President Joe Biden slammed Big Tech companies this week for “killing people” by failing to engage in even greater censorship of free speech on issues related to the pandemic. It was a surprising condemnation of companies who have been loyal allies of Biden, including killing stories embarrassing to his family like the Hunter Biden laptop scandal before the election. It also has censored stories questioning his victory in 2020. Nevertheless, Biden denounced the range of uncensored free speech as the cause of death for many — the ultimate anti-free speech trope for those seeking to convince people to embrace their own censorship.
Biden was asked by a reporter what his message was to “platforms like Facebook” on the subject of “COVID misinformation.” He responded “They’re killing people. The only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated, and they’re killing people.”
This comes as these companies have been criticized for censoring debates over the origin or treatment of Covid-19.
For a year, Big Tech has been censoring those who wanted to discuss the origins of pandemic. It was not until Biden admitted that the virus may have originated in the Wuhan lab that social media suddenly changed its position. Facebook only recently announced that people on its platform will be able to discuss the origins of Covid-19 after censoring any such discussion.
The White House recently admitted that it was flagging “misinformation” for censorship by companies like Facebook. Moreover, White House press secretary Jen Psaki has called for people to be banned from all social media if any one company bans them.
Biden is accusing these companies of actually killing people for refusing even more extensive censorship of speech. The statement equates free speech with death itself.
We have seen this type of reckless rhetoric in other areas where disagreement with a policy or proposal is treated as de facto racism or hate speech. That was the case recently with the NAACP official who denounced those of opposing what is commonly referred to as critical race theory lessons as haters of a long litany of groups from the disabled to children to “help people.” This was followed by the chilling words “Let them die.”
Rather than seek to convince the skeptical, Biden wants to silence them and use these companies to control what is read and discussed about the pandemic. What is chilling is the degree to which reporters and academics have supported the massive censorship system in the United States. However, that system is clearly not (to use Sen. Blumenthal’s words) “robust enough” for Biden who wants these companies to carry out a more complete censorship of opposing views.
I do not fault those who want to convince citizens to take the vaccinations. I have had the vaccinations as has my family. However, this is part of an overall push for greater censorship and speech controls. Governments always claim noble purposes as the basis for limiting speech or other rights. It is the very danger Louis Brandeis once described in his dissenting opinion in Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438 (1928):
Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.
Fascist Book is upset that the Biden Mobsters attacked them. And to think Fascist Book has tried so hard to be cooperative. Even the Mafia shows more gratitude for a favor than Democrat or RINO politicians do.
Big Tech made a tactical gain but strategic loss when it locked Trump out. Now every government in the world has gotten ideas.
Big Tech can always turn to the free speech advocates for support. Nah. We already tagged Big Tech as totalitarian scum. They are becoming Stasi and we have turned away. I actually laugh when I see Google and Fascist Book honchos say free speech must be protected. We know their idea of free speech.
Big Tech and government make one think of those women who sneak into the zoo to pet the tigers because tigers are so pretty and nice. That always ends well–for the tiger.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/07/facebook-blasts-biden-admin-biden-attacks-accuses-biden-admin-using-scapegoat
Kamala Harris said that if Trump said it was a good idea to take the vaccine she wouldn’t take it. Well Trump said it was a good idea to get the vaccine. How many people put off getting the vaccine because Kamala Harris said that people should not take the recommendation of a President of The United States. Maybe some of the people who hated Trump died because of Kamala’s statement. If we would have known sooner that a laboratory was producing deadly viruses we might possibly have stopped it and saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Social media banned any discussion of a possible lab leak. Even then the Democrats were telling social media what to ban. Now their press spokesperson has come right out and said they are doing what we already knew they were doing. Somehow Biden has the gall to blame his political opponents for deaths due to misinformation. All of a sudden people’s lives mean so much more to King Biden than his quest for power. He will use people for whatever his purposes are. He will tell them they are oppressed but if they step out of line he will do whatever it takes to shut them up. Welcome to the Putin Biden Club.
“You shouldn’t be banned from one platform and not others if you are for providing misinformation out there.” (Psaki)
“Misinformation” = opinions and speech that contradict government-approved Higher Authorities (e.g., Fauci).
The government banning “misinformation” = unvarnished fascism.
In America?!
My fellow conservatives, I review the covid-19 statistics every day. I had hoped we had reached herd immunity, but the delta variant has obliterated that hope. We need to VOLUNTARILY get vaccinated if we love our country. Britain, which has a higher immunization rate than the US, is exploding with the delta variant. We are right behind them.
The delta variant is about 50% more contagious but a lot less deadly. One might surmise that risking the milder disease is an option. It would be if it only affected a typical flu population, but delta will not be a typical flu population. Delta is expanding way too fast, so the effect of having literally millions getting it at the same time, is potentially devastating to our healthcare system, economy, and even to our cause of freedom…
The Democrats won’t let a crisis go to waste in the cause of their one-party dictatorship.
