Freedom of Speech Slipping Away

By Star Parker
As the new Biden-Harris administration assumes power, the most basic American freedom of speech and expression is under unprecedented threat.
For the first time ever, I am concerned about my freedom to do my work, to run a policy institute addressing issues of culture, race and poverty from a conservative perspective.
Technology -- the internet -- which was largely nonexistent just 25 years ago, now plays a huge role in our lives as a tool of communication.
In a survey just published by the Pew Research Center, 86% say they "often" or "sometimes" get their news from a digital device -- smartphone, tablet or computer. This compared with 68% who say they "often" or "sometimes" get their news from television, 50% who get it from radio and 32% who get it from print publications.
According to Statista.com, the United States has 223 million Facebook users, almost the size of the entire U.S. population over age 18. Per Pew, 22% of U.S. adults use Twitter.
These developments have put enormous power at the disposal of technology firms over what we see and read.
Power alone doesn't worry me. Exclusive power, power to control, does.
The decision by Twitter to kick the president of the United States off of Twitter, disconnecting him from the 89 million who follow him, is mind-boggling.
President Trump has noted, with total legitimacy, that he turned to social media as his platform of preference to communicate with the country because of widespread bias in the mainstream media.
What gives the technology companies so much discretion over communication, the oxygen of our free country?
This comes from a provision of the 1996 Communications Decency Act that was passed to set the ground rules for the powerful new technologies that were emerging. Technology companies are protected from liability for the content they carry: The liability exists with whomever provided that content. But they were also given discretion over what they choose to carry.
The discretion part comes from logic that the operators of these platforms should be able to refuse truly inflammatory, dangerous content. But what about content that is normally protected by the First Amendment?
Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, appointed himself judge and jury, deciding that President Trump incited the assault on the Capitol building and banning the president from Twitter for life.
We know that President Trump's own words were that the demonstration on Capitol Hill should be "peaceful." The point is, if Donald Trump broke the law, this should be determined through legal channels, not by the subjective decision of a businessperson with a net worth of some $12 billion accrued because of American freedom.
I produce a weekly television talk show, "CURE America with Star Parker." The show was booted off Vimeo because the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center identifies one of our Christian advertisers as a hate group and one pastor said that homosexuality is a sin.
Now quoting the Bible, expressing views of a believing Christian, is out of bounds -- banned from the nation's major media platforms?
We must recognize that our nation's most precious commodity, our freedom to speak, to act and to assemble, is seriously being threatened.
Because those controlling these technology companies disproportionately have political sympathies to the left, it is the freedom of conservatives that is most seriously under siege.
Fortunately, many are now concerned.
The argument is made that First Amendment speech protections only pertain to government action, not private companies. But technology has enabled a concentration of private power not previously imagined.
The Communications Decency Act could be amended such that speech on technology platforms receives the same protections as all speech protected by the First Amendment.
Another possibility would be to amend the Civil Rights Act to include those with religious conviction based on teachings of Judaism and Christianity as a protected class.
Conservatives must push for new law and new platforms.
[Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the new weekly news talk show "Cure America with Star Parker." To find out more about Star Parker and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.]
COPYRIGHT 2021 CREATORS.COM
As the new Biden-Harris administration assumes power, the most basic American freedom of speech and expression is under unprecedented threat.
For the first time ever, I am concerned about my freedom to do my work, to run a policy institute addressing issues of culture, race and poverty from a conservative perspective.
Technology -- the internet -- which was largely nonexistent just 25 years ago, now plays a huge role in our lives as a tool of communication.
In a survey just published by the Pew Research Center, 86% say they "often" or "sometimes" get their news from a digital device -- smartphone, tablet or computer. This compared with 68% who say they "often" or "sometimes" get their news from television, 50% who get it from radio and 32% who get it from print publications.
According to Statista.com, the United States has 223 million Facebook users, almost the size of the entire U.S. population over age 18. Per Pew, 22% of U.S. adults use Twitter.
These developments have put enormous power at the disposal of technology firms over what we see and read.
Power alone doesn't worry me. Exclusive power, power to control, does.
