Checking the news each morning these days reminds me of how Ron in the Harry Potter Deathly Hallows book would listen to the radio each night hoping not to hear the names of his family among the missing or dead at the hands of the Death Eaters. Instead of family names, these days I look at the news to find which person or group is the latest to be banned, cancelled or deplatformed on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, or any of the other dominant media platforms. Whose voice or voices will have been added to the list of those silenced, or at the least, mostly muted so I cannot hear their opinions any longer?
Today it was Project Veritas and James O’Keefe’s personal Twitter accounts getting axed. And although numerous conservative accounts have been suspended or cancelled, we are starting to see leftist accounts being cancelled as well. Along with Project Veritas on Twitter, Robert Kennedy’s account on Instagram was banned due to his anti-vaccination views which he has posted about repeatedly.
It used to be that to fight “disinformation,” you would counter it with more information. The free exchange of ideas and debate, anyone, anyone? But these days it seems any speech deemed “wrong” is more easily banished along with the account posting it. Since when has this been acceptable? Even with the crazy conspiracy theories of aliens and UFOs long published in the likes of the National Enquirer, they were never cancelled. The Enquirer even managed to get a true scoop on the national media when it came to John Edwards and his affair.
These big social media platforms continue to act as judge and jury, and it only takes a snap of their fingers on their own behalf or at the behest of the powerful to silence the voices among us of which they don’t approve.
Pot Full of Frogs 