American ‘liberals’ are an authoritarian menace

By Howard Roark

“If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it.”

― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Was Ray Bradbury just an amazingly talented Science Fiction writer, or a prophet? Could he have imagined the world as it is today, or was he warning us because he somehow knew we would come to this?

Yesterday White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that the White House is not only working with Facebook to flag disinformation on vaccines — it’s also asking Facebook to share data on the reach and engagement of posts deemed disinformation.

“We’re flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation,” the White House press secretary said.

Senior Biden administration staff and members of the COVID-19 team are targeting misinformation, specifically on coronavirus vaccines and the pandemic, by keeping “in regular touch” with social media platforms, Psaki said Thursday. 

Facebook, which did not respond to requests for comment from the any media outlet at this time, was one of several social media platforms that attempted to suppress discussion of the theory that COVID-19 originated in a Wuhan lab. Evidence has since been uncovered suggesting the theory holds merit.

The Biden administration is also proposing four key requests to social media platforms, Psaki said: the first, that social media platforms “measure and publicly share the impact of misinformation on their platform.”

“Facebook should provide, publicly and transparently, data on the reach of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation, not just engagement, but the reach of the misinformation and the audience that it’s reaching,” Psaki said. “That will help us ensure we’re getting accurate information to people. This should be provided not just to researchers but to the public so that the public knows and understands what is accurate and inaccurate”

The Biden administration also wants Facebook to “create a robust enforcement strategy that bridges their properties and provides transparency about the rules,” to take “faster action against harmful posts,” and to promote “quality information sources in their feed algorithm.”

“There’s about 12 people who are producing 65% of anti vaccine misinformation on social media platforms,” Psaki said. “All of them remain active on Facebook, despite some even being banned on other platforms, including Facebook, ones that Facebook owns.”

It is not immediately clear who the 12 individuals are.

“Facebook has repeatedly shown that they have the levers to promote quality information,” Psaki added. “We have seen them effectively do this in their algorithm over low quality information and they’ve chosen not to use it in this case and that is certainly an area that would have an impact.”

So, the Biden administration is telling Facebook which posts it regards as “problematic” so that Facebook can remove them and punish those who shared them.

This is the union of corporate and state power — one of the classic hallmarks of fascism — that the people who spent 5 years blabbering on and on about fascism support? What’s wrong with this picture?

If you don’t find it deeply disturbing that the White House is “flagging” internet content that they deem “problematic” to their Facebook allies for removal, then you are definitionally an authoritarian. No other information is needed about you to know that, you support fascism.

So, I’m curious about something, has the Biden White House also begun identifying authors and the books carried by Amazon that it regards as “problematic” and instructed Amazon to take them down and stop selling them immediately? What’s the difference between that and what it’s doing with Facebook? What percent of liberals would also support that? My guess is they would embrace it with great excitement and fanfare.

No, don’t offer the people an alternative to the so called “facts” presented by the central government. Silence viewpoints other than those approved by our overlords in Washington D.C. Keep them distracted with shinny objects on Network TV and cute cat videos on the internet. And inject all of those with subliminal imagery an messages to keep them compliant and under control.

As Ray Bradbury wrote:

“Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of ‘facts’ they feel stuffed, but absolutely ‘brilliant’ with information. Then they’ll feel they’re thinking, they’ll get a sense of motion without moving. And they’ll be happy, because facts of that sort don’t change.”

― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

One part of Psaki’s statements Thursday I found most disturbing and under reported as usual, was her openly admitting the the White House is targeting people, “There’s about 12 people that are producing 65%” of anti-vaccine information and they remain active on Facebook, then she says that the social media company “needs to move quickly” to remove such posts and I can only assume, delete their accounts.

What’s happening here is that the White House is admitting that they’re compiling lists of people who they claim are posting content they regard as “problematic” and that constitute “misinformation” and are demanding Facebook remove them. This is authoritarianism! Period! That is the first step toward the book burning Ray Bradbury warned us about.

The Supreme Court has ruled already that the First Amendment’s free speech guarantee is violated when government officials pressure or coerce private actors to censor for them. That is exactly what the Biden White House is doing with Facebook. The Biden White House is committing a criminal act, which for the benefit of liberal Democrats means they’re breaking the law. Got it?

