Al Strachan on social media and being deplatformed

Left-wing Hollywood celebrities are expressing their collective love of Big Brother after Twitter announced that it has permanently banned President Donald Trump. Breitbart News reported that Twitter kicked the president off its platform late Friday because, "After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence."

Yes, the Alphabet people have "deplatformed" the President of the United States, not just temporarily, but forever! They must be afraid that his campaign for re-election in 2024 will start on January 21st, as indeed it will, with or without Twitter!

Someone who knows a lot about being deplatformed is Al Strachan, a journalist and former columnist for the Toronto Sun, the Globe and Mail, and Montreal Gazette. For a time, he was a regular panelist on Hockey Night in Canada, from which he managed to get fired, not once but twice, for ruffling the feathers of the elites. I've just read (and recommend highly) his latest book (of seven), Hockey's Hot Stove (Simon & Schuster 2020). Here's what he has to say about social media.

Social media could have been such a wonderful addition to our lives. It could have prompted the exchange of information. It could have encouraged participation in worthwhile activities. It could have created friendships and promoted worthy causes. Some of those positive attributes were realized -- sporadically. But really, what social media does more than anything is allow for the exchange of vitriol.

No society in history has ever been so adamant in its demands for tolerance -- yet, it seems, no society in history has ever been so intolerant. We are a modern society and have the technology to prove it. But when it comes to social media, the mind-set is positively medieval. Or should I say media-evil?

Suspicion is aroused and someone on Twitter shouts, "Kill the witch. Kill the witch." Moments later, #killthewitch hashtags are springing up all over the site. Backgrounds are hastily researched and alleged witchlike transgressions that occurred twenty-give years ago are being posted and retweeted. Memes appear, Cartoons appear. By the end of the day, the verdict is almost unanimous. The transgressor deserves to be tortured and executed.

The Middle Ages are back. Bring on the Spanish Inquisition. We are repeatedly told by people on social media that we must accept all forms of alternate lifestyles in the name of tolerance. Fine. But anyway who asserts a contrarian opinion is vilified.

All very true. And now, it seems, politically incorrect opinions are not only not tolerated, but not to be expressed. Period. Freedom of speech is dead in Alphabetland. Forget about Twitter. But there is a bit of good news. Consider an alternative, Parler.com. They invite you to "Speak freely and express yourself openly, without fear of being 'deplatformed' for your views. Engage with real people, not bots. Parler is people and privacy-focused, and gives you the tools you need to curate your Parler experience."

And this just in (thanks to Agent 17): Predictably, the usual suspects when it comes to Internet censorship -- Amazon, Apple and Google -- have removed Parler from their app stores, but you should be able to sign up directly by cllcking on the link above