If the President of the United States can be censored, what does that say for the general population?

BY AMANDA WILLIAMS

The government to control and to mould public opinion has long used censorship. During WWII (1940-1945) Hitler implemented censorship by burning books, magazines and other literature to control information. In 2021 censorship has taken a new turn by way of “burning” online platforms.

A company that has recently been “burned” is Parler; a neutral platform created for free speech by John Matze, Jr. and Jared Thomson. Apple & Google removed Parler from their app stores after accusing the company of being responsible for the storming of Capitol Hill in Washington DC earlier this month. Amazon added fuel to the fire by pulling out as their web hosting service, potentially destroying the company for good. 

A few months prior, PornHub was accused of profiting off videos that included victims of human trafficking, child rape and violent crimes but barely received any heat compared to Parler. Pornhub continued business as normal through investigations despite a petition that collected 2.1 million signatures demanding that it get shut down.

President Donald Trump was accused of inciting violence on January 6th, 2021, and as a result was permanently banned from Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. It is however unclear how Twitter decides what is considered to be violent or not. In 2017 Kathy Griffith posted a photo of herself depicting the beheading of President Donald Trump. Whether the photo was considered to be a joke or not, many considered this act to be extremely violent, yet Kathy Griffith was able to keep her account and faced consequences outside of Twitter. 

Censorship has been considered to be subtler in Canada, however many beg to differ. Protests against lockdown measures have been happening all over the world including Toronto, receiving minimal coverage from mainstream media. Hundreds and at times thousands of people have flooded the streets of Toronto every Saturday since March 2020 and have been seen making stops at: Doug Ford, John Tory’s residence as well as CTV News. How can citizens create awareness or get support with the challenges they face, if they are not provided a neutral and accessible platform to express them? 

Thousands of doctors, scientists and other professionals have been bullied, ridiculed, censored, asked to resign or in some cases fired for questioning or speaking truth around COVID-19. Censoring credible professionals does a huge disservice to the public as it eliminates the ability to ask real questions, have healthy dialogue, and make informed decisions in regards to their future including health, safety, finances, politics and life in general. 

Sarah Choujounian of Toronto, ON found herself in hot water when she was fired for posting her beliefs about the lockdown measures online. Sarah has been a nurse since 2004, has spent most of her career working in long-term care, and spoke at the Global Frontline Nurses summit in Washington DC, which can be viewed at www.highwre.com. Mainstream media failed to cover this event and instead highlighted the fact that she is being investigated for “non-essential” travel, when dozens of government and health officials have been found guilty of doing the same.

Although censorship has some pros, it all depends on the intentions behind them. Throughout history censorship has proven to be extremely dangerous as it: reduces the overall intelligence of the people, it allows a false narrative to become a truth, and results in repression and encourages compliance.

Without transparency, including healthy exchanges of opposing opinions, it is difficult for the population to trust that the government has their best interests at heart. At this point it’s hard to believe that there isn’t a direct attack on our liberties including: freedom of speech, medical health, and real news as censorship is implemented and/or supported by big corp, big tech and big pharma.

If the President of the United States can be censored, what does that say for the general population? If Canadians don’t have a voice whether individually or collectively, can Canada still be considered “The truth north strong and free?”