Free Speech Is Under Assault

"I'm from the government.
We're here to help you."

Gallup polls have shown that a majority of Democrats are in favor of restricting free speech, while a majority of Republicans are pro free speech. Yesterday, a John Kerry clip was making the rounds.

At a World Economic Forum event John Kerry recently explained the situation this way:

Social media has made it "really hard" for governments to build consensus.

This statement makes clear that consensus is an imortant value for those who govern, even more important than people or truth.*

Kerry goes on to say that the masses tend to go to a single source for news, which becomes an echo  chamber. The assumption is that people are ignorant, though not all. He's calling out those who are suckered into believing disinformation.\

"People self-select where they go for news," Kerry said. "And you get into a vicious cycle."

So, does Kerry want the government to select for them? 

Who then should be the arbiter of truth? For John Kerry the problem is not disinformation. It is the U.S. Constitution with its Bill of Rights. For Kerry, and others of his ilk, the public has to be protected.

"Our first amendment stands as a major block to hammer disinformation out of existence," Kerry asserts.

Again, who decides what is truth? And why is consensus so important? For several years the media presented a one-sided picture of the Vietnam War. The networks shared the scripted Pentagon interpretations of that war. A few brave journalists chose to actually go see what was happening, and it was disturbing. Yes, the government won its consensus, disseminated by mainstream media--newspapers and networks--but what was the reality? It was not what we were being told, and over time the ugly truth seeped out and into the public conscience. I wonder, however, how much shorter that war might have been had more contrarian voices heard.

"I think democracies are very challenged right now and have not proven they can move fast enough."—John Kerry

Does Me. Kerry want King George again? Or a totalitarian? Dictators can move very fast. Ask the Red Queen and you'll see. "Off with their heads!"

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Michael Shellenberg's response to John Kerry: "Most of us enjoy more free speech than ever thanks to X. That’s why the elites are desperate to censor it, ban it, or take it over. Every day another totalitarian makes his intentions known. We must defend a free X. Our lives depend on it."

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Reminder: Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says free speech is a weapon of war, and censorship is necessary to protect free speech.

What do you think of that?

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Ben Franklin had other ideas: "Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins."

Related Links

Censorship Is a Tool of Those in Power

The Westminster Declaration: An Important Statement for Our Times

Censorship as First Step to Totalitarianism

*When I speak of consensus, I am referring to forced consensus