In 2018, the ACLU successfully defended the National Rifle Association (NRA) in suing Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York State on the ground that attempts of state officials to coerce private companies to cease doing business with the NRA using implicit threats — driven by Cuomo’s contempt for the NRA’s political views — amounted to a violation of the First Amendment. Because, argued the ACLU, the communications of Cuomo’s aides to banks and insurance firms “could reasonably be interpreted as a threat of retaliatory enforcement against firms that do not sever ties with gun promotion groups,” that conduct ran afoul of the well-established principle “that the government may violate the First Amendment through ‘action that falls short of a direct prohibition against speech,’ including by retaliation or threats of retaliation against speakers.”

In that case the ACLU argued that:

Courts have never required plaintiffs to demonstrate that the government directly attempted to suppress their protected expression in order to establish First Amendment retaliation, and they have often upheld First Amendment retaliation claims involving adverse economic action designed to chill speech indirectly.

In explaining its rationale for defending the NRA, the ACLU described how easily these same state powers could be abused by a Republican governor against liberal activist groups — for instance, by threatening banks to cease providing services to Planned Parenthood or LGBT advocacy groups. When the judge rejected Cuomo’s motion to dismiss the NRA’s lawsuit, Reuters explained the key lesson in its headline:

So, I’m wondering if ACLU plans on weighing in at some point soon about the fact that the Biden White House is boasting that it is flagging posts it regards as “problematic” and telling Facebook to take them down immediately, which can result in having your page deleted. Seems like a relevant issue for them.

And how are brain dead liberals responding to this news? They are ecstatic. They’re rejoicing and dancing on the ceilings of their ivory towers in NYC and Los Angles.

“Joe Biden and the Democrats are violating federal law and censoring American speech to protect us and keep us safe because they love us.” What morons. It’s almost like the Biden White House read Ray Bradbury’s, Fahrenheit 451 as a how-to manual to keep the people under control.

In the 1966 movie version of the book, Captain Beatty explains to Montag why they must burn all the books saying, “We’ve all got to be alike. The only way for everybody to be happy is for everyone to be made equal.” And because some books make people feel inadequate or inferior in status, or some facts found in some books make some people feel uncomfortable all books, newspapers and magazines all printed words must be banned.

Because the printed word may contain opinions that differ from others and bring about emotional distress they must all be banned, or as Captain Beatty puts it, “We must burn the books, all the books.”

But it was a lie, it wasn’t about peoples feelings, it wasn’t about equality, or equity or anything of the sort. It was all about control. All about controlling the masses to keep them from disturbing the power structure of the elites.

And it’s the same with what we have here today. The media will try to make this about Covid-19 and the health of millions of people. They’re deliberately misrepresenting the truth. They are spreading misinformation. They’re lying. This isn’t about Covid-19, this is about freedom. Just as in Fahrenheit 451, it’s about controlling the masses to keep them from disturbing the power structure of the elites. And if they’ll break the law, and violate the constitution to do it you know, they’ll do anything.

Americans deserve to know to what extent the federal government has been working with social media companies. Is there any quid pro quo? The First Amendment exists to keep the government from controlling what Americans say and hear. Free societies counter misinformation with more information, not bans on free expression.

Democrats have summoned tech executives to the Congress at least 4 times in the last year. The last time, they repeatedly and explicitly threatened regulatory and other legal punishment if they don’t start censoring more: the content Democrats regard as disinformation or “hate speech.” This is just another reason why the 2022 elections are so important and can’t come soon enough.

Let’s be honest here, Facebook was an obvious government tool from the beginning. Now the pretenses have been dropped, this is how bold the Democrat criminals are.

But we must never back down and allow this to happen. So many among us will make the mistake of going along to get along. They’ll say “This isn’t the hill I want to die on.” Well, then what is that hill? Where is your limit? How much will you take before you stand up to them?!

How many freedoms are you willing to sacrifice before you say, “No Mas!” and push back against the deep state, the Democrats and the media, or as I call them, The Unholy Trinity of Tyrants?!

Will freedom ever mean as much to you as books meant to the woman in the burning house in Fahrenheit 451? The firemen had found the woman’s house was so full of books that rather than drag them outside to burn they set the entire house ablaze with the books and the woman inside.

There must be something in books, things we can’t imagine, to make a woman stay in a burning house; there must be something there. You don’t stay for nothing.

― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

The woman who would prefer to die with her books than live without them, brings Montag, the hero of the novel, to a new realization. There must be great value in books to cause someone to make such a sacrifice.

There was, it was freedom. She knew she couldn’t fight for it, but she refused to live without it. She was right. As the saying goes, “I’d rather die on my feet, than live on my knees.”

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