The First Amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” This is a Constitutional guarantee that the government will not suppress free speech, the press, peaceful assembly or to petition the government for redress of grievances. We have in the United States today the corporate censorship of free speech. Platforms that present themselves as open to all and have tens of millions of users are censoring free speech. This is a serious danger to our nation, and to all who love freedom.
The problem is complex. These giant technology platforms are owned and operated by people who have a political agenda. They exercise political intolerance and ideological bigotry against those who disagree with their viewpoints. In fact, they villainize those who they deem to be in such disagreement. To prevent such people from having a voice on their platform, they developed a set of guidelines that they deemed dangerous or offensive. Then they established truth committees within their companies to review materials and censor those that go against their guidelines. In their minds, this is a procedure and process that legitimizes their censorship. It is a way to suppress the exchange of ideas and opinions and present a group think of monogamous like-mindedness.
Another problem is the legitimate manipulators of the fringe elements. There are truly nations and secret societies that aim to disrupt American society and the Constitutional Republic through information warfare. This occurs on both the extreme left and right political wings as well as those nations that want to destroy America. The telling of specific information using just enough truth to make a better lie shapes the way people think, stirs their emotions, suspends their disbelief and moves masses in a particular direction. These are using the power of suggestion and the psychological manipulation of people believing what they want to believe. This is also very dangerous to society because this weaponized propaganda causes people to do and say things that they normally would not even consider.
As Christians, we are bound by Christ in truth. Christ said in John 8:31-32, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” There is truth in Christ. We must adhere to the truth. In Christ, there is also discernment. Trouble is, so many people have lost their ability to discern. Believing something just because one wants to believe it, without checking out its veracity, there is neither discernment nor abiding in truth. Moreover, passing along such things as truth, is the same as passing on lies. Consider all the craziness in this world and the responsibility of being a disciple of Christ. Corporate censorship is a danger to freedom. So is weaponized propaganda. Let us do our part to know the truth and keep us free.
