The partisan dictatorship of our mainstream social media on public display

 

Yesterday we saw the astonishing spectacle of a major US newspaper breaking a very important story - with supporting evidence - about a Presidential candidate's clear and obvious participation in corruption . . . only to have major social media kill the story at every turn, and refuse to allow it to be discussed.  You couldn't possibly ask for clearer evidence of their bias and lack of objectivity.  In fact, Twitter went so far as to block the account of the newspaper concerned, and of the White House press secretary, who referenced the report.  Twitter's boss later admitted that was "unacceptable without providing a clear message as to why it was taking the action" - but those accounts are apparently still blocked as I write these words, with the only posts showing being more than half a day old.  So much for a non-apology.

I'll let the always incisive Tucker Carlson summarize what happened, and why it's so important.  If the embedded video won't play, you can watch it here, or read a written version at this Fox News report.  Here's the critical core of what he has to say.

They prevented the public from reading the news. They didn't apologize for doing this. They didn't bother to make up reasonable-sounding justifications for it. They just did it, exactly as the Chinese government does. These are monopolies. They have all the power, you have none. They don't have to care about what you think and they don't.

This was mass censorship on a scale that America has never experienced in 245 years, and it's a threat to all of us. Democracies only function when there is a free exchange of information between citizens. We no longer have that.

As independent journalist Glenn Greenwald points out:

There are obvious conclusions to be drawn - so obvious, they hardly need to be stated - but many people absolutely refuse to draw them, because they support such partisan censorship.  Therefore, let's lay it out in unmistakeable terms.

1. We cannot trust or rely on our major social media platforms to offer objective, unbiased information on which we can base our decisions (political or otherwise).
2. We cannot trust or rely on our major social media platforms to be honest with us.
3. We cannot trust or rely on our major social media platforms to bring us facts, rather than partisan propaganda.

We should remember that in the run-up to our elections, now less than three weeks away;  and we should remember it during and after those elections.  If we want honest, factual information, we should look elsewhere.

Please remind your friends and acquaintances of that, and please circulate the news of this blatant censorship to all of them.  It needs to go viral - but it won't, thanks to this censorship, unless all of us spread the word.

Peter