12 February, 2021

*SIGH* I Can’t Argue With This

Is America failing the “Twitter test”? | Power Line (powerlineblog.com)

Paul quotes from an essay by Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky. A couple points worth highlighting.

To preserve our integrity and our souls, the quality of our political debate and the creativity so essential to our cultural life, we need a Twitter Test challenging bottom-up cultural totalitarianism that is spreading throughout free societies. That test asks: In the democratic society in which you live, can you express your individual views loudly, in public and in private, on social media and at rallies, without fear of being shamed, excommunicated, or cancelled?

No. I don’t think we can. I left Twitter and Facebook, not only because of their assault on free speech, but I became more and more concerned that my posts there might be seen by an employer or potential employer.

That’s part of the reason this blog is semi-anonymous. You can track down my identity. It’s not hard. But I don’t advertise it. And knowing my identity wouldn’t point you to this blog. You’d have to go the other way around.

And that’s sad.

Recent polls suggest that nearly two-thirds of Americans report self-censoring about politics at least occasionally, essentially becoming a nation of doublethinkers despite the magnificent constitutional protections for free thought and expression enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

Yes, that’s me. I admit it. I’m a self-censoring doublethinker.

*sigh*

No comments:

Post a Comment