Democracy dies in darkness.
That’s the motto, adopted in 2017, of the Washington Post, arguably the most influential media outlet in Washington D. C. When adopted, many of the media elite made fun of the phrase, saying it sounded more like a Batman movie or the title of a heavy metal rock album.
But it is a phrase that is much like the motto of a newspaper I once worked for, “Give light and the people will find their own way,” a variation of a phrase by Dante Alighieri (of “Divine Comedy” fame) that went, “If you give people light, they will find their own way.”
I couldn’t help but think about that when the news of Elon Musk taking over Twitter sent those self-proclaimed defenders of the Republic (most of whom are no doubt readers/subscribers of the Post) into a tizzy.
We have been told that Musk – who adamantly and explicitly opposes censorship – intends to block any of his critics from the social media platform (kind of like what Twitter does now to voices it doesn’t like). One outlet, Axios, said Musk was behaving “like a supervillain.” MSNBC host Ari Melber warned that Musk could hack the political debate by having the website “secretly ban one party’s candidate” or “turn down the reach of their stuff, and turn up the reach of something else, and the rest of us might not even find out about it until after the election.” (Huh – we’ve never seen that before, have we?)
Out of the gate, without even paying attention to Musk’s own words, we’ve been told that Musk intends to deplatform his critics; that he intends to build a propaganda machine; that Twitter, which would have you believe was previously a peaceful, idyllic paradise for only the best discourse, would now revert to some earlier, dark world of civilization-threatening tweets.
It’s amazing how the people who seem to think they are protecting democracy believe so strongly in the darkness of banning ideas.
KCarl Smith, an 1819 News columnist, quoted Frederick Douglass as saying, “No right was deemed by the fathers of the Government more sacred than the right of speech … Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter one’s thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist. That, of all rights, is the dread of tyrants. It is the right which they first of all strike down. They know its power.”
Ideas scare people because ideas are intangible and almost impossible to destroy. You never know who has heard them and who remembers them and who might be affected by them. For that matter, even the very people who start out wanting to destroy free speech may find themselves one day infected with the very virus they start out wanting to eradicate.
“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” Musk said, in sharing his goal for Twitter. “I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spambots, and authenticating all humans.”
The bigger question is, why are so many people who otherwise loudly proclaim themselves to be on the side of truth and justice afraid of free speech?
What will Musk do with Twitter? Here’s the thing about almost everything Musk gets involved with: who knows? The only sure thing is that it will not be what you expect. And there will be outrage, from Twitter employees and national media pundits – particularly those who proclaim themselves the defenders of democracy yet are so afraid of the ‘huddled masses, yearning to breathe free,’ otherwise known as ‘we the people.’ You know – the ones who say “Democracy dies in darkness’’ even as they are reaching for the light switch.
As an editorial in the Wall Street Journal said, “Nearly everyone agrees that social-media platforms shouldn’t engage in viewpoint discrimination—including the platforms themselves, which deny they do so. But of course, they do. Conservative opinions about transgenderism are censored as ‘attacks’ on a ‘protected group.' Conservative views on COVID are flagged as ‘misinformation.’ In May 2020, Twitter censored as a ‘glorification of violence' President Trump’s ‘when the looting starts, the shooting starts’ tweet, while leaving untouched Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s tweets calling for the destruction of Israel and Colin Kaepernick’s tweets supporting the burning of police precinct houses. Claims that the Democrats stole the presidency in 2020 are censored, while claims that Russia did the same in 2016 go untouched — and of course, the truthful Hunter Biden laptop story was suppressed as ‘misinformation.’"
As a country, a culture, a world we’re drifting toward authoritarianism.
The antidote is freedom. But freedom doesn’t come without a fight.
Elon Musk just plunged into the battle. Good for him.
Good for us all.
Ray Melick is Editor in Chief of 1819 News. His column appears today in place of Caylah Coffeen, whose column will appear again next Friday. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to Commentary@1819news.com.
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