Censorship as First Step to Totalitarianism

Last night I finished reading Thomas Mann's Diaries for the second time. The Nobel Prize winner was considered one of the giants of the first half of the 20th century. This volume covers the years 1918-1921 and 1933-1939. The former is post-WWI and the latter highlights the rise of Hitler and the years leading up to WWII.

There are a number of recurring themes that make an appearance in his diaries. I was surprised at how often he took a med to sleep, and how often he mentions being uneasy and anxious. He continually mentions what he's reading (Tolstoy, Cervantes, Proust, etc.) and many of the names of people he is corresponding with.

His concerns regarding the restrictions on speech and free thought get increasingly highlighted in the late 30s. What's discouraging is seeing many of his observations playing out yet again in our own time. Here is the opening to one of Michael Shellenberger's emails from thesubstack Public News:

A little over a year ago, I participated in a public event in London with Russell Brand and Matt Taibbi. While there, I expressed my bewilderment at the censorship we had uncovered. It wasn’t the first time. When Matt and I testified before Congress in February, I also described being disoriented. After all, growing up progressive in the 1980s and 1990s, free speech was a foundational value, both for radical Leftists like myself at the time and for more moderate liberals. To watch liberal and Leftist Democrats demand censorship right in front of me was jarring, to say the least. I wondered aloud, “What is going on?” And I kept wondering until I found some answers.

I believe that my colleagues and I are now much closer to having a unified field theory of contemporary totalitarianism. We have published hundreds of articles so far on the censorship and other totalitarian tactics, including the weaponization of the FBI and CIA and the lawfare aimed at incarcerating Donald Trump, that we’ve been documenting. If I had to sum it up, I would say that there are at least four core drivers, all of which I described in a conversation I had yesterday with Russell...

--Michael Shellenberger

Are Shellenberger and friends being alarmist? How ironic that Gallup polls show that left-leaning Democrats are the ones most in favor of censoring free speech, while simultaneously declaring that Republicans are the ones determined to destroy democracy. Are the former leaders of the Sixties "Free Speech Movement" now its adversaries?

"Say it ain't so, Joe."

Look Who's Cancelled Now

Mercury @ the Bargello

In April I experienced the Renaissance in an all new manner. I spent 11 days in Italy, mostly Florence but also Parma. Florence has to be considered the fertile soil that birthed the Renaissance. Parma is a symbol of the fight against fascism. All kinds of thoughts and feelings were generated by this experience. I am still processing all these things--both ideas and observations--and realize I still have so much to learn. 

The trigger for this blog post was an opinion piece titled Porn, power and the other p-word in conservative America by Julie Szego, a journalist who lost her job because she wrote about trans censorship in Australia. Being attuned to this issue from personal experience, she's unafraid to get real about the censorship coming from both the Left and the Right in our contemporary world.

When she mentioned Michelangelo's David, which I'd been awed by in April, I felt a need to underscore the challenges we face today with regard to free speech and free thought, a recurring theme of mine here on a blog that has itself be "cancelled" on Facebook and Instagram. 

The starting point for her article is an incident in which a Florida principal was sacked because "a parent complained students were exposed to “pornography” – in the form of Michelangelo’s statue of David." If you go to Florence, or study art history, you'll see more than your share of nude human bodies. You'll also see nude bodies in high school gym class (unless they don't take showers any more) and at the Y, I believe.

Purchase your own personal David in the gift shop.
at the Accademe.

That being said, she continued in this vein.

Two of the irate parents complained to the board of Tallahassee Classical School that they weren’t warned their children would encounter an image of Michelangelo’s iconic artwork. Another described the 5.17-metre statue of an entirely naked David, the biblical giant slayer, as pornographic. Shocking that three angry parents can force a principal’s resignation. Not at all shocking that for some Americans the bare representation of the human body is tantamount to pornography.

It is hardly news that lust drives so much of male endeavour, be it with sword or marble, or Sigmund Freud never did exist. That doesn’t make Michelangelo’s masterpiece porn, but I’m not sure we can claim his inspiration sprang entirely from the celestial without any contribution from the carnal.

There are two sides to every story. In America’s blue states – only slightly less nutty than their red counterparts – you can reportedly find schools where teachers not only say “gay”, they give kids how-to manuals. And while folks in those parts won’t usually see pornography in art, some might bend over backwards to see art in pornography lest they be accused of … conservatism.

I may not agree with everything people think or say, but I admire the courage of people like Camille Paglia, Julie Szego or Scott Adams who aren't afraid to put it out there and accept the consequences. 

Other Risky Topics  Too Hot To Handle

Critical of Zionism

Stanford Palestinian Student Forced to Resign for Facebook Post Critical of Zionism

Wrote about Trans Censorship

I was sacked for writing about trans censorship

Doctor fired for criticizing COVID policies
https://www.foxnews.com/media/law-group-stanford-fired-doctor-criticizing-covid-policies-engaged-employment-discrimination

Andrew Tate Canceled for being Mysogynist 

(Old videos were taken out of context)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshwilson/2022/08/30/the-downfall-of-andrew-tate-and-its-implications/?sh=406eb176ca07

RFK Jr being cancelled for this

Robert Kennedy Jr. challenged Tony Fauci to produce one NIH study on the safety of Vaccines.

"None of the mandated Vaccines have ever been tested against a placebo-controlled trial before licensing."

Fauci stonewalled for a year and then admitted they didn't have it.

https://twitter.com/AaronSiriSG/status/1665687256533745668

Used the word Niggardly

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/williams/williams020499.htm

While looking for examples of things people have been cancelled for, I came across this piece. 

