WhatsappFree speech is not just a good thing. It is absolutely vital in order to preserve the way of life that has existed in the United States and the western world over the last few hundred years. In many ways, all that is good in this world can be traced back to freedom of speech and all that is bad can be traced back to the lack of or removal of freedom of speech.
The Communist Revolution removed the corrupt Czarist rule that dominated Russia for hundreds of years. But the replacement of one totalitarian system with another totalitarian system did not bring blessing to the world. It actually made things even worse.
No matter how wonderful the United States has been over it’s first 250 years, the flaws of the United States were only chipped away due to freedom of speech. The movement to allow women to vote, and equal rights to the Black community are wrongs that were righted due to the effective use of freedom of speech. To this day, in many Arab countries, women do not have basic rights because they are not truly free to speak up.
It all goes back to the brilliance of the founding fathers of the United States, who though flawed in some ways, organized a truly free system of governance that has withstood the vicissitudes of generations of challenges.
The main challenge today is the sudden rise of enormous power over the press within the medium of social media. The only way that freedom of speech will be insured in this medium is when a mass of people shift from Facebook and Twitter to more open mediums. Government oversight sounds reasonable, but it will be ineffective as Facebook and Twitter have amassed so much power that they can largely dictate who the lawmakers will be that would determine oversight of their companies.
Facebook and Twitter have still not forgiven themselves for the original sin of “allowing” Donald Trump to be elected in 2016. Therefore, they continue to make amends for their “sin” at the expense of freedom of speech. Cancel culture in social media is as random as a weekend party on a college campus.
In 2024, if Donald Trump carries out his clear intention to run again for office, the most critical aspect after rescuing the economy that should be on his agenda should be building up an effective alternative to Facebook and Twitter. Truth Social is a good start. But, until tens of millions of people are communicating there or via alternative social media mediums, Facebook and Twitter will wield way too much influence on what is allowed and what is not allowed to be shown.