The decision by Twitter to kick the president of the United States off of Twitter, disconnecting him from the 89 million who follow him, is mind-boggling.
President Trump has noted, with total legitimacy, that he turned to social media as his platform of preference to communicate with the country because of widespread bias in the mainstream media.
What gives the technology companies so much discretion over communication, the oxygen of our free country?
This comes from a provision of the 1996 Communications Decency Act that was passed to set the ground rules for the powerful new technologies that were emerging. Technology companies are protected from liability for the content they carry: The liability exists with whomever provided that content. But they were also given discretion over what they choose to carry.
The discretion part comes from logic that the operators of these platforms should be able to refuse truly inflammatory, dangerous content. But what about content that is normally protected by the First Amendment?
Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, appointed himself judge and jury, deciding that President Trump incited the assault on the Capitol building and banning the president from Twitter for life.
We know that President Trump's own words were that the demonstration on Capitol Hill should be "peaceful." The point is, if Donald Trump broke the law, this should be determined through legal channels, not by the subjective decision of a businessperson with a net worth of some $12 billion accrued because of American freedom.
I produce a weekly television talk show, "CURE America with Star Parker." The show was booted off Vimeo because the far-left Southern Poverty Law Center identifies one of our Christian advertisers as a hate group and one pastor said that homosexuality is a sin.
Now quoting the Bible, expressing views of a believing Christian, is out of bounds -- banned from the nation's major media platforms?
We must recognize that our nation's most precious commodity, our freedom to speak, to act and to assemble, is seriously being threatened.
Because those controlling these technology companies disproportionately have political sympathies to the left, it is the freedom of conservatives that is most seriously under siege.
Fortunately, many are now concerned.
The argument is made that First Amendment speech protections only pertain to government action, not private companies. But technology has enabled a concentration of private power not previously imagined.
The Communications Decency Act could be amended such that speech on technology platforms receives the same protections as all speech protected by the First Amendment.
Another possibility would be to amend the Civil Rights Act to include those with religious conviction based on teachings of Judaism and Christianity as a protected class.
Conservatives must push for new law and new platforms.
[Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the new weekly news talk show "Cure America with Star Parker." To find out more about Star Parker and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.]
COPYRIGHT 2021 CREATORS.COM
Posted in Opinion
Tagged with Speech, Twitter, Facebook, social media, Mainstream media, Freedoms Journal Institute, Freedoms Journal Magazine, Joe biden, Kamala Harris, power, first amendment, Bill of rights, Bible, Christianity
Tagged with Speech, Twitter, Facebook, social media, Mainstream media, Freedoms Journal Institute, Freedoms Journal Magazine, Joe biden, Kamala Harris, power, first amendment, Bill of rights, Bible, Christianity
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1 Comment
Yes, it's time to amend the law so that the online dictators can be sued. Or perhaps new legislation is called for in terms of a few powerful persons colluding and creating a monopoly on public speech and their resulting ability to censor.
RE: adding religious discrimination to Civil Rights Act protections, I thought it was already added.
However, i submit that what is needed is a "Liberty Preservation Act" which states that
Discrimination is NOT a constitutional principle (the word is not in the document), and that the government has no legitimate authority to prohibit discrimination by individuals (persons and entities such as a business, church, etc.).
Liberty is, in fact, our right TO discriminate - to make our own decisions without government coercion. It was first (1776) declared an unalienable right (Creator-endowed, not government-given). Hence, government has NO authority to deny it. Then (1787) "We, the People ... in order to secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity (did) ordain and establish this Constitution ...." So we (as individuals) have both an unalienable and a constitutional right to discriminate. The real problem is government discrimination, and that is exactly what "non-discrimination" laws are. By "protecting" a designated group, the government is showing partiality, and that is unjust. Just as Jim Crow/segregation laws were government discrimination favoring white people and denying Liberty to Black People, just so are "non-discrimination" laws that protect a specified group. Government's duty is to protect Life and Liberty for all, rather than protecting any group from individual discrimination. Liberty must be restored to it's preeminent position, and discrimination knocked off it's exalted pedestal before it completely destroys Liberty.