Our crazy president attacked Facebook for banning far-right conspiracy nuts and provocateurs
Angered that Facebook and other social media banned far-right extremists last week, Donald Trump went on a twitter rant against social media Saturday morning, calling their actions “censorship.”
He’s defending the likes of Alex Jones and Milo Yiannopolous, far-right provocateurs who hustle false conspiracy theories, incite nutjobs with AR-15s, and attack families of school shooting victims. Remember the guy who went into a pizza parlor with a gun because he believed Hillary Clinton was running a pedophile ring in the basement? (The building doesn’t have a basement.) This is what these people are provoking.
Facebook et al. banned them for “safety” reasons. The President of the United States is now attacking Facebook for taking its privately-owned microphone away from them.
Is this who you want running our country? and where the hell are the Republican senators whose votes are needed to remove him from office when things like this are going on?
President Trump maybe more correct on this issue than many are willing to give him credit for.
Facebook started out as a way for college men to rate college women. Often in less than complimentary ways. Then it became ready for prime time and went mainstream. So what is it? Is it a commons? Is it a private entity? Is it a utility? It would appear to fall more into the commons area where anyone can get up on a milk carton and speak. (Bringing your own milk carton is optional.)
What is Facebooks process? Seems sometimes it could be being made in the top office. Some other more shadowy offices. Do the accused get an opportunity to respond? What are their or anyone’s rights under Facebook? What is the process Facebook uses? Is their a neutral decider? What exactly is hate speech? May has a little lamb and I hate her lamb?
Where are the Republican and Democratic Senators and Representatives pushing back on Facebook and holding hearings on these First Amendment issues? What about our state Senators and Representatives?
Personally I may not like what these folks are saying on Facebook, but I will defend their right to say it. We went through all this stuff with the telephone, and particularly when there were party lines there were certain words you were not supposed to say on the phone. Finally you could say pretty much anything as long aw you were not making a threat, and folks in black robes would be making any decisions on the matter, not the phone company who became this thing called a utility.
I cannot condone an attack on my First Amendment rights just because you want to attack the President. Still that is what you are doing. You even have the right to do that. I have the responsibility to respond and I am. It is far too easy to use safety to ban much speech. Much speech in China is not permitted for safety reasons. Or that is the excuse used by the government.
I don’t particularly like President Trump, and most likely I would not have particularly liked President Andrew Jackson. You know the guy gave the Democratic party its logo of a jackass. The jackass is a representation of liberty and freedom of speech.
“President Trump maybe more correct on this issue than many are willing to give him credit for.” He may be, but he isn’t. The people Facebook banned are so venal they don’t belong on any platform. They’re the kind of people who should be shouted down wherever they pop up. By defending these scum, Trump is defending the indefensible. Saying this isn’t advocating government censorship; we’re talking about private companies. Facebook is a private company, period. They can ban whoever they like. And saying that doesn’t interfere with your First Amendment rights. The First Amendment doesn’t apply to private companies.