The allegation that Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are conspiring to silence conservatisms leading voices and delegitimize conservative points of view is well-founded but not surprising. Long before the internet the political right was regularly de-platformed by the left-leaning titans of print and broadcasting,editorial boards and journalists consistently promoted Democrat politicians and progressive agendas. Long before people were logging on to get their news, almost every major network and newspaper could be counted on to either tear down conservative Republicans or ignore them.

So former President Donald Trumps recently decreed two-year ban from Facebook, added to his bans on Twitter and YouTube, are just overt reminders of that longstanding bias. What makes it especially painful, however, is that conservatives for a time thought the wilds of the internet might at last allow them to break free from elitist censorship. They didnt reckon on virtual monopolies being run by billionaire progressives.

Liberals, who in the not-so-distant past championed free speech (speaking truth to power) have now become enthusiastic supporters of censorship. While the ability to quash dissenting views is especially delicious for liberals when they are in power, as they are now, they have also mustered the timeless power of the mob to quell the opposition in all political seasons. The cancel culture is now the censorship tool of the left.

In every profession conservatives bite their tongues while inane wokeness is forced upon them, afraid that an unacceptable comment or post, or even supporting a conservative candidate, might cost them their careers. While the billionaire class parrots progressive notions and ignores communist oppression, thereby solidifying lucrative political connections, owners of small businesses dare not speak out about endemic crime in their communities in fear they will be targets of demonstrations or worse. My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, a vocal Trump supporter, is fighting to keep his company going because so many retailers have cancelled orders for his products. Those retailers live in fear of woke boycotts and so shy away from controversy. Being called a racist today is akin to being called a witch in the 1600s the louder the denial, the louder the calls for fire.

Lists of prominent persons who have been suspended or banned from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube reveal the anti-conservative bias, which gathered momentum before and after the 2020 election. That bias is bad enough when it kills controversial opinions, as when Fox News contributor Candace Owens was suspended from Facebook for criticizing Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmers draconian COVID lockdown orders. It is deadly when it kills legitimate scientific debate. Two examples of the latter are noteworthy.

Donald Trump Jr., son of the former president, had his Facebook account suspended in 2020 because he stated that Hydroxychloroquine could help patients recover from Covid-19. There is increasing evidence that the commonly used anti-inflammatory does in fact have a significant impact on the severity and duration of the disease if given early and in the proper dose, but the drug was demonized because President Trump was an early advocate. One virologist recently estimated it could have saved over a hundred thousand lives in the US.

Then there is the case of Chinese virologist Dr. Li-Meng Yan, banished after she published a link to a paper suggesting that COVID-19 was created in a Chinese government lab. We now know, through US intelligence and scientific sources, that a lab leak of a manipulated virus is a very likely scenario. Big Tech has big plans in China, and little reason to risk the ire of the Chinese communists by questioning their bat theory.

Why the unwillingness of the left to allow their agenda to compete in the marketplace of ideas? The answer is obvious their ideas are foolish at best (see New Monetary Theory) and at worst they are dangerous to the unity of the nation (see Critical Race Theory). The people who promote the progressive agenda know they must act fast before their illusions are revealed by the harsh light of reality. Their love of censorship is a sign of their own fears and the bankruptcy of their ideas.

Martin Fey is a member of the Quiet Corner Tea Party Patriots.

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View from the right: social media and their left-leaning leaders attack free speech - Norwich Bulletin