Many people still have the idea that certain voices or specific people are being censored. That idea is completely wrong.
Censorship is not about silencing one person or source. Censorship is about silencing and controlling ideas, your very thoughts. Indoctrinating you to what is acceptable by the corporate state and what is not. When specific voices, faces, names are silenced, it is typically someone with a large following. They have become a threat to the status quo and must be made an example of.
I am not even talking about the most obvious recent events. I am talking about past voices that were made examples. Phil Donahue and Chris Hedges were both fired for speaking out against the invasion of Iraq. Jesse Ventura had signed a contract to do a show on a major news network. Because he opposed Iraq, the contract was canceled and paid out. Then he was slapped with a gag order for several years, so he could not talk about it. Ed Schultz was fired from MSNBC while he had a very highly rated show because he spoke out against TPP. He was not allowed to cover a Bernie Sanders rally the day Bernie announced his campaign.
All throughout the 2016 campaign season, anyone paying attention KNOWS that Bernie Sanders rallies had many hundreds more attendees than Hillary rallies did. During the campaign season, I wrote monthly how many rallies she had versus how many fundraisers. In one month, she had 3 rallies and over FORTY fundraisers. How many corporate news outlets covered Bernie rallies? Nearly none. There was a complete blackout. That IS censorship.
Those are only blatant examples. How about other examples?
Universal healthcare- How many times have you heard a two sided debate which details the benefits and cost SAVINGS of universal healthcare? Instead, what you hear is one-sided fear mongering telling you there would be “death panels” and giving anecdotal instances of failures of socialized medicine. Those anecdotes are literally single incidents out of millions of successes.
Russiagate- How often do you hear MSM screaming about Russia in one day? Now, how many times do you hear rational voices telling you that there is NO evidence and Russia would have nothing to gain by bothering with our election? When has the media DEMANDED the DNC servers be examined or subpoenaed?
Anti-war voices- Most Americans do not even realize that the US is currently bombing SEVEN countries. We have been for years now. You may hear short reference to one country at a time but never all at once. We are bombing: Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, Syria, Pakistan and Somalia. In addition, we have armed troops in over FIFTY African regions. We are threatening military action against China, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela. I'm pretty sure I am leaving some out. Do we have troops still in South America? Probably, who knows? Yet if you bring the subject up, you WILL be silenced and shamed. Equipment malfunctions suddenly occur, cut to Boyz2Men. Cue the discussion of how you are not “patriotic” because you don't want to kill civilians in countries that are no threat to us. Cut to oil company commercial followed by Boeing, Raytheon and Northrup.
Sanctions- We hear a LOT about US sanctions against other countries. Yet do any of the MSM outlets ever explain how our sanctions work? That it does not merely involve the US not doing business with a rival? No, it involves banning OTHER countries from doing business with our rivals. Which cuts into the trade of our allies. How do we enforce our sanctions? By threatening our allies with sanctions, of course. But you will NEVER hear that on MSM.
Tax funded elections- Works in other countries, not even suggested here. Think you will hear that idea on media run by corporations that BUY elections? Think they would even allow a debate which detailed that this idea would remove corporate money from elections? That this would KILL Citizens United permanently?
Maximum Income- We hear lots of talk about income inequality. On independent media. We tsk-tsk about how much certain people have or earn in a year. How they treat employees. Do we ever hear of ideas to LIMIT how much they make? No, because the idea would be wildly popular. We hear minor talk of raising the minimum wage, usually with someone using scare tactics of inflation as a result. You will NOT hear anyone discuss placing a cap, no matter how generous, on how much someone can collect in a year. (I say collect because they do NOT “earn” it.) I also make clear a maximum INCOME, not wage. Meaning income from ALL sources.
These are all IDEAS which are censored. I have written about most of them. Do I mean that I, personally, am being censored? No, definitely not. I do not have enough of a following. I am not a threat. Yet. Seems lately I am on the radar. I barely make anything from my writing. Not enough for a tank of gas each month. That won't stop me. Nobody can accuse me of writing anything because some backer demands it. (If I had a backer who made those demands, I would lose that backer immediately. I can be censored but it will NOT be willingly.)
No, it has nothing to do with me. Like I said, these are ideas. These ideas are censored by corporate media on a daily basis. It did not begin under Trump. It is not driven exclusively by Trump by any means. It has been going on for years while so many closed their eyes and never questioned. All we are seeing now is a logical progression of increased intensity. Independent voices have not been silenced, instead we continue gaining strength, numbers, power, money. Now WE have become the threat.
However, we cannot remain a threat if we WILLINGLY call for the silencing of voices by handing OUR rights to corporations. This has NOTHING to do with the rights of Alex Jones. It has to do with OUR rights. Allowing censorship to spread with our own consent is cutting our own throats.
Our voices ARE dangerous. They NEED to be dangerous. Silencing ANY voices, even the ones we do not agree with, diminishes US as a threat. WE need to accept our role as the threat and USE that power. Can it get messy? Maybe. But if you want to build a strong structure, it begins with getting down in the dirt. Stop being afraid of getting mud on your face. Stop surrendering and allowing corporations to dictate your rights. Because that will get a LOT messier.
“People should not be afraid of their government. A government should be afraid of it's people.”
“If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything.”