True. But the devil is in the details. In the terms of legalities, they are private companies, which means they are not actually bound by the first amendment which says:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. (Emphasis mine).
Private companies can censor whatever the hell they want and not be in violation of Constitutional Rights. And they often do, like with employee dress codes (you’re not allowed to wear company logo outside the bounds of work, you’re not allowed to wear shirts with vulgarities or explicit content on company grounds or at company functions, you’re not allowed to wear competitor logo on company time, etc.) We accept a certain level of censorship as a terms of employment. Doing so benefits us in small but necessary ways (fewer lawsuits sapping profit revenues, less hostile workplace and reducing the chances of workplace violence, protecting company image, etc).
It’s also true that these companies have developed into monopolies, de facto making them a public sphere where freedom of speech should be protected. Hell of a position to be foisted into—having to make that choice of how and when to say enough.
Truly, I don’t envy Facebook and Twitter in this moment. They can act to end this saga in ways Congress can’t because of the 1st Amendment. Hello Irony. They shouldn’t have had to. It’s not supposed to be their responsibility to. They will be held responsible and liable regardless, because things have just spiraled too far into chaos.
They, and we, are now in a situation of damned if you do and damned if you don’t; or between a rock and a hard place.
Mitt Romney said it best. The way to ease election concerns among constituents was not to score points by staging political theater, but to simply tell the Truth.
It should not have been Zuckerberg’s or Dorsey’s job to protect the Truth. It was Hawley’s, Cruz’s, Mcconnell’s, Graham’s, Loeffler’s, and so on, and even Trump’s. After all, they’re the ones who took a public oath to do so. Nearly all of these leaders and oath holders are on record (videotape) saying what a liar Trump is. Nearly. every. one. So it’s not like they didn’t know what they were doing. They just didn’t care because they were more concerned with their own agendas than the state of the nation.
~
My favorite comic book growing up was Spiderman because of Uncle Ben and the lesson that set Peter Parker on the hero’s path. “With great power comes great responsibility.”
Freedom of speech is an awesome and terrible power. It is not to be taken lightly. Therefore, the responsibility to wield it must be equally as awesome and terrible. Freedom of speech cannot tolerate liars or sycophants who play to liar’s whims. It just can’t. The price of all freedoms is constant vigilance against the forces that would act to destroy them, it’s not something that’s just there…just cause. Freedoms must be guarded jealously or they will be lost to chaos and violence.
In the case of Freedom of Speech, one of the forces that will destroy it is lies. When the President lies–and those lies injure the people–Congress, the Cabinet, the Institutions, and the press are oath bound and duty bound to stand up and tell the Truth. Republicans failed their oath and their duty numerous times during this nightmare of an administration.
The injury to America as a result is grave and extensive. We now have to make a hard choice as Americans that no American should ever have to make.
Do we curtail a precious, beloved liberty because we have not acted with proper responsibility to wield it, or do we risk more American lives, violence, and chaos in the streets and the capitol?
Truly, Woe is us. And we are to blame too because we elected a known liar and a pack of spineless twits too weak and stupid to shield the Truth. We were too indolent and stupid to seek the Truth for ourselves. We didn’t do enough to protect the Truth either by calling out failures and demanding resignations of these politicians who did not shield the Truth.
If we now have to suffer some degradations of censorship, maybe we’re getting what we deserve. I hate to say it, but maybe we are. At least until we have a reckoning and become responsible enough citizens to be trusted with such an awesome power without bounds again.
