Nygard said:
First of all, you got one logical fallacy there. Whether or not Alex Jones was banned from Youtube doesn't mean that a lot of people is next. Second, there are many other loonies out there in Youtube like Jones but they haven't been banned, such a thing is not unwarranted and third, Youtube is not a public speaking arena, it's a webpage composed of a cluster of servers whose owner is not the US gov but is Google Corp and said owner can allow or deny hosting at their cluster whenever and to whomever they want.
I guess when people don't go to sleep at night afraid that someone is going to blast their door open and hold them at gunpoint they overinflate and craft their own fears. It's okay if you're feeling 'on the edge', it's just human nature and you're just living in a very secure place. I bet you saw a cop yesterday, I haven't seen them in three weeks.There lies the difference.
Addressing your first point, I've seen quite a few videos pulled/accounts frozen by Youtube. There are usually 3 criteria for a vid getting pulled
1. Copyright Infringement (totally justified. f*ck these cheap bastards)
2. Porn (again, not the place)
3. Criticism of US government/policies (umm, is this USA or China??)
Now you are 100% correct in what you say. I "get" it. Youtube owns those servers so no laws are being violated here. But that is precisely my point. Just like there are checks and balances between branches of government, there should be some regulation to prevent the govt from monopolizing all forms of media to control public perceptions in a way that allows them to pass whatever dodgy laws they want (and break a few international ones while they are at it).
What is shady to me is the fact that google effectively acts as an arm of the government now. They mine data on every citizen and now censor people who say "the wrong thing". The distinction between private corporate interests and the will of federal authority is effectively blurred in this scenario.
There was nothing illegal about what Alex was posting, and I've seen far more offensive sh*t on Youtube and nobody gets a slap on the wrist. They specifically go after this guy because he calls them out and poses a serious threat to the status quo. They don't touch the other nutcases because they don't have this guy's audience or page views, which are well into the millions now.
Just this past weekend I saw a user get banned for posting various videos of TSA harassing women and in one case groping a very small child who was screaming and crying the whole time, telling them to stop touching her. The guy was a nobody but they took his ass out because he had almost a million views.
Yes it's their right to do this, but don't get so wrapped up in the fine print of the law that you fail to see the big picture of corruption/propaganda at play here. Just because it's legal doesn't make it right.
Make no mistake - the more power govt has over the information we receive, the less capable us citizens are in steering the direction of this nation as our forefathers intended.
FWIW, I sleep well at night. I do not know fear, which is precisely why I'm able to call sh*t like I see it and in some cases mobilize people to make a difference for my community and my culture. Again, please don't shoot the messenger or try to pin me as some tin-foil hat wearing freak clutching a shotgun in bed waiting for "the man". You are missing the entire point here.
If you want an example of fear, just look at some of the responses in this thread - the anger and outrage at one man who's only offense is posting unpopular opinions. The govt is not the only one who feels threatened by this dude.
