Did Jen Psaki Actually Say That?

 Did Jen Psaki Actually Just Say That?

The View from the Middle

Just yesterday, Jen Psaki, the Whitehouse spokesperson, admitted that the Biden administration is colluding with Facebook and Twitter to block what they deem misinformation.  I don’t know what is more frightening, what she was admitting to or the fact that she was bold enough to say it out loud in front of reporters.  We should all, Democrats or Republicans, be absolutely outraged by this admission for a number of reasons.

First, this goes beyond being just inappropriate.  It is illegal and unconstitutional.  The first amendment clearly states that the government shall not abridge our right to free speech.  It is particularly heinous when the government provides liability protection for these big tech companies through section 230 of the Communications Act and then directs them to stifle speech that they think is incorrect or that they just don’t agree with.

Even if the government claims to be blocking inaccurate information, their track record stinks in recognizing what is actually misleading.  If the government had its way, for example, we would have never even heard about the possibility that the Wuhan Lab was the source of Covid-19.  The Biden Administration would have totally blocked this story which today, thanks to freedom of speech, is proving to be the most likely explanation for this global pandemic.

We would also have never heard about Hunter Biden’s lost laptop.  In the beginning, government sources declared that this story was nothing but lies and, in fact, the product of a Russian disinformation campaign.  Both Twitter and Facebook censored the New York Post’s account – Yes, the New York Post, the 4^th largest newspaper in America - because they claimed that the Hunter Biden computer story was based on “hacked” information from the Russians.  That has since been proven to be a pile of “you know what”, but with this new Orwellian speech and thought control we would have never heard of Hunter’s emails revealing his drug addled life and Joe Biden’s (The Big Guy’s) financial participation in it.  

Just yesterday, Kevin McCarthy, the Republican Minority Leader in the House, wrote an article on the dangers of inflation for the Wall Street Journal and that article was immediately taken down by both Facebook and Twitter.  The article was filled with facts about the massive amounts of money our federal government is spending or is proposing to spend.  There are different opinions as to what effect this spending will have on our economy and our spending power. The citizens of America, however, should hear both sides of that debate.  

And, of course, there is much, much more.  The last article I wrote talked about the incredible amount of “Big Lies” that are coming out of Washington.  Do we really want these devious politicians controlling what we get to hear and read?  And when does this censorship move from erroneous blockages of inconvenient facts to “problematic” opinions.  That is the term that Jen Psaki used to describe the direction the Whitehouse is giving to these tech giants.  The question is, which messages are “problematic” and to whom?

When, for example, does a pro-life message become “problematic” for this or any administration?  I can argue the benefits of both sides of this argument, but the country should not be limited to just one.  I can argue the Keynesian economic model, although I don’t believe in it totally, but I can also argue the benefits of free-market, private sector solutions to our economic issues.  The point is, the American people should hear both sides of this discussion, not just one.  But, if this kind of collusion continues between one political party and the entire communications industry (big tech and the mainstream media) our Republic, as it was intended is in real jeopardy.  

The words of our Declaration of Independence will have to be changed to, “half of our people are endowed with certain inalienable rights”.  The other half are to be ignored at best or demonized at worst.