I have three friends, two conservatives and one politically-insane Democrat, who have refused to get vaccinated. I plan to ask them ever so gently to reconsider and to encourage others to do so. One conservative is already reconsidering due to the spread of delta. I hope she gets the vaccine.
I hope you do, too, if you haven’t already. I won’t mention it, again, because there will be no point if we don’t act soon.
Thanks for the sane post. Truth is truth. And you’re on it right here.
eb
Meanwhile, in the last week there may have been more reported deaths from adverse vaccine events than from Covid/Wuhan itself.
Pick your poison.
Don’t forget that China did this.
Here is why one should make a personal, considered judgment before getting the vaccine.
https://www.openvaers.com/covid-data
Consulting a doctor is definitely not a bad idea. If your doctor says the vaccine is too risky, then don’t do it. If you’re doctor says get the vaccine, then one should get the vaccine.
Considering the many unresolved questions about Covid and the vaccines, and doctors have questions too, I am not sure this is a decision to be left to ‘experts’. VAERS reports almost 11,000 deaths and nearly 31,000 hospitalizations attributed to the vaccine. Those are big numbers.
Now there are reports of infections in people who have been vaccinated. That risk has to be laid by the alleged benefits.
As for the longer term? Nobody–truly nobody–knows.
Meanwhile nearly enough time has passed to develop a traditional vaccine along the lines of the flu vaccine which will have much fewer question marks littering its path to future consequences.
Trust the science? Okay. The mRNA vaccines are experimental and for emergency use. There is not enough actual science for the FDA to go out on a limb and approve them as safe for normal use in the way other vaccines have been approved.
Get the vaccine and you become an experimental subject.
Once it’s in you, you can’t get it out again.
That’s the science.
Good post, Diogenes. Many thanks.
Blatantly unconstitutional from Biden and his bubblehead redhead megaphone. Where is court jester and ersatz SCOTUS nominee Merrick Garland? Too busy running down 70-year-old “Insurrectionists” no doubt! What a clown show.
Galileo was censored when he put out the truth that the earth rotated around the sun. The excuse was that he was putting out misinformation that was dangerous to the people. https://theconversation.com/four-centuries-after-galileo-was-silenced-uk-students-are-still-curbing-free-speech-54935 This is one of the most well known cancellations in history. Galileo spent the rest of his life under house arrest. The logical next step for putting out misinformation, if one persists, must be incarceration. You say, they would never go that far! If you really believe that the populace is being damaged by misinformation it must then follow that any method necessary must be employed to end the resultant devastation. It won’t be the first time in history that a religion has run amiss.
“For if Men are to be precluded from offering their Sentiments on a matter, which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences, that can invite the consideration of Mankind, reason is of no use to us; the freedom of Speech may be taken away, and, dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter.”
George Washington, Address to the officers of the army, March 15, 178
In Biden’s defense, he’s an imbecile.
Talk about killing people. Was it misinformation that led to all the nursing home deaths?
Planned Parent/hood.
👍
Wonder if he felt that. Way during the campaign, when he & Kamala were denouncing any vaccines made during the Trump Administration as suspect
Doesn’t anyone else find it amusing that Trump was blasted for calling things he disagreed with “fake news.” But, suddenly calling things that the Biden administration doesn’t like is “misinformation,” and should be banned. What’s the difference? Free speech is all speech. We don’t need protection for speech that everyone agrees with, it’s the controversial speech that needs protection.
The difference is that Trump railed against it but didn’t actively seek to muzzle it.
Silicon valley, Hollywood and corporate America. This is the modern Democrats party. They are not the party of the working man anymore. They have become the party of Davos.
Joe Biden speaks softly, but his rhetoric is reckless. His logic is flawed. I’m wondering whether he even studied Constitutional Law at SU Law School. I think that an appropriate alternative to the censorship that he proposes would be to design and implement an “elective” course in CRITICAL THINKING for high school students. Certainly the many examples of media bias would provide subject matter.
My recommendations for the Congress are: (1) term limits: and (2) requirements for studies in civics and Constitutional Law. I would also like to see requirements for members of Congress to provide an accurate summary of proposed legislation with links to the actual bills. Constituents have been left by the wayside. Party loyalty trumps obligations to the electorate.
I have zero problem with Biden saying health misinformation around Covid is killing people…, because it is…
I have a problem with Covid health misinformation for the same reason I’d have a problem with someone posting publicly how to build improvised explosive devices or a dirty nuclear weapon….
I do, however, have a lot of problem with your questioning Biden’s right to free speech, Turley.
eb
Obviously Turley believes in free speech as evidenced by his continued tolerance of your idiotic and prolific commentary here
Thank you and the President for determining what misinformation I should not read.
