I been an internet jockey for as long as there was an internet. literally grew up with it. and at first, it was the perfect bastion of free speech. ye, there was a lot of nasty crap you would encounter, but that is what happens when nothing is curated. you, the user/viewer had to learn how to sift through the garbage for the truth. it wasnt sanitized, but it also wasnt sculpted. you could find opposing viewpoints. you could voice dissent. people on opposite sides of a topic could engage on equal footing. share data sources, compare reasoning, and seek the truth of a matter.
now? every single major website is thought policed to the Nth degree. itās far FAR beyond profanity, though that is certainly an aspect too. and they are self feeding too, google refers to reddit, which refers to youtube, which refers to reddit, and its all circular. it used to be a wilderness, now the internet feels like a pen with about 5 sites. all of which are micromanaged by people with the same goals and ideology, and anyone who strays outside the āpermittedā ideals are silenced, banned, and erased. quite often without even knowing it. ever heard of shadowbanning? itās the newest fad among authoritarians who wish to control the narrative. your comment is hidden from the public, but YOU see it so you THINK your voice was heard and ignored, rather than being stifled. it creates the false impression that no one agrees with you, or even thinks you are worth engaging with.
look at this forum as an example. the rules for language are more stringent than a childās cartoon on television. i have had multiple posts removed for ābeing offensiveā simply for voicing dissent to a narrative. i have had comments edited without being notified, mods LITERALLY putting words in my mouth, or taking them out. and the worst part? these forums are actually better than most on the internet. they are tolerant of people discussing the āother sideā, relatively speaking. and even so, we are absolutely not free to speak our minds. we have to behave in a manner deemed āacceptableā. which is literally dripping with irony, consideringā¦
this is a very dangerous trend. when people cant discuss topics openly, and honestly, we make it impossible to discern the truth of anything. we are building a kingdom of lies, and the powers that be are doing their absolute utmost to create the illusion that everyone is on the same side except for some FEW radicals. there is something rotten in our world today, and instead of trying to figure out the source we are dumping perfume about by the bucketful. to speak metaphorically.