Ever since the riots at the Capital in December, there has been a renewed vigor in the way that some media and opponents of President Trump have been going against dissenters. Let me be clear, I do not subscribe to identity politics, as a Punkrock Capitalist should, I have an independent mind and don't need to be told which side of history is the right one, or which side I should be on. So, what am I talking about? I think most of you know that there is a literal purge on the way to silence and censor Trump supporters and conservatives.
After the tumultuous election that brought us, Joe Biden as the President, the Democratic party has been emboldened to communicate to this country and the world that Trump supporters, their ideas, and opinions are not part of what "they" deem to be the right side of History. Let me clarify, it is not just the Democratic party. It is the corporate board room, the local school board, and large parts of the entertainment industry. It's a change in wind direction and an exercise in Group Think. People are swept up in a wave of perceived sympathy and social justice but most of this feeling is caused and fueled by our addiction to media, sensationalism, and innate desire to belong to a group.
Let's get back to the point, where is the evidence that there is a deliberate effort to silence dissenters of the status quo, especially Trump supporters and outspoken conservatives? You have to look no farther than a series of events that unfolded just last month. Shortly after riotous protesters trespassed on the capitol grounds in December Twitter thought it would place itself on the "right side of history" and decided to ban the sitting President's Twitter account, first temporarily and then permanently. Facebook quickly followed and the reasoning for both companies was the "threat of incitement of violence".
One could argue that Facebook and Twitter are private companies and can do what they want with their platform and I agree with that. But there is a big problem with this situation, for months after the death of Geroge Floyd who was killed during an arrest in Minneapolis under unfortunate and tragic circumstances, major cities in the US were literally on fire. DC, LA, New York, Portland, Seattle, and many other cities were burning and violent mobs roamed the streets to harass and injure police officers, we all saw these things unfolding live on TV. This is where the problem with Facebook's and Twitter's "incitement of threat" claim is obvious, for months on end individual users on both social media platforms have strongly supported these violent and deadly riots by which police officers and innocent civilians were killed. The outspoken support came not only from private citizens but politicians, business leaders, and celebrities! Robert DeNiro was very adamant he would like to punch Trump in the face and I also remember Madonna fantasizing about burning down the White House, I am not sure if she meant with all the staff and the President's family in it or just symbolically watch the building burn, she didn't specify. Biden is still saying that ANTIFA is an idea not an organization and he is dead wrong about that, and if you believe that you are either deliberately trying to misinform people or you have been greatly misinformed yourself.
The problem is that Facebook and Twitter are not being consistent in their policy. Remember when Kathy Griffin did a photo shooting where she held up a fake severed bloody head of Donald Trump ISIS-style? Is that an incitement of violence? How about all the calls to kill cops on social media? I moved into a new area and invited some of the new neighbors for the 4th of July BBQ, my wife stumbled upon the families Facebook and they had pictures on their profile burning the American flag (yes, they're were promptly uninvited even though I respect the right of people to do what they want with their property, but why celebrate Americas birthday and eat my food for free if you hate the country and everything it stands for?). My point is, Facebook and Twitter lied about why they banned Trump and the only reason was to be one of the "ones" to "stand up" to the President to prove their undying fidelity to the current popular groupthink.
Unfortunately, It didn't stop there. Parlor, a social media platform that has been gaining popularity with conservatives because it lets users communicate without the fear of being ostracized, discriminated or banned for their political opinion, was basically shut down after Trump created an account there. This is where the story takes a very ugly turn. Apple, Amazon, and Google decided that the independently running business Parlor should not be a harbor for the President and his followers, so the "big three" removed the app from their app stores and Amazon cut the company from using their cloud services, effectively taking the business offline overnight.
As a capitalist, and especially a Punkrock capitalist I am appalled by this, and every breathing citizen of every country should be too! No laws were passed, no hearings were held, a few tech big wigs decided to kill a business and they did it. I wonder if that will come up in the next senate antitrust hearings because Parlor was a direct competitor to Facebook and for Facebook to conspire and actually follow through with other tech moguls to get a competitor offline seems very fishy.
I wish that was the end of the story but it's only getting worse. It's hard to put a real arrow on who the perpetrator is but at this moment one of the loudest voices for opposing dissent of any kind is the Democratic party. Full disclosure, I am not a staunch political ideologue, and if you read the post "What's A Punk Rock Capitalist" you should know that independent thought is the primary priority, followed by rational thinking and deductive reasoning. I don't care what you call yourself or which group you belong to as long as you don't infringe on my freedoms. But there is something fanatical going on in the current Democratic party and it is toxic. It started when Democratic lawmakers completely exaggerated the capitol riot situation. Yes, an innocent person who was also a Veteran was killed, a police officer lost his life and there was a lot of damage to public property, but there is no equivalency to what happened in the George Floyd riots, it was pure anarchy, some "protesters" literally took over federal land in Portland. But it wasn't those events during the summer that would cause outrage, it would be the 2-hour capitol riot that didn't even break private property is called an insurrection and terrorist attack. That is ridiculous.
Now, Democratic lawmakers are calling for the ousting of anyone that had ties or voiced support for "Trump's Terrorists" as they are called on some news networks. There is an actual effort to retrace part of your life to make sure you were on the right side. If you think that's an overblown statement how do you explain the following? Dozens of National Guard soldiers have been reassigned from protecting the capitol on inauguration day because of "ties" which could make them a liability, as in violently overthrowing the government on inauguration day. The "ties" were posts, likes, and retweets of conservative viewpoints on Facebook and Twitter. I am a US Army Veteran and let me tell you this, overthrowing anything is not the priority in a soldier's mind. If we are assigned to do a mission, our political opinion will not keep us from accomplishing it, it seems ridiculous to have to explain this and I am sure that the majority of people with a brain already knew this. Representative Alexandria-Ocassio-Cortez from NY has even called for a commission to be formed to investigate lawmakers' past conduct as it relates to supporting Trump and his "attempted coup".
This situation is a major reason why I founded the Punk Rock Capitalist, I want to provide people the information that is often being withheld from them and I also want to bring together a community of people that are critical and independent thinkers that won't submit to this purge. There cannot be an overlord that decides which opinion is the right one to have. For all the talk of increasing diversity, we are doing a horrible job in encouraging diversity of thought, and that is my goal.
Thanks,
A Punk Rock Capitalist
Comments