Silicon Valley – -(AmmoLand.com)- While discussing the existential battle that has resulted from Andrew Cuomo’s politically-motivated abuse of financial regulations, there are other crises that Second Amendment supporters will need to deal with. One of those is Silicon Valley’s decision to take part in silencing certain views.
There should be no doubt about this. Project Veritas blew this wide open late last month. A high-ranking YouTube exec is caught on video admitting that they are trying to fight efforts to break them up because, “all these smaller companies who don’t have the same resources that we do will be charged with preventing the next Trump situation, it’s like a small company cannot do that.”
“Preventing the next Trump situation” seems to be so vague, but it really isn’t. What they really mean is to tilt the playing field in favor of their preferred causes and candidates. Think it’s isolated to YouTube? Well, Mark Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook censored pro-life ads in Ireland. Think that didn’t have an effect on the referendum?
Now imagine Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter taking down the accounts of prominent Second Amendment supporters and pro-Second Amendment organizations in the months prior to the 2020 election. In addition, ad buys are rejected on some pretext or another. Meanwhile, Bloomberg’s Everytown, the Giffords anti-Second Amendment group, and anti-Second Amendment candidates flood those sites with propaganda aimed at our rights. How do you think the election will go? Badly may not be an adequate description.
Here’s the deal: When the NRA opposed McCain-Feingold long ago, Michael Barnes, the president of the Brady Campaign, explained why, saying “the gun lobby’s ability to obstruct the progress of sensible gun laws” would be reduced. In other words, having lost the arguments on the merits, they are resorting to silencing opposition. Or, at the very least, setting things up to saddle them with massive legal fees to defend against abusive investigations. Money spent fighting abusive investigation is money that can’t be spent fighting for the Second Amendment in the political and legislative arenas. Sound familiar, anyone?
Well, in some ways, what Silicon Valley is doing is pretty much the same thing as McCain-Feingold, only it’s on steroids and it is more precisely targeted. While McCain-Feingold had to at least appear to apply equally (that pesky First Amendment), Silicon Valley – at least for now – doesn’t need to.
In fact, look at what happened very quickly as the video began to go viral. According to the Daily Wire, YouTube took down the video, citing a “privacy claim” from an uninvolved party. If you believe that, I have a bridge in Chappaquiddick for sale, real cheap. YouTube is even censoring reporting of its efforts to censor viewpoints it doesn’t like – that is how brazen they are being.
The fact is, Silicon Valley’s censorship ranks second only to Andrew Cuomo’s abuses in terms of threats to the Second Amendment. The failure of Wayne LaPierre and Chris Cox to foresee those threats and take steps to counter them warrants change at the top of the NRA – and Cox’s departure makes that job 25% done. Wayne must step down as part of an orderly transition to new leadership, and a replacement must be found for Chris Cox at NRA-ILA.
That being said, the desire for the necessary change at the top cannot override a sober assessment of the threats Second Amendment supporters face. Like the existential fight against Cuomo’s abuses, the existential but less-critical fight against Silicon Valley censorship will be expensive full-spectrum fights. Second Amendment supporters now must ask themselves if hatred of Wayne LaPierre and the NRA is so important that we can ignore the existential threats.
About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.
Let them censor and remove all they want. I don’t need information from YouTube and Google in order to vote for conservative Republicans who will uphold my values. Screw all of them.
@KDad, I could not agree more, but before you cut em off, here is a good example of evidence recorded for all time that really embarrasses them. https://www.c-spanorg/video/? c4351026/c
Good Morning Harold, nice to see you finally woke up. Get dressed and put on your big boy pants and join the rest of us as we watch the fire burn. Seems you pal Wayne and his crew have been throwing a wild party lighting cigars with $100 bills and managed to set the place on fire. Rather than let anyone see the financial debauchery that has been going on with our money, he has locked the doors so the firefighters can’t get in to put out the flames. If someone doesn’t kick down the door soon and stop the… Read more »
What better way to destroy an advocacy group such as the NRA than to implant a quisling or two (or employ blackmail or bribery) in the upper ranks to sow discord and diffuse the energies of that group into internal bickering?
Facebook and all the other sites are privately owned. There are some Federal regulations that apply, but as far as posting content, there is no guaranteed First Amendment rights. Post what you like and if it gets removed, censored or you get banned, too bad. You should have known better and quit your bitchin’.
Not really. A good case can be made that these venues are public spaces, or are gatekeepers to the public space. Consider that storefront business often cannot remove peaceful protests or messaging activities from in front of their stores, even though the stores may be situated on private property. The rational for this is and was that malls and downtown storefronts etc. are equated to public squares where the right of expression may not be suppressed. The companies we are referencing here may be privately owned, but they provide a public space, or acces to public space, in the same… Read more »
@ Jeff I have to agree with what you are saying. Afterall, google,facebook and others get their return on investment from the advertising on their sites and without people using those sites there would be no reason for them to be there.
Tcat, this is worth watching: https://www.projectveritas.com/video/insider-blows-whistle-exec-reveals-google-plan-to-prevent-trump-situation-in-2020-on-hidden-cam/
Yes and no. Free speech and censorship laws do not apply to private companies. However, once these companies censor opinions and facts they don’t like, they assume the role of publisher. As a publisher, they are then liable for the content they permit.
I agree, however the government has changed the rules. Religious bakers have been required to bake cakes, and if we go back and look at the 50’s and 60’s the government stepped in and said you could not decide you were not serving blacks. Unless all these laws are being repealed and shop owners are free to discriminate and serve or not serve based on color, ethnicity or what ever their favorite hate is then ideas should not be the lone ranger in which you can be discriminated against. Should banks be allowed to not service anybody owning a firearm… Read more »
Sure, they can remove what they want, but if they do that makes them liable for everything on their sites. It’s one or the other, an open platform or a curated one, they can’t have it both ways. To get protection from lawsuits they promised to run open platforms, they quickly broke that promise. Congress should remove that protection and let them be sued into oblivion. Too bad, they should have known better.
Google, Facebook, Twitter policies are merely modern day versions of book burners. What ever they do not like will be deleted ( burnt ). If we do not get in this fight and call them out each and every time with the proper terminology and take the language back all will be lost. Their is no getting along or compromise with these people. They must be called out for the authoritarians they are using proper terminology so all the world can see them for what they are.
We’ve been playing the game by the Enemies Rules for far to long. People who can’t see that are as much a part of the problem as those who are trying to destroy the Bill of Rights. We the People will never win by playing in a rigged game. It’s time to stop playing games and get down to the dirty work of cleaning The Swamp. Keep Your Powder Dry.
@Dark, I’m not opposed or appalled by the idea of getting down to the dirty work, but half the nation are the problem. What I am saying is all work is cumulative.
@Wild Bill:Once enough the of the dominate Swamp Creatures have been eliminated. The lesser creatures will fall in line simply as a matter of survival. It is the way of all Nature and has been that way for Millennia. History has taught us. Humans are no different.
Glad to see you have finally pulled your head out of the sand Harold. Wayne can’t be gone soon enough along with whatever infrastructure is still in place that was supporting his abuse of our trust.
The enemies of Constitutional Rights are getting more and more clever. We simply can no longer afford to have 2A defense dollars skimmed off the top by greedy, dishonest NRA employees.
^^^^ That Right There
@ Wild Bill Right on, if a business, any business, is taking your money and not providing what you have been promised from their service then you go someplace else. This is no different.