media' app in the world was built by the Chinese Communist Party." - Unknown
"You can bet your ass there will be a hell of a lot more in that bill than just banning tik tok." - Unknown, on the bill before Congress to ban TikTok
"Here’s the general idea:
1) Take any (successful) foreign company that could remotely pose a national security risk.
2) Force the company to divest the part of the firm that operates in the US, or threaten to ban it.
3) Set up a SPAC that can acquire said divestment.
4) Repeat." - Unknown
"Do you want apps controlled by foreign communists or domestic fascists? That's your choice." - jefferyatucker
i. Maintaining Communication
---------------------------
"When we can no longer speak in public, we must learn to whisper in private. Once again, we are learning how and why secret societies arise in despotic nations." - Unknown
"Sites and outlets that stay siloed are allowed to exist. It’s the movements that bring opposing ideologies together that must be terminated by the state. Remember Fred Hampton? They want to keep people's ignorance bubbles intact." - Unknown
"Freedom of speech is freedom of public information. I want to know when someone says something I don't agree with. I want to know when someone says something incorrect. I want to know when someone says something hateful. Censorship doesn't protect me. It keeps me in the dark." - growingtotruth
"You want reality, you'll have to go to the Information Black Market (TM) to get it. And like all black markets there will be a corresponding spectrum of Gray Markets. ZH is Gray Market. Well, Light Gray, anyway. You want the REALLY dark info? You'll have to go firmly outside the law to get it." - Unknown
"Won't be long now...
prisoner 1: What you in for?
prisoner 2: Zerohedge
prisoner 1: me too" - Unknown, on future censorship and banned websites
Previous Chapter
Next Chapter
Table of Contents