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We Can Handle The Truth

August 6th, 2018 No comments

Source: Facebook has a climate-denial problem

Oh oh; my days may be numbered.  But wait! I don’t depend on Facebook to broadcast my views anyways, so we’ll just carry on until they get enough influence to block everyone on the internet.  The way things are going, I figure I have another 4 months at least.

The battle for real information and news keeps getting more intense as the conduits for information join with the information purveyors themselves in steering and shaping the public discourse.  No one will deny the hard slants offered by the majority of the popular news outlets, both print and video media.  But you don’t expect the vehicles you use to access news to be also gatekeepers for content. This is the equivalent of your forks and knives blocking you from eating a rib steak because they feel you should be a vegetarian.  Both Twitter and Facebook have publicly censored conservative speech in favor of egregiously offensive leftist postings.  Apple and Spotify have now joined the fray by censoring those that don’t conform to their corporate worldview.   It is allowing a very small cabal of people to dictate what the masses are allowed to consume.  Free thinkers and libertarians should all have their hair on fire over this.  Unlike what Colonel Nathan Jessup thinks, we can handle the truth.

While this may be cause for celebration by the increasingly irrational left, we can easily see such actions engendering serious deleterious consequences for society as a whole.  It’s not even a matter of right or wrong, it’s a matter of putting a halt to the progress of civilization.  Imagine if Copernicus’ findings were not allowed to be publicly aired because the idea of the Earth orbiting the Sun instead of the then accepted belief of the  opposite, was deemed to be heretical.   Copernicus prevailed because he could demonstrate proof of his theory.   In today’s world, you don’t even need proof of a theory to confer legitimacy.  Just a bunch of Facebook likes and voila, it’s truth! If Twitter had been around in the day, I’m sure Copernicus’ inbox would have been flooded by angry and derisive tweeters calling for a good stoning.

The American Economist and Social Theorist Thomas Sowell wrote that, “Darwinian adaptation to environment applies not only to nature but also to society.  Just as you don’t find eagles living in the ocean or fish living on mountain tops, so you don’t find leftists concentrated where their ideas have to stand the test of performance.”

Thus, when opposing views are not aired and debated on “public” social networks, it paves the way to groupthink, a condition that would put an end to innovation of every kind.  Interestingly, this mindset is a bizarre take on Copernicus’ theory.  It portends that truth revolves around the individual, rather than the actual reality that the individual orbits the truth.


Free-ish Speech

July 26th, 2018 No comments

Source: Jordan Peterson responds to open letter calling for Calgary appearance to be cancelled – Calgary | Globalnews.ca

In the category of “they don’t know how dumb they sound” comes this news story about an upcoming speech by Dr. Jordan Peterson.  The spin by the news outlets in Canada are as bad as most of the mainstream outlets in the US; but made worse by the fact that there are no balancing viewpoints from other outlets.

We note for example, the characterization of Peterson’s opinions as “controversial”.  Of course, these same outlets would characterize the notion that there are only 2 sexes as being controversial.  People are gaslit by the regular characterization of conservative speech as being controversial to the degree that even those who don’t know his work will eventually associate Peterson with crackpot.

Cornered by logic, the fallback excuse is that ” there are safety risks for those using and working” in the event center.  Think about that.  It’s implied that Peterson’s opinions on self sufficiency and determination are so grotesque that the organizers expect some people to commit violence in order to stifle those opinions.  As opposed to the ubiquitous celebratory parades of gay pride throughout the country where public safety is not an issue.  This tells you all you need to know about which side is tolerant.

Irony is not a word found in the progressive dictionary since they are regular users of the words Nazi and fascist to shut down the opinions of those not in lockstep with their current views.  They employ violent, masked interlopers to interrupt speeches such as the one to be given by Dr. Peterson, while proclaiming peace, love and freedom.  The fact that these kinds of opposition to speech occurs with regularity on University campuses, supposedly enclaves of intellectual thought, bodes poorly for the critical thinking abilities of generations of malleable students….because eventually, they will be making the laws.

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