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Did you know that this week is National Free Speech Week? It is. And, since my freedom of speech allows me to talk about whatever I want, I’m going to talk about censorship.
I was emailing yesterday with one of my regular followers. I don’t mean “regular” as in “boring” or “ordinary”. I mean “regular” as in she reads or listens to almost everything I say or write.
Anyway, I was telling her about how hard it is to grow an audience. I’ve been doing this for almost a year and a half, and I have an embarrassingly small number of people who read or listen to my stuff with any kind of regularity. She mentioned that the reason my content doesn’t have a wider reach is probably due to censorship by Big Tech.
I don’t think that’s it. I get a lot of private notes from people telling me they agree with what I say, and I’m appreciative of all the nice comments. But hardly anyone shares or reposts my content.
I find it amusing whenever I hear most people talk about censorship. We hear almost daily how bad Facebook is, or Twitter, or YouTube, and how they’re trampling all over the First Amendment. But they’re not the worst or most prolific censors. They don’t have to be. Do you want to know who censors the most speech? Take a look in the mirror.
When I look at the various groups I belong to on the various social media platforms, it’s always the same people sharing or saying things. Out of a group containing thousands of people, maybe a hundred are exercising their right to free speech. The rest stay silent. Even if they agree with everything said in an article, most people won’t share it or even discuss it with anyone. Because they’ve been trained not to do so.
And if you’re not one of the few people who aren’t censoring their own speech, then yeah, I’m talking about you.
But I get where you’re coming from. For years, I held back and didn’t say what was on my mind because I was concerned, afraid actually, that because the Internet is far-reaching and forever, if I said something the least bit controversial, somehow would come back to bite me.
Then I reached the point where I realized there were too few people speaking their minds. And, because of that silence, lies and misinformation were able to spread unopposed. So I started saying what I was thinking.
Do you want to know what happened? Nothing. I wasn’t blacklisted or shunned. There wasn’t any downside at all. Oh sure, I’ve had a few people “unfriend” me, but do I sound to you like someone who would care even the tiniest little bit about that?
If your answer to that question was “no” then you are absolutely correct.
Saying whatever I think has been liberating. But it didn’t come easy. I had to first unlearn the ridiculous notion that it’s my job not to offend anyone. Because it’s not. But we’ve been trained to think that it is.
I have a neighbor who is so afraid of what other people might think, she won’t even click on a “like” button. I get why people won’t comment. The Internet is filled with trolls who are just looking for a fight. Any fight. But not clicking on a “like” button? She’s terrified that someone will see that she possesses a particular point of view and might think poorly of her for having that view.
Sure, sometimes it’s the big mean old platforms that are doing the censoring, but most of the time it’s just you censoring yourself.
Facebook, Twitter and the rest decide what people see based on algorithms that determine what’s relevant. And you play a big part of determining what they consider relevant.
Each time you share, like or comment on a post, that post becomes more relevant. And even if you’re not liking, sharing and commenting on something you agree with, someone else is. It just might not be something with which you agree.
The people who believe that black lives matter and that you shouldn’t have a say over what gets injected into your own body don’t have that problem. They don’t censor themselves. They just spew out whatever nonsense they’ve been brainwashed into thinking is true. Plus, they’re liking and sharing articles that reinforce all the bullshit they believe. Which, in the eyes of the Big Tech algorithms, makes their bullshit more relevant.
When the BLM supporters, and the anti-gun people, and the everyone-should-get-vacksinated people don’t censor themselves, and you do, the result is that many times their message is the only one that anyone hears.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and rest the of the social media platforms can be wonderful things. They’ve given the potential to reach a worldwide audience to anyone who cares to try. Just 20 years ago that was unheard of. And yes, they are clearly pushing their own agenda and limiting the proliferation of Conservative ideas across their platforms. But they can’t be blamed for censoring something that was never said in the first place.
The point is, sometimes Big Tech is censoring what is said, but more often than not, people don’t hear what you think simply because you’re not telling them what you think. I get that you want to stop Big Tech censorship, but they don’t have to censor what you say if you’re already doing it for them.
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