People who are disgusted by the suppression of speech being performed by the social media “platforms” – which are of course publishers, sans the liability, courtesy of their being allies of the government – ought to stop using them.
And using alternatives such as Parler, which is something I’ve begun doing and encourage everyone reading this to do as well. Imagine the result if Twitter and Facebook lost even a third of their user base to other platforms/publishers like Parler and Bitchute and Rumble…
They’d lose their lock on the culture, which they currently possess because so many people “like” or otherwise demonstrate their fealty to these corporate tools of orthodoxy enforcement. At the very least, if Parler and the other alternatives wax, the speech suppressors at Twitter and Facebook would have to ease up on their suppression for the same reason that Wendy’s can’t be too insolent as far as what it charges for a burger (or the quality of its burgers/service) vs. what’s available at Burger King and so on.
If you’re using Twitter – or Facebook – to follow or “like” what goes on here, please consider following/liking EPautos via Parler. The handle is EPeters952 and you can see the rest in the image accompanying this notice.
It is still possible to fight back without using our fists. Let’s use our choices first!
Libertarianism “runs off the rails” when it comes to the social media giants. These social media giants want it both ways—immunity from prosecution for content while retaining the ability to determine what content gets to be published.
The standard libertarian rant of “free association” and “start your own social media organization” sounds good but does not apply when top-tier domain administrators (private companies) have the power to shut down any organization or group that they don’t like by denying access.
The internet was bought and paid for by American taxpayers. As such, any top-level domain administrator should be required to accept all comers—like the telephone companies. Imagine if your telephone service provider could shut you down because it does not like the content of your conversation. Once social media organizations reach a certain threshold of “customers”, they should be declared to be “public utilities” and subject to the “rules” thereof.
The same “rules” should apply to payment processors, as well. Master Card, Visa, American Express and Discover should all be bound by the same “freedom to access” rules. Sites such as GoFundMe should also be subject to the same rules.
Libertarianism sounds nice and dandy, but when those with power and access to control of information abuse their power and get away with it, all bets are off.
What’s wrong with right here? This is a community, much more engaging than FB, Twitter or Parler. Sure, I can’t post a picture of a pretty sunset, or some video I thought was funny, but no one really cares about that stuff anyway.
Another alternative is Mastodon, but be careful when looking at the “global” feeds. Fans of the No Agenda podcast have noagendasocial.com, which is great because everyone there is self-selected because of the show. The other big advantage is that members on the NA “instance” have to invite you in (instructions are given in the podcast), so that helps keep the bozos out.
I often feel like creating a libertarian “federation” of Mastodon servers. You’ll recall GAB.com had federated with the larger Mastodon fedaverse only to be blocked out of existence by the administrators through blacklisting. To me it seems like the whole point of sharing across servers is only connecting to servers you want, especially when you see some of the garbage on the main federated timelines. Imagine if some of the bigger names of the libertarian movement set up mastodon servers for their communities (like the Tom Woods elite, or EPautos.com). I know that admin work might be difficult but there’s a pretty easy and cheap setup page in place and if it gets going it isn’t too difficult to find people who can manage it.
https://docs.joinmastodon.org
I am with you Nunzio. This is the only online website I have ever posted on. I have never setup a Myspace, a Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram account and I have zero interest. Nobody in the world cares what I did for Thanksgiving or what color my toenails are.
Plus, it never goes away. We know Facebook has every individual’s posts and pics from seven years ago. I believe it just goes into a big huge NSA database to be kept at a future date when they feel the need to “cancel” us all. I have so much cynicism of the government I leave my phone at home, haven’t taken a picture in 6 years, and do not have web cameras on any of my computer monitors. The ones that do have monitors (IPAD and laptop) are covered with electrical tape. Yeah, I don’t have trust issues. 😉
Amen, RG!
All of this impersonal communication (‘Broadcast to everyone at once’instead of good ol’ one-on-one personal communication) is really ruining the way people communicate and interact. It’s making it more impersonal.
I’m grateful for this site (And this is the onlyu one I post on, too- ‘cept for a rare comment on some random articles that have Disqus comment sections) and the fellowship we have here- and informative/instructional videos…but other than that, I’m minimizing my internet usage.
Even the good things… I mean, I l;ook back at SO many hours wasted in the past, even in very good discussions on no-longer-extant sites…and although participating really helped me to test and formulate my ideas…still, ALL of those many hours were essentially wasted hours that I could have been doing something better with in the real world, and I will never get that time back.
The only ‘internet thing’ I have, is a simple desktop computer. And my TV is only connected to my retro DVD player…no antenna/cable/internet.
Good to know- but I still have no intentions of doing ‘social media’. Even without the spying and censorship, it’s still a huge waste of time, and a gratuitous giveaway of privacy, and a perversion of normal human interaction [Says as posting in a comment section- D’oh!].
I think it’s just like ‘limited government’ too- “Meet the new boss; Same as the old boss”. The new sites will offer some freedom until they get big…then they’ll start doing the same things the old sites do, as the $$$ stakes get higher.
I was just thinking last night, how great Ebay was in it’s early years…..vs. now!