Trilateral Commission Members Driving Censorship Campaigns (This is the organisation with a member called Keir Starmer)

https://davidicke.com/2023/06/11/trilateral-commission-members-driving-censorship-campaigns-this-is-the-organisation-with-a-member-called-keir-starmer/

Whatever happened to "I may not agree with you but I defend your right to say it." Isn't that what Free Speech is about? 

SPECIAL REPORT: YouTube Removes Viral Video by Kern County Doctors Presenting Alternative P.O.V. On COVID-19 Response

Does sheltering in place make sense as a response to COVID-19? Maybe, maybe not. But we'll never know if each time those who question the lockdowns are gagged or forbidden to present an alternative P.O.V.

On Friday I shared a significant video by a pair of doctors who presented facts based on the last few months of historical data. Based on what they've observed, the doctors drew conclusions at odds with the prevailing views and held a media event to make known their findings.

By Tuesday, a few days later, after more than 5 million people had watched it (including Elon Musk, who tweeted about it), the video was removed by YouTube as inappropriate. Why? "For violating YouTube's terms of service." (i.e: Community Standards.)

When ABC of Bakersfield, California contacted YouTube for further illumination on this action, a company spokesperson for the social media giant "issued a statement saying the video was pulled because the content contradicted the guidance of the local health authority."

Was it because the doctors pointed out that there has never once been a pandemic in human history in which the response has been to quarantine the healthy instead of the sick?

“We quickly remove flagged content that violate our Community Guidelines, including content that explicitly disputes the efficacy of local healthy (sic) authority recommended guidance on social distancing that may lead others to act against that guidance," said the statement. "However, content that provides sufficient educational, documentary, scientific or artistic (EDSA) context is allowed -- for example, news coverage of this interview with additional context. From the very beginning of the pandemic, we’ve had clear policies against COVID-19 misinformation (emphasis mine) and are committed to continue providing timely and helpful information at this critical time.”

* * * *

Does it make sense for YouTube to exercise censorship so as to prevent any alternative viewpoint on a significant issue that impacts all of us?  I do concede that they have a right to maintain standards. On the other hand, how do we learn what is true and what is not if we're not even permitted to hear something contrary to a government sanctioned point of view? (And in this case, they stated it was a local health policy, which seems to stretch credulity.) How can the court of public opinion draw accurate conclusions on important matters if they are not permitted to hear more than one side of an issue?

Abraham Lincoln went out of his way to hear all sides on important issues and maintained a cabinet comprised of contrary views for the express purpose of listening as they each argued their positions.

* * * *

Here's the beginning of that ABC News story.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — YouTube issued a statement Tuesday regarding the removal of a video press briefing with Accelerated Urgent Care doctors Dan Erickson and Artin Massihi. The video was the first of two videos playing the entire briefing from a press conference last week. Reports of the video being taken down suggest YouTube pulled it for violating community guidelines.

23ABC received an email from YouTube on April 27 giving the station notification the video had been taken down, citing YouTube’s “community guidelines.” 23ABC has appealed the ruling through YouTube.

23ABC News also reached out to YouTube regarding the notification and a company spokesperson issued a statement saying the video was pulled because the content contradicted the guidance of the local health authority.

YOU CAN READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE:
https://www.turnto23.com/news/coronavirus/video-interview-with-dr-dan-erickson-and-dr-artin-massihi-taken-down-from-youtube

AND WATCH THE ORIGINAL CENSORED VIDEO HERE:
https://www.turnto23.com/news/coronavirus/accelerated-urgent-care-doctors-recommend-lifting-shelter-in-place-order

* * * *

When I wrote my original blog post, my working title was, The Most Important BIog Post of My Life. While posting I changed it to the softer, less hysterical-sounding Important Information Related to COVID-19 -- April 24.

ADDENDUM: Here is a blog post that presents an opposing point of view regarding the statements made by Dr. Erickson, claiming it to be shoddy statistics and false claims. 

For what it's worth, it's sometimes useful to be aware of the psychology concept of "confirmation bias." We're all, to some extent, stained by pre-existing presuppositions. Our inability to observe things through a totally objective lens ought to keep us humble. All too often we don't know what we don't know.

Related Links

He Who Controls the Narrative Controls the People

For the interested, a Friend Link to my poem, The Lamp of Liberty

The Golden Shield

The Golden Shield is a project run by China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS), initiated in 1998. Theoretically it was designed to improve information systems for the police. Employing 30,000, it serves as a gigantic “Big Brother” system, filtering Internet content so as to keep the nation safe from evil. The ultimate aim, say some, is to create an all-encompassing online database and systems network for the security of the nation.

The project is condemned by Amnesty International and the group Human Rights Watch. Google, the search engine giant, has been criticized for working with the MPS. From my limited understanding of what I read, the Golden Shield blocks certain Internet content from the people within the country. That is, it censors content by making it unavailable in China.

This raises certain questions. Should the State decide what is and is not acceptable for its people? And should Google, the company, work hand in hand with those censors? I guess if Google wants to make money in China, they have to play turkey.

Google has an informal motto to not be evil. Yahoo has a poster mocking this motto with a Google logo and the statement, “Sometimes Evil?”

But Yahoo has not been immune from controversy with regard to China, having turned over info that led to Chinese dissident Shi Tao being sentenced to ten years in prison.

Microsoft, in 2005, cooperated with Chinese censors by helping remove words like “democracy” and “freedom” from Chinese bloggers’ blogsites.

The search engine giants have some tough issues to work out with regards to operating inside countries that censor freedom of speech for their people. How far should these countries go with regard to helping the various “Big Brother” systems of the world?

And how many Internet police do we have in our own country? How much stuff is going on here that we don’t even know about because it has been censored?

Time to take a deep breath. Best not to think to hard on that one. Let’s just root for our American swimmers. They're sure bringing home a lot of gold.