EB, Professor Turley has not called for Biden’s speech to be cancelled. Biden has directly called for the cancellation of peoples speech by social media. In Turley’s pointing out the actions of Biden that he disagrees with he is not calling for the cancellation of Biden’s right to speak. Your comparison of Biden’s direct recommendation to cancel speech to Turley’s criticism of Biden is a twist of logic that exposes your thinking and lack there of. Another weak piece of drivel in your never ending attack on the Professor. It would be appreciated if just once you would use a real description of the presentation rather than the one you make up in your mind.
At what point should I GAF about what you think is “real description of the presentation”, TIT?
eb
This could be just the beginning. The Democrats could use their power to pressure/induce social media to censor any number of other opinions that differ from theirs: the science of climate change is unsettled and its consequences uncertain; this country is not systemically racist; the police are not on a campaign to kill unarmed blacks or arrest blacks disproportionately to their commission of violent crimes; ideas derived from CRT and intersectionality are being, but should not be, taught in public schools; the election may have been affected by illegal voting; voter integrity laws are not the greatest threat to democracy since the Civil War; January 6 was not an “armed insurrection”; etc ….
These ideas could be attacked by the Democrats as just as dangerous as questions about whether the benefits of a still unapproved vaccine outweigh the risks for all age groups, and regardless of their state of general health. They have said that climate change is an existential threat, racism is a health crisis and election integrity laws will destroy democracy. So how can these ideas be allowed to circulate?
The Obama-Harris-Warren-Biden administration and their MSM enablers are hammering away, putting the last nails in the coffin of free speech. So interesting–and frightening–how this has popped up everywhere as the reason naysayers to the government’s narrative have to be silenced. Isn’t that how it always works?
Prof. Turley writes:
“It was a surprising condemnation of companies who have been loyal allies of Biden, including killing stories embarrassing to his family like the Hunter Biden laptop scandal before the election. It also has censored stories questioning his victory in 2020. Nevertheless, Biden denounced the range of uncensored free speech as the cause of death for many — the ultimate anti-free speech trope for those seeking to convince people to embrace their own censorship.”
No, you don’t get it. Not surprising at all. 99% loyal is not good enough for the “Hard Left.” and you need to turn on a dime when the Party’s needs change, as O’Brien explained to Winston Smith in Room 101 (“1984”).
Ask Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bukharin, how it worked out for them to be only 99% loyal to Stalin.
For that matter, ask J.K. Rowling and Martina Navratilova how it feels to have all the people with whom you were allied yesterday shun you today for one deviant opinion.
There is a reason why it is called “totalitarian.”
When are people going to come to the realization that Joe Biden is not some benign, fatherly and moderate “leader”? The HYPERBOLE that this unintelligent buffoon puts into the public discourse time and time again is harmful to our nation, divisive at a time of national disunity (brought on by the left as a way to silence opponents) and just plain old dumb!
We have heard about Jim Crow with regard to reasonable voting bills, the Civil War with regard to these same bills and the one and only riot that the left cares about that took place on January 6th, and of course how can you have HYPERBOLE without the obligatory comparisons of Jan 6th to 9/11?
We have Joe Biden, a proven liar, corrupt lowlife, moronic fabulist telling us that January 6th, where one rioter was killed by police, is the equivalent of a day where 3,000 people were killed by Islamic Terrorists. Workers forced to leap out of a window on the 100th floor is now the same as a rioter being shot by a cop? e have Joe Biden saying that a riot where one rioter was killed s equivalent to a war that killed 600,000 Americans. This after we had riots all last year that killed many more people and did much more damage as the left applauded and covered for the rioters. We had leftists storm the capitol and even invade the senate elevators (remember Jeff Flake) to argue against Kavanugh. We had rioters force the president to go to the White House Bunker without a peep from Pelosi, Schumer or the always fearful AOC. We have Joe Biden saying that benign voting bills are the same as Jim Crow, an era where Blacks couldn’t vote, couldn’t eat at restaurants, couldn’t stay at hotels and were at the mercy of southern DEMOCRATS. Of course Joe Biden, the guy that finished at the bottom of his Law School class (as he said he was at the top) insists that this is not HYPERBOLE.
Joe Biden is a nasty old man, an unintelligent fabulist and a corrupt small time pol and it is about time this is acknowledged.
Many people refuse to take the vaccine because they do not trust the government. This administration has failed to promote trust, and Biden’s latest words will only reinforce distrust. Big Tech isn’t “killing people”; Joe Biden and his totalitarian CRT regime are.
Lefties recognize that they will probably lose control of the House in 2022 (and maybe the Senate), so they are trying to solidify their control over speech and culture.
Right now, the Lefties have control of the First, Second, Third, and Fourth (partially) estates. They also have an active judiciary working for them. But that control is tenuous.
So they have opened a new front – social communications. With the help of the tech companies, they are silencing their opposition.
If we do nothing, we will be writing/posting opinions that nobody will ever see.
Monument– “Lefties recognize that they will probably lose control of the House in 2022 (and maybe the Senate), so they are trying to solidify their control over speech and culture.”
***
True. They are also trying to solidify control over elections so they can continue to cheat.
Interpose the words Slide In for Biden.