It’s been a long and difficult relationship between free-speech loving conservatives and the social media juggernaut Twitter. So much so it appears a nasty split is imminent – complete with the expert testimony of armchair virologists, U.S. Constitution interpreters, and whatever lawyer or expert is weighing in on the platform. The divorce of mommy and daddy will involve third party destructors and will cite the cause as abandonment of the First Amendment, and finally irreconcilable differences.
And it all started when Donald J. Trump was in the mix to become the leader of the free world. Now the kids are filing for emancipation and heading into social media parts unknown.
Abandonment of that Silly Constitution Thingy
It appears that the media, the liberal and progressive left, and capitalist billionaires in charge of all media platforms agree that in order to get rid of this relationship America has with President Trump is to fact-check everything he utters, censor content if it’s a positive post for conservatives, and outright block the man. At a whim. Conservatives who engage on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and the like have cried foul of the obvious bias for years. To no avail.
Libertarians and Republicans have howled at being told they must be racist if they agree with solid conservative issues. They have been force-fed “triggered” incidents, “Xenophobic” hate, and labeled with the term white privilege.
The war against Twitter went to DEFCON 1 when the president tweeted this poorly thought out missive about the situation in Minneapolis: “Any difficulty and we will assume control, but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
Twitter determined the message violated its rules by glorifying violence. The message was slapped with a notice and was hidden from view on the president’s page. Earlier this week, Trump tweets were flagged as false information.
Trump stoked the argument by issuing an Executive Order designed to limit censorship. The order states, in part:
“Online platforms are engaging in selective censorship that is harming our national discourse. Tens of thousands of Americans have reported, among other troubling behaviors, online platforms ‘flagging’ content as inappropriate, even though it does not violate any stated terms of service; making unannounced and unexplained changes to company policies that have the effect of disfavoring certain viewpoints; and deleting content and entire accounts with no warning, no rationale, and no recourse.”
The EO also calls out Twitter for placing warning labels “on certain tweets” that are politically biased.
It might finally be the straw – not plastic one, of course – that breaks the American conservative back. A call went up from Republican and Libertarian pundits, podcasters, and journalists to leave the abusive Twitter and find a new social media love.
Emancipation
There are options for folks to choose from – including pundit Dan Bongino’s top of the list, Parler. He tweeted his exodus and invited others: “Twitter is bulls--t! Join Parler today where they don’t stifle free speech. Follow me there (my handle is dbongino) and join the stampede of people heading over there.”
But there are other options, like Mastodon, Gab, Amino (a younger generation platform), Plurk, and Minds. There are new platforms that uphold the First Amendment – in all its name calling, truth telling, messy glory.
It’s been a constant battle now with exhausting results. Liberty Nation’s Editor-in-Chief, Leesa K. Donner, jumped into the analysis and revealed the real crusader for free speech – ironically, it wasn’t the media:
“Buried deep within the leftist mindset is a need to control what others say and do – from the type of straw you use to stir your drink to the picture that appears on your Facebook. Whether this mentality will ultimately turn into self-destruction remains unclear. But what is evident is that we have come a long way since the American Civil Liberties Union took up with the neo-Nazis to protect their right to march in Skokie.”
Indeed, Mrs. Donner, indeed. Perhaps it’s time for conservatives to sever their dependence on Twitter and remember how hard Americans used to fight to protect our rights. Give Twitter the bird – according the Constitution and Bill of Rights, we can. We aren’t married to Twitter anymore.
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Read more from Sarah Cowgill.
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