Why do americans pride themselves on free speech when their internet is the most censored in the world?

submitted by yabbit from self.AskSaidIt

It's not even the government doing it the citizens quash discussion themselves.

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[–]iamonlyoneman 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (11 children)

censorship, by definition, is a government activity. learn what words mean before attempting to dunk on people better than you

[–]weavilsatemyface 3 insightful - 2 fun3 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

censorship, by definition, is a government activity

No it isn't. "Censorship" is the suppression of speech, public communication, or any other information. It doesn't matter who does it, or whether it is justified or not, it is still censorship. That is why we can have

  • government censorship;
  • private censorship (question the official line on Covid vaccines or say that people with penises are not women? Twitter will ban you);
  • academic censorship (challenge the so-called "liberal" establishment narratives in college, and see your job go bye-bye);
  • parental censorship (internet Nannyware);
  • self-censorship (when is the last time you told your boss exactly what you think of him?)

etc. They're all different forms of censorship, whether the government is involved or not.

The so-called "liberal" left is subcontracting out censorship to private companies like Twitter (which is why they went insane when Elon Musk bought control of it) and the mainstream media. The government doesn't need to censor when they can leave it to private industry.

[–]iamonlyoneman 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

You have been bamboozled. People ignoring and not wanting to boost you are not censorship.

[–]weavilsatemyface 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

People ignoring and not wanting to boost you are not censorship.

I never said it was. Your reading comprehension has failed. Subcontracting out censorship to private companies is not "people ignoring you".

This idea that only government censorship is censorship is as idiotic as the idea that only governments can wage war, as if mercenaries don't exist, as if human tribes haven't waged war on each other for millennia.

Seriously dude, "only governments can censor" is 100% woke propaganda.

[–]Kuasocto 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

by definition

how about you actually look up a dictionary retard? BY DEFINITION censorship doesn't need government at all.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/censorship

also, you're naive as all hell if you think the US companies are not just a proxy for the government. Do you not know the connection between darpa's lifelog and facebook? https://i.postimg.cc/jK2Z26xV/suckerberg.png

[–]iamonlyoneman 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

  • use a trash dictionary
  • find a definition to suit your agenda

many such cases

[–]Kuasocto 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

moving the goalpost

Use any dictionary and you'll get the same result idiot. Stop licking the boots of big tech.

[–]iamonlyoneman 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

licking the boots of big tech

LOL i'm old enough to remember when Google changed their definition of fascist to include Trump supporters

[–]Kuasocto 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Which makes you what, 19? Stop this bullshit shooting yourself in the foot with redefining censorship and just use the word normally. It means suppressing, hiding or destroying information, regardless of who does that.

[–]iamonlyoneman 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

or you could admit you don't know what it means and leave the room

[–]Kuasocto 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

more indirect defense of big tech

go fuck yourself

[–]iamonlyoneman 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

https://saidit.net/s/AskSaidIt/comments/989g/why_do_americans_pride_themselves_on_free_speech/y0vw

[–]chadwickofwv 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

While the censorship is fucking insane, it is nowhere near as bad as many other countries, specifically the communist ones.

[–]weavilsatemyface 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

communist ones

ROFL what are you, stuck in the 1980s? Communism has been dead for longer than most people on the planet have been alive.

There's like two and a half communist countries left in the world, Cuba, Vietnam and North Korea which is this weird cross between god-emperor worship and something vaguely Communist-ish. China has stock markets for fuck's sake, they're about as communist as Singapore. The difference is that Singapore is a fake democratic de facto single-party state while China is a fake communist de jure single-party state.

[–]weavilsatemyface 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I'm sorry that you got banned from Reddit, but there are plenty of places that have it much worse.

In Singapore, your free expression will get you sued in private lawsuits which are totally biased and designed to bankrupt you. In Canada, your free expression will see your bank accounts seized. In China, your free expression will see you disappear.

As bad as it is in the US, it can get much, much worse.

[–]portace 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

1) In the US, free speech and free thought might get you "suicided". Especially if you reveal incriminating info on the ones in power. At best, you'll be imprisoned for being a whistleblower. And you aren't really safe anywhere in the world if the US government is out for you. I mean..there are at least 40+ deaths related to whistleblowers or investigators on US government run pedo rings and child trafficking (probably a lot more). Then you add in ppl like Hastings, Webb, Swartz, Ulfkotte, Vltchek, McAfee, etc. who get killed for going against govt narratives.

Why do you think the NSA and CIA are so concerned about tracking everyone and inserting agents into social media platforms?

2) US operations like COININTELPRO and Operation Gladio alone got you killed for political beliefs. Then there's the hundreds of coups in foreign countries that the US runs where you get killed for being on the side of the government they want to overthrow.

3) There are other forms of censorship:

  • Like the US running mass astroturfs on nearly all social media platforms (including foreign) to spread disinformation and control speech. It's how they drown out the truth and free expression while maintaining the illusion of free speech. A lot of cultural and political clashes are manufactured on purpose.

  • The control of global MSM and mass manufacturing of fake news that the entire world ends up believing

  • Funding of bloggers/authors to maintain fake mainstream narratives

  • "Private" social media companies are controlled by intelligence agencies. They use everything from banning users to shadowbanning to censorship.

  • Government manufactured cancel culture and having you lose your job

  • Softer tactics include algorithm manipulation, bots, mass upvoting/downvoting

The fact that you seem to know none of this is a pretty good indication of the dystopian Truman Show nightmare you're still stuck in.

Here are 64 links to start with:

https://qr.ae/pvsyKR

[–]weavilsatemyface 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

In the US, free speech and free thought might get you "suicided".

Sure. And it might get you cancelled and banned from social media, or it might get you a job working for Elon Musk, or it might get you a $200 million deal with Spotify and the position as the #1 most popular news source in the country, leaving even Tucker Carlson in the dust. All sorts of things "might" happen in the USA.

But not this. Not yet.

The fact that you seem to know none of this

Dude, I wrote five sentences, not everything I know. That would have taken at least three more sentences 😉

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

We don't "speak" internet you euroskeptical cuckjob!

[–]noshore4me 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Please provide examples from different countries from around the world in a side by side comparison to back up your assertion about censorship.

[–]yabbit[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I got banned on reddit for my free expression