Watching all of the hype, haranguing, and drama around the Elon Musk acquisition of Twitter, you’d think the world was ending. Elon, once a darling of the left, is now considered a villain. Except to Donald Trump, of course.
Why is that? All Elon did was to acquire one of the most influential social media platforms today and simply indicate that free speech would be protected.
“But what about all of the NAZIS spreading their hateful propaganda, Steve? Don’t you care that HATE SPEECH will be spread and the pillars of our democracy will be shaken to the core? Maybe you, yourself, are a NAZI, eh, Steve?”
Nope. And nope.
Let’s disassemble this craziness a layer at a time.
Back in the day, there were crazy people who spouted off on street corners, newspapers and television. Many folks were around who had different opinions.
Do you know what happened? Sometimes we listened and other times, we simply ignored them. Walked away. We didn’t need to shut them down or commit an act of violence.
It seems like colleges and universities are prime examples of this today.
If a conservative speaker wants to make a presentation, chances are, violence will break out.
Or, the school will be intimidated to stop the talk by threats of violence.
Twitter has done about the same thing. People who speak “hatefully” are banned from the platform.
Of course, its all in the definition of “hateful,” eh?
If I say that the demise of Roe v Wade was good, I do not care about women’s health and am labeled a hater of women.
Never mind that a baby gets murdered. But, that is besides the point.
Twitter does not need to judge the opinions of its users. The other users will do that. If someone says something I disagree with, I can simply block them. That is my decision and not Twitter’s.
“But, Steve, what if someone says something on Twitter that offends me or hurts my feelings?”
Sorry about that but you need to suck it up and grow a thicker skin.
There are people in the world who are simply trolls. They say things to elicit a response, get a laugh, or tickle their own warped fancy. That has always been the case and it will never change. Technology has simply enabled them.
The only thing we truly control is our reaction.
Don’t like a posting from another user? Block that user. If you are frustrated by the trolls who pop up in conversations, don’t use the platform.
Find real friends who think like you and socialize with them.
Quit social media.
It really isn’t that complex.
Back in the day (again), communities self-censored the miscreants and jerks who act like this. We don’t need companies and governments to do it for us. Craziness was mitigated by people ignoring the crazy. They would be marginalized and either change their behavior or become a hermit.
Problem solved.
Another good idea is to stop the anonymity. If you say something terrible, own it. A person can’t hide behind their computer screen.
Today, companies and government seek to control the thoughts and speech of our people. Our Constitution, the bulwark of our nation, runs contrary to this control attempt.
Unfortunately, you see many young people questioning the value of this sacred document.
Some now believe that their rights trump your rights, hence their attempts to silence those with whom they disagree.
When we no longer care about the rights of our fellow countrymen, we are truly lost.
What is next? Do we lose the right to own property? To live where we want? Marry who we want? Eat what we want? Own what we want?
Some believe that they know what is best for us. They are the “nannies” who seek daily control over the most minor of things, such as expressing an opinion on a silly topic on the internet.
These are the people who pose the greatest danger to us. Not Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin or Donald Trump.
Where did this bad thinking come from? I think it comes from our education system. Instead of teaching the Constitution and freedom, schools teach collectiveness, one-world order, and lack of exceptionalism. Kids are taught that control is good and freedom is bad. In fact, “control is freedom.”
Those of you who have read Orwell’s “1984” should be shaking.
Nikita Khrushchev said, “We’ll keep feeding you small doses of socialism until you’ll finally wake up and find you already have communism.”
How prophetic.
No, my leftist friends. Elon Musk’s taking of Twitter is not a tragedy. If he frees people to express themselves without controls, he has made us all much stronger. Long live FREE SPEECH!!!
Steve Lunetta is a resident of Santa Clarita and not Russia. He can be reached at [email protected].
