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Twitter has banned thousands of people for having right-wing views in the past year. I understand it's a private company but Twitter grew and exploded in popularity as it was marketed as "free-speech wing of the free-speech party". Other websites have been taken off the internet, the modern-day equivalent of the public square, entirely. James Damore was fired from Google for writing that men are different than women. It was only Curtis Yarvin's (former right-wing blogger) presence on Google campus that sounded an alarm and got him escorted off the premises by security. The thought policing of corporate America has lead a lot of us to live lives as liberals during the day at work for the $$ and anonymous right-wing trolls at night.
The billionaires in the valley are so detached from reality they didn't plan on Youtube and other tech platforms to be dominated by the right. They're doing what they can to stop that.
I'm far from an Alex Jones fan. I don't like his content but I find the monoculture and thought policing of the elites in Silicon Valley, academia, etc. a lot more concerning. Alex Jones doesn't have any real power. The people that believe all of Jones's stories aren't going to make a rational decision in a voting booth Jones or not. If you want to talk about fake news lets talk about the Iraq War which was promoted by the mainstream media. Mass media gaslighted the American public into strongly supporting the war and even helped Bush's approval ratings get astronomically high during the period.
It's always been the case that people with minority/controversial viewpoints have had a hard time finding publishing outlets. An american communist trying to get a book published in the US in 1957 would wonder what the hell InfoWars has to complain about.
It's never been easier for someone advocating a minority viewpoint to find a publisher or to self-publish.
All the 1st Amendment means is that government won't - and shouldn't - get in your way.
Really, just stop making excuses. YouTube is Google and Google was recently caught ranking conservative websites by what Google editors decided was or wasn't fake news. We all know what's going on here. You don't like Infowars, that's fine. Be careful cheering the big techs doing this because it might be your turn someday.
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Ideology includes, but is not limited to, white supremacy, political partisan and religion.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jacqueg
I have mixed feelings about this.
YT can do as it wants. But Jones and his videos won't go away, he'll just host them some other way.
Is it better to have his **** on YT or in his own corner somewhere? Maybe YT, instead of kicking him off, should just post a big banner at the top of each of his videos - The Surgeon General has determined that these videos are hazardous to your ability to think.
IF he gets kicked off of a widely used social media platform, that would do a lot to destroy his legitimacy in the eyes of many other people. If that happens, only his "true believers" will continue to watch his program. This is especially true if there are other conservative news channels on YT that don't engage in demonizing the victims.
I do defend Trump. I think the Russian collusion story is ridiculous. But there is absolutely no doubt Russia meddled in the election. However, I seriously doubt it was for any one candidates favor. Ukraine also meddled in the election for Hillary, but their efforts were spotted pretty quickly...https://www.politico.com/story/2017/...ackfire-233446
I am not a fan of any kind of censorship. I like the free expression of ideas which is why I like this forum.
Not an Alex Jones guy, and don't begrudge You Tube's actions, but there is definitely a slippery slope argument to be made.
IF he gets kicked off of a widely used social media platform, that would do a lot to destroy his legitimacy in the eyes of many other people. If that happens, only his "true believers" will continue to watch his program. This is especially true if there are other conservative news channels on YT that don't engage in demonizing the victims.
Um, and that's a problem because...?
InfoWars is on the internet and will continue to be so. If the ideas there continue to be popular, InfoWars will continue to exist. If not, not. Seems to me that's exactly how it should work.
I think the real issue is CNN calling for info wars to be banned. I don't watch either, but it's straight from the lefty play book that when they don't approve of something, they seek to ban it and big internet is largely run by lefties.
Ultimately its up to you tube as they own the site.
I was not aware of that, Frank. I know CNN and many others advocated for banning specific video that claimed certain survivors were character actors, not students. The video contained faked yearbook pictures.
When did this accelerate to CNN calling for the ban of all Infowar videos?
I have no idea how some people acquired the perception the owners/ operators of social media sites don't have the right to decide what stays/ goes.
Remember: Baker refuses to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple, and the far-right loves it, trumpeting the rights of companies to do whatever they want.
Then, right-wing extremists sites like infowars and stormfront get shut down by the companies who host them, and the far-right throws a fit. Apparently, big business only has a right to enforce right-wing viewpoints.
Maybe infowars can find some other right-wing outlet for their lies and fear-mongering. I hear Fox News is into that stuff.
The only reason most people would watch Alex Jones is to have good LOL.
I don't think he should be silenced though, let him continue with his nonsense as nobody is forced to watch.
He is not "silenced." He can find another way to get his message out there... just as the right likes to remind us that the gay couple who had their wedding cake turned down by some "religious" bakers can find another bakery to use. If Alex Jones isn't smart enough to find another outlet these days, that's his problem.
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