Transcript of a Speech Given at "Freedom Fest" in Memphis this Week
MATT TAIBBI
https://archive.ph/UAqzl
"Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it.” - Judge Learned Hand
"It wasn’t hard to understand why the FBI was organizing a censorship scheme, or why companies like Twitter and Facebook that lived off lucrative regulatory subsidies were going along with one. The motives of the powerful actors in all this were never mysterious. The part that didn’t compute was why so many in the general public were accepting of the situation. This included people I knew. Many people in America are not just accepting of digital censorship, they believe it to be vitally necessary."
"But thinking for yourself is hard work, and political interests in the Internet age have preyed on another very American instinct: laziness. Their sophisticated programs begin with the premise that the Internet always punishes difference and rewards conformity. This is the core principle at work in shadow-banning and de-amplification algorithms. These automated surveillance tools look for phrases like “Open-minded” or “I like to do my own research” or “I’m generally apolitical” and don’t score the people saying such things as tolerant, creative freethinkers."
"What the algorithm instead detects is someone harboring a dangerous willingness to embrace unorthodox ideas, or look at a forbidden thing and not flee.
It was once a virtue for Americans to say, when asked about their politics, “None of your damn business.”
Nobody thinks that way anymore, either. Young people especially are worried to the point of mental illness about their likes and ratios. We not only want people to know what we think, we’re terrified of people not knowing what we think, lest we be suspected of harboring something unsavory underneath."
"These groups are letting loose algorithms on that “Spirit of liberty” Justice Hand talked about. The results have not been good.
If they can preemptively extinguish that fire in us, formal censorship will become unnecessary. The population will become too fearful of difference to ever risk punishment in the first place. That moment is close at hand. This is why I’m so grateful for events like this and to people like yourselves. I believe you all know the patriotic importance of preserving that spirit.
Meanwhile, these people who would have us glued to our phones, perennially afraid of electronic whispers, they’re as American as redcoats. We need to find a way to send them home, for good, before it’s too late."
#Freespeech #Freethinkers #Censorship
#SurveillanceState #StopSpyingOnUs #CivilLiberties #Freespeech #Freethought #Spooks #CIAMisconduct #FBIMisconduct #CoerciveControl
