As cases wind their way through the courts over Big Tech censorship at the behest of our government, it is always a good thing to scan the landscape to see where America is with regards to censorship. Seth Dillion, CEO of the Babylon Bee, did a brief review recently that encapsulates this.
Seth Dillion:
Not long ago, Elon Musk bought Twitter, changed his bio to Chief Twit, and sent me a DM that said: “Do you want the Babylon Bee restored? There will be no censorship of humor.”
We’ve been trying to think of a joke worth $44 billion ever since.
But as resourceful and committed to free speech as he is, Musk is still just one man, and X is just one platform. Censorship remains the law of the land on virtually every other social media site run by Big Tech. X is a welcome but rare exception.
Just a couple of months ago, I was notified that the conservative David Horowitz Freedom Center was permanently suspended by Vimeo for posting a talk I’d given about censorship. Just think about the irony of that for a second. As if they wanted to make my point for me more emphatically than I ever could, they censored my talk about censorship.
It’s clear to us that what the censors want is submission. They want unquestioning conformity. They want us to give up and start fighting. Stop telling jokes. Stop telling the truth. They want to raise the cost of speaking freely so high that we’d rather just keep our mouths shut to avoid all the hassle and penalties. They’re asking us if we’re willing to silence ourselves just to make things easier.
If America is to survive as the beacon of freedom and liberty, the answer must always be NO. Silence by freedom-loving people would be golden for the evil that wants to control us. This would allow them to pursue their satanic schemes without the hindrance of people calling them out.
Our answer to that is NO. The truth is worth it. Free speech is worth more than whatever they can take from us.
Of course, that’s easier said than done. Standing against the censorious Left takes resources. I can tell you right now, The Babylon Bee would not have been able to take the stand that we did against Twitter if it hadn’t been for the support of our subscribers.
That’s our safety net. That’s what gives us the confidence to fight back against big tech without being afraid of them putting us out of business. They can hurt us. Sure, they can reduce our reach and smear us in the media, but they can’t shut us down. We have our supporters to thank for that.
We need to support defenders of freedom and particularly free speech wherever we find them. Back anyone bold enough to say what’s true, even if it comes at a cost. Especially if it comes at a cost. Such people will be that much more fearless and that much harder to stop if they know a whole army of freedom-loving Americans have their backs.