N O T E F R O M
T H E E D I T O R
D e a r r e a d e r s :
We are witnessing an unprecedented censorship, never seen before in the history of the United States, where private individuals with biased agendas and special interests control what you can say through privately-owned internet platforms called social media – which is today the vehicle for expressing ourselves.
Private individuals have usurped our rights to express ideas and political views, by censuring and banning those who express and expose views contrary to the official discourse and and those of the platform owners personal, biased beliefs. It reminds me of China, the former Soviet Union, North Korea, and Cuba, where the principle of liberty – and free speech – do not exist beyond a text on paper, and only those views coming from the government are accepted.
In the United States, The Founding Fathers wrote the First Amendment in response to two centuries of state-sponsored religious conflict and oppression in America, and with a keen understanding of the religious persecution in European nations resulting from official state religions and religious wars.
Our country has been the standard and role model of Liberty in the so-called democratic world of nations. But today, without any public hearings and competent legal guards, behind close doors and without unbiased scrutiny, those individuals – owners of the internet platforms – are doing and undoing our First Amendment rights as they please.
The 1st and 14th Institute, founded by a group of bipartisan current and former Silicon Valley tech executives that are concerned about free speech in the United States, issued the following statement regarding May 5’s decision by Facebook’s Oversight Board to continue the company’s ban on former President Trump.
“If inflammatory false content alone should cause a user to be banned, then much of today’s political speech would therefore need to be blocked and politicians banned since their speech is regularly inflammatory and often labels opponents as evil people who deserve any harm they receive,” said Mike Matthys, co-founder of the 1st and 14th Institute. “There are numerous examples of such speech by members of both political parties that could be indirectly linked to future violent actions such as street riots, assassination threats, and arson.”
“People who agree with banning former President Trump because they dislike his speech and political ideas should remember the Berkeley Free Speech movement of the 1960s when liberals fought for free speech and their rights to demonstrate in public,” Matthys said. “While censorship targets conservative persons today, it may target liberal persons in the future as the US government has in the past.”
