Wary of censorship

I read with interest Gary Rose’s piece titled “First Amendment under attack” on Sept. 13 in the Connecticut Post.

While I agree with the title, with some of what follows I don’t agree.

As a long-time student of history, I have looked at other governments around the world and have seen the many authoritarian governments who allow only one way of thinking.

Whether it is North Korea in today’s world or communist China and Russia during the cold war years or, worst of all, Hitler’s Nazi Germany, with his book burning in the 30s and 40s.

All involved government controlling speech so that only one way of thinking was permitted.

The internet, which started out as an open forum years ago, has now begun practicing digital book burning as hundreds of conservative websites are being censored and shadow banned by the tech giants.

The left, which for decades has controlled mainstream media, has seen Fox News Cable Channel be first in ratings for 16 years running.

This is mainly because Fox is one of the few places where conservative thinking is allowed and is providing that much needed “check” on the mainly left-wing media.

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, for example, said in his recent congres- sional testimony that Silicon Valley is an “extremely left-leaning” place.

I may not agree with something that President Trump or anyone else says but as the famous quote goes, “but I will defend to my death your right to say it.”

Speech deserves to be heard, whether liberal, conservative or anywhere in between, as free speech is a cornerstone of our democracy in which “We The People” should decide who we want to hear and who we want to vote for.

Roy Martin

Fairfield