The Constitution Can't Save Us from the Left's Dangerous Tech Leviathan
There has long been speculation over whether the social media giants that call Silicon Valley home are actively seeking to censor, or otherwise throttle, content produced by conservative news media organizations and social media personalities.
So much discussion has in fact been had on the topic that top developers and executives from industry leaders like Facebook and Google have been brought before Congress to testify on the matter.
The American people and their elected representatives had, in those hearings, been promised time and again that stories of anti-conservative censorship or search result manipulation were pure fiction. There was no bias — algorithmic or otherwise.
Of course, we have learned several times over that this was a patent lie.
We have since been treated to news that Google is blacklisting an overwhelming number of right-wing news sites from appearing in its Google News feed — leaving similar left-wing sites untouched.
We have also seen Facebook, Instagram and Twitter go on a handful of massive banning sprees, purging right-wing figures from their sites for a variety of vague and inconsistent reasons.
The events of recent months leave no question that Silicon Valley’s best and brightest are working to throttle, hide or outright ban right-wing political commentary and news content — labeling it as “dangerous” speech.
And if that sounds like something straight out of George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” think again.
These guys are twice as bad as Big Brother — and this is ten times more dangerous.
Culture Before Capitol
Now those who speak of political censorship often invoke Orwell’s work, but such discussions are misguided at best.
Despite increased federal government overreach and serious violations of privacy in recent memory, the idea of an Orwellian dystopia taking root in the United States is unrealistic.
Thanks to our Constitution and its republican framework, there will likely never come a day in which the federal government dictates what sort of media content is available to American audiences.
Unfortunately, however, such faith in the Constitution’s ability to protect us from political censorship and government manipulation of truth has blinded everyday Americans to the fact that Big Brother types come in non-governmental forms.
The Constitution prevents the formation of a totalitarian state that feeds us propaganda, but it can do nothing about cultural manipulation.
Simply, America’s political foundations — which strongly dictate that government be downstream from the people, their thoughts and their desires — are only so strong a safeguard.
As the single most information-based and media-focused society and economy in the world, America is largely blind to the fact that though Capitol Hill may be downstream, the culture is most certainly upstream.
Americans do not take their cues from government, but many take their cues from Hollywood, academia and social media personalities.
In pioneering a free and unencumbered press, the round-the-clock news cycle and almost every important communication technology, America also inadvertently created a Cultural Complex of leviathan proportions.
That Cultural Complex is a powerful, far-reaching and influential tool with the capacity to inform and energize an exceptional and free people.
But this also makes it the greatest and most dangerous potential tool for agenda-driven political manipulation and misinformation ever created.
The left knows this. And they have, in turn, ensured that every facet of that Complex is controlled by progressive ideologues.
If these last few months indicate anything, it’s that the leviathan is gearing up for another round in the ring with conservative America.
Gaslighting Conservative America
This premise becomes all the more concerning when one considers the fact that Democratic leadership and establishment media figures show no hesitance in gaslighting the American people each time we uncover and expose this left-wing Cultural Complex.
Last month, USA Today author Jessica Guynn had the gal to claim, in what was supposedly a news article, that “conservatives have offered no evidence of systematic efforts to suppress political speech.”
This after Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii argued in a congressional session that an “anti-conservative bias simply doesn’t exist” in Silicon Valley.
Mass account bans and content throttling are apparently a figment of our imagination — a “boogeyman.”
In fact, Hirono even asserted that Silicon Valley is not doing enough. That the only reason Congress should be overseeing Big Tech is to ensure that what she considers “hate” and “misleading” content can be “addressed” more efficiently.
And we all know that just means further censoring conservatives.
Particularly seeing as nothing has been done to punish the left-wing media for deceptively editing footage of a 16-year-old just three months ago in an attempt to paint him as a racist in front of the whole country.
Or to punish Democratic state Rep. Brian Sims for attempting to dox pro-life protestors in Philadelphia live on video. Or the left-wing blogosphere for consistently peddling blatant conjecture on the special counsel as objective news round-the-clock for more than 675 days.
“Walk Toward the Fire”
In an Op-Ed earlier this year, I spoke briefly about the late Andrew Breitbart’s attempts to take on the left-wing cultural leviathan or, as he referred to it, the “Democrat-Media Complex.”
One of Breitbart’s greatest talents as a political content curator was his ability to shine a light on — and throw a wrench into — the inner workings of the left-wing cultural machine.
His work resulted in the creation of online “new media” political reporting as we know it.
Visionaries like Breitbart and Matt Drudge established a new frontier for ideas and political dialogues created by and for conservative, center-right and liberty-minded audiences.
That marketplace, in turn, allowed programs like “Louder with Crowder” and “The Ben Shapiro Show” — and sites like Breitbart and The Western Journal — to grow into some of the most influential centers for honest political discourse and preservation of truth in American culture.
Thus, the way Big Tech has been lashing out lately — though deeply concerning — does have a silver lining.
It means the Complex is scared enough of conservative America’s online influence that it can only think of one logical solution: silence conservative thinkers, and gaslight American audiences into believing the associated bans and algorithmic changes aren’t politically motivated.
Unfortunately, this also means we are back on our heels in the Culture War. And we can only hope to stay standing if every liberty-minded individual can find the courage to arm themselves with truth, point out the censorship at every turn and take the fight to the Complex; even if that means becoming a target.
In Breitbart’s own words: it is time for conservatives to “walk toward the fire.”
The views expressed in this opinion article are those of their author and are not necessarily either shared or endorsed by the owners of this website. If you are interested in contributing an Op-Ed to The Western Journal, you can learn about our submission guidelines and process here.
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