In my opinion (and that of many others), free speech is the greatest right of any people. It must be protected at all costs.
But the elites among us — leaders of corporations, politicians, the media — are afraid of people having free speech. This is one reason why dictators and leaders of communist and Islamic countries shut down free speech as soon as they come into power; they cannot have anyone telling the truth or promoting ideas that bring down or criticize the ideologies of the state.
The governments claim they want to protect their citizens from misinformation, and if people spread misinformation on social media or YouTube, they must be stopped.
In talking about the need to stop misinformation, Bill Gates said that it’s hard to stop in America “because we have the notion of the first amendment…” The first amendment is not a “notion.” It’s a right. It tops the list of the Bill of Rights.
It seems that the elites and those in power want to take away our freedom of speech in order to protect us from misinformation.
I’ve got another idea.
If a government or the media truly want to stop the spread of misinformation, then they must begin telling the truth 100% of the time. They must give fair and balanced reports on both sides of the issues. They must state the pros and the cons of any idea being promoted.
Speaking as an American, I cannot believe anything that the major news networks say. MSNBC. Fox News. CNN. They are all the same. They each spread their lies. Even when they tell the truth, it’s still biased by their point of view — by whatever agenda they hope to achieve.
When Stephen Colbert told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, “You guys are objective over there…you just report the news as it is,” the audience laughed because they thought he was telling a joke. They knew that CNN is not objective and that they don’t “just report the news as it is.” The same can be said of Fox News, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NBC, NPR. No one just reports the news anymore.
Because of that, the American people have no idea who to believe.
It’s the same with politicians. Donald Trump lies about Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris lies about Donald Trump. Democrats lie about Republicans. Republicans lie about Democrats.
With all the lies going around, the American people have said, “Enough! If I can’t believe you, I’m going to find someone I can believe.” Unfortunately, the people they seek the truth from too often end up being on the far-left or the far-right, causing them to move into an echo chamber where they think people on the other end of the spectrum speak nothing but lies.
Politicians lying is nothing new. But back in the day, the media would often reveal the lies, not hide the lies like today.
Walter Cronkite, anchor of CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981, was said to be the “most trusted man in America.” As anchor, he played “Mr. Center,” so people both on the left and the right trusted him. Not until he retired, according to CNN, did he show his strong liberal views.
Who, today, has taken his place? What news anchor today has the trust of both the left and the right — or of any American, period?
If the media would simply point out the lie of this democrat and that republican, this president or that corporate leader — or better yet, press them to tell the truth — and if journalists did the work of investigative journalism, then the American people might stop believing misinformation.
Unfortunately, the media is too cowardly to speak the truth, or, as many people believe, they are in on spreading the lies of their favored political party (Fox News spreading the lies of the republican party; everyone else spreading the lies of the democratic party).
But it’s not just the government or the media lying. Corporations and other entities lie, too. Do you trust Big Pharma? When it comes to climate change, how much truth is there compared to how much is a lie? For your diet, what truly is the best food to eat versus what is really poisoning you?
No one in the main stream is telling the truth. There are some on the fringes that are trying to tell the truth, but there’s so many others spreading lies, who do we believe, especially when they all sound like conspiracy theorists?
Where is there a most trusted man — or woman — in America today? Where is the person that will speak the truth at all costs, and point out the lies of the left, the right, big pharma and corporations? Where are the media leaders that will question everything? Where are the news anchors that will give both sides of the story?
Bill Gates, media leaders, government leaders:
Do you want us to stop believing misinformation? Then give us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth one-hundred percent of the time.
The First Amendment must be protected by all costs and by all parties.