Blogs
Featured Image
Ben Sasse questioning Mark Zuckerberg

April 15, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) —  This brief video exchange was included as part of a previous LifeSite report on the Senate Zuckerberg hearings. However, it is worth presenting again on its own because of the huge significance of Silicon Valley efforts to control “hate speech” on the Internet.

In today's world “hate” can mean anything one wants to define it to mean. “Hate speech” is a phrase re-invented by leftist idealogues to target and punish anyone who gets in the way of their agendas.

Amongst the “snowflake” millenial generation “hate” usually means an opinion that offends, emotionally hurts or disagrees with one's one opinion and which must therefore be suppressed or punished. That is, it has nothing whatever to do with truth or the millenia-old real definition of “hate.”

It's yet another hijacking of an English language word for an ideological offensive. “Gays” and “trans” men and women are especially prone to lob “hate” bombs at those who will not celebrate their sexual preference or “gender”(another now perverted word).

Zuckerberg is in the process or hiring up to 20,000 new staff to police all Facebook posts and ads to eliminate “hate” or anything that is offensive, “unsafe”, “dangerous,” inappropriate, “Fake News, “etc.  

We have already seen time and time again that Facebook's definitions of “unsafe“, “dangerous” and “Fake News” are radically different from what most of the public understands those terms to mean.  

The Facebook CEO admitted during the hearings that Silicon Valley is “an extremely left-leaning place.” Therefore the policing of content by Facebook cannot end up being anything but a massive free-speech-crushing campaign run by those who define the terms.

Zuckerberg has no business implementing this Orwellian initiative if the role of Facebook is, as he constantly claims, “to connect people”. It is rapidly becoming one of controlling people and what they are permitted to say. Google, YouTube and Twitter are now doing the same. That is genuinely “dangerous.”

Here are just a few examples from a long list published on Breitbart, of former Obama and Clinton campaign and White House people now in senior positions at Facebook:

  • David Recordon, former Director of IT for Obama’s White House. Recordon was Engineering Director at Facebook prior to his role at the White House, and returned to the position after the 2016 election. He is currently Engineering Director for the Chan-Zuckerberg initiative.

  • David Ploufe, President, Policy and Advocacy for the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative. Campaign Manager for Obama in 2008, and still sits on the board of the Obama Foundation.

  • Josh W. Higgins, currently Executive Creative Director at Facebook. Formerly Design Director at Obama for America.

  • Aneesh Raman, currently on the Economic Opportunity team at Facebook. Formerly held a number of positions in the Obama White House, including speechwriter to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Associate Director for Strategic Communication at the Department of Defence, and Speechwriter to the President.

  • Lauryn Ogbechie, currently manager of Facebook’s Education Partnerships Team. Formerly Digital Organizing Manager at Obama for America.

  • Danielle Cwirko-Godycki, Leadership Recruiting at Facebook, formerly a volunteer at Hillary for America and a fellow at Organizing for America.

See the full list here.

With people like that in senior Facebook positions, freedom does not stand a chance. 

Facebook has been removing very many posts and Facebook pages, even by distinguished scholars, historians and medical and other professionals, and bible quotes, that include legitimate criticisms or expose serious problems with abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism and Islamism.  

Truth is clearly something to which Facebook gives a low priority. Infantile “hurt” and “offense” have obviously been the bigger factors Facebook staff have been using in their censoring decisions that dumb down the culture.

One thing struck me while watching Zuckerberg responding to his many critics during the hearings. He appeared to be astonishingly unaware of issues and immature in how he responded to difficult questions. There were many times when it seemed that the senators were interviewing a young teenager.

I have gotten the impression that most Facebook staff are similar “Geek” types who are whizes on software and computers but very juvenile on substantive issues of the day. They are therefore easily manipulated by the likes of Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, George Soros and their Machiavellian army of conspirators.

Zuckerberg should stick to “connecting people” – that is his gift – and leave the policing of “dangerous,” truly hateful (e.g. anti-semitic) or criminal sexual content to cooperation with legal authorities.

His army of 20,000 censors are guaranteed to drive millions away from Facebook. 

No one likes having Big Brother looking over their shoulder when they are merely trying to connect with others.

Featured Image

Steve is the co-founder and managing director of LifeSiteNews.com.