When 9/11 happened, I was completely against the addition of the TSA. I was completely against allowing surveillance to American citizens who had broken no laws. The avalanche of impending loss of rights was written on the wall. Republicans thought it was great because it came from George W Bush. Republicans and Democrats alike were daily sold an unhealthy dose of fear in order to allow our government to infringe upon our rights. We allowed it, and we pay the price daily. Republicans blindly backed all the new surveillance legislation because it was backed by George W Bush.
Now Republicans are being fed an unhealthy daily dose of fear that their freedom of speech is being silenced by the internet. The internet is based on a free market. If you don’t like what is on Twitter, Facebook, or any other platform, do not use the platform. Nothing is stopping Republicans from developing and using differing platforms. Furthermore, I’ve seen as much disinformation from Republicans on these platforms as I have from Democrats. I’ve been guilty of unknowingly spreading some myself. The latest is the meme using early December CDC US death numbers to compare them to last year’s numbers. If you look at the year end number and compare apples to apples, the deaths in the US have in fact increased. Auto crash deaths have decreased by over 16,000 which stands to reason. There have been fewer vehicles on the highways during lockdowns. This is an intentionally misleading meme which people are using to prove deaths have gone down in 2020 compared to 2019. They have not if you use the year end number rather than an earlier number which the meme uses.
Here is what section 203 says: “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”
In other words, the owner of a platform or online retail store, cannot be sued over what someone else posted. If you eliminate section 203, the internet will be sued into oblivion. Those product reviews you enjoy reading so much that help you make an educated online purchase will be gone. Open forums and discussions will be gone. Being able to post comments or your own posts will be gone. Why? Because the owner of the site or company will be sued for what you post. You won’t be able to say I thought this product sucked so don’t buy it. Why are Republicans backing this? Because they are mad at FB and Twitter for censoring their posts. Don’t use FB and Twitter. Trump supporters are willing to give up a massive amount of freedom of speech because of FB and Twitter. That is the very definition of a knee jerk reaction. If I can’t post whatever I want to, then no one can speak or express themselves without government approval. You are creating a world of complete censorship if you eliminate section 203. What are you thinking? Eliminating section 203 will not effect news producers in anyway except for removing online comments where you can refute their story.
The loss of freedom caused by lockdowns and mask mandates is minor compared to what you are supporting. You are supporting permanent repression of free speech which will happen due to lawsuits. The pandemic will end. This will not.
But hey, Trump….. If he can’t tweet whatever he likes, then we should all give up our freedom to support our God Trump. It’s George W Bush and 9/11 all over again.
I support Trump, but he is dead wrong on this. Yes, it’s actually possible to support someone without blindly hanging on and following their every word.
Middle of the Muddy Road 