Tag Archives: Free Speech

Why I Returned to Twitter

By J Robert Smith

Dec. 14, 2022
3 min read

In January of 2021, when Twitter brass suspended Donald Trump’s very popular and powerful account, it was the last straw for me.

I’d been on Twitter since the autumn of 2013, as I recall. By July 2020, with a lot of sweat equity, I’d built my account to nearly 16,000 followers. I was adding an estimated 100-200 followers daily during that tumultuous summer. The riots and general lawlessness that Democrats were permitting in the cities they ran were fueling my following. Then there was the contentious presidential race. With frequent posts about the Trump-Biden dustup, my profile was rising and reach spreading. A conservative surging in popularity was always a red flag among Twitter’s woke monitors.

Then, suddenly, my new followers slowed to a trickle. Some days, nothing. Then over the course of the next few weeks, my existing following started to dwindle. I went to a Germany-based platform that determines if your Twitter account is being “shadow-banned,” among other surreptitious means of muzzling ~~members~~ conservatives. My account was being shadow-banned.

Went the reports, Twitter was allegedly purging “bots,” phony accounts. By November 2020, as I recollect, I’d lost about 4,000 followers. Sure, bots have been and are a problem at Twitter. They inflate Twitter’s aggregate count. Twitter’s member volume helps sell advertising and ups pricing.

But purging bots in the middle of a hotly contested election season? Elon Musk questioned Twitter’s price tag in negotiations because, he contended, the platform’s value was inflated by Twitter execs allowing bots to increase its value. Seems a little too coincidently, doesn’t it?

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Media Bias Threatens Our Republic

By Rob Meyne

April 12, 2022
3-min read

There are countless times, in any given day, you are likely to hear references to “two Americas.” Depending on the speaker, issue, and occasion, one person may not even be picturing the same two Americas as another.

Americans get their information from different sources and in ways that didn’t exist not that long ago. Whatever you presume to be a “fact” depends on where you get news, who you trust, and what they believe.

People also believe something a friend or family member tells them more easily than information from another source. Whether it is true has nothing to do with it. Countless Americans think Donald Trump said, “Nazis and white supremacists are fine people” or that a new bill in Florida prohibits people from saying the word “gay,” or that Republican-sponsored state laws restrict voting rights of black Americans. None of these three beliefs is true. But people have heard it and assume it is true.

The digital age has increased the amount of information we can access, but its reliability isn’t what it once was. Most people don’t have the time, interest, or expertise to check key facts in every story they come across. It is understandable. People are busy.

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“Fakebook” is Determined to
Destroy Free Speech

By Rob Meyne

Nov. 27, 2021
3-min read

We recently heard a story of a Chinese national who was discussing the news media. She said most Chinese people are surprised at how many Americans continue to pay attention to the mainstream media.

She said nearly all Chinese (clearly an opinion, not necessarily provable) simply don’t pay attention to their media. They understand it is all useless and biased information, controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

Of course, they are right. All Chinese media, as well as corporations and local governments, are controlled by the CCP. Nothing of significance happens in China that isn’t approved of, or directed by, the Party.

As she observed, mainstream American media also effectively follow the “Party line.” It is barely more objective than Chinese media. The exact method by which the American media is controlled differs from China, but the effect does not. It is difficult, bordering on impossible, for reporters or editors in the U. S. today to report news, or express opinion, that differs from the narratives promoted by leftists, Democratic leaders, and corporate media.

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Facebook and Other Social Media Want Governmental Control, Censorship, and Power

By Rob Meyne

Oct. 28, 2021
2-min read

Those who value our freedoms, above other political priorities, generally consider speech as the most important of them all. There is good reason for this.

People who are well-informed, open to different points of view, and even exposed to statements that are at times controversial, tend to make good decisions. Many of our founders expressed faith in the people to make choices that keep the country strong, free, and successful, provided they have access to information and can participate in a free and robust debate.

You don’t hear much from Pelosi and Schumer, for example, celebrating free, open discussions. To the contrary. Pelosi criticized the media last week for not gong more to sell and promote the Democratic agenda. Most observers know most of the media is in the tank for leftists, but most Dem leaders aren’t usually bold enough to openly admit it.

We are now witnessing a coordinated attempt by social media, legacy media, and Democratic leaders to set up national censorship and control of social media. More people get their news today from social media than any other source (God help us). The White House has already bragged that they work directly with social media platforms – Twitter, Facebook/Fakebook, You Tube – to censor posts by private individuals and groups.

The supposed “whistleblower” from Facebook is at the center of the effort.

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