Of free speech, free press and a free world

We live in a world dominated and driven mainly by liberal market forces where the consumer and the working men and women are at the mercy of prices dictated by the forces of big business.

Liberalism is not only the postmodern trend confined to economic forces but also part of the larger mainstream culture in what we, as audiences, are dished out to consume via media messages on different platforms on the social media.

Big business

It is an open secret that big business is also the dominating force in politics, where more often than not, governments and their leaders are mere puppets on a string attached to strong lobby groups such as the armaments industry, Big Pharma and Big Tech.

Past experience has shown that it is in the interest of armaments lobby groups to push forward for wars, by even creating non-existent scenarios, to justify wars, both “hot” and “cold”, in order to sell their hardware and software through high tech weaponry.

The provocations by Ukraine to install NATO bases on its soil are seen by many analysts as no mere coincidences by the Ukrainian government. Western powers saw this as an opportunity to irritate the Russian “bear” to declare hostilities and invade its brotherly neighbour. Many are those who view only the Russian side as the perpetrator of the invasion, when in fact the Western powers have also their own part to blame in “encouraging” this war.

It is paradoxical that the ideals of liberalism to protect liberty end up threatening liberty as the industry’s big fish end up dominating the political, social and economic spectrum of global economies.

Social media platforms

If we look at social media and platforms, where online discussions take place, we find that free speech is also being suppressed, especially when it comes to unravelling and unfolding the truth of the news behind the news. There is also what is being termed as “cancel culture” where the expression of conservative ideas is being cut off.

In America, which many consider as the ultimate bastion of freedom, and having a great heritage of liberty, we see Big Tech “deplatforming” users pushing a false and dishonest narrative about what is happening in the world.

It is no wonder that Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, published and uncovered classified US Government communications as well as emails hacked by Russia from Hilary Clinton’s failed 2016 Presidential campaign. Some consider WikiLeaks as a work that also revealed embarrassing facts about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and also on the fate of persons at Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay. Some consider Assange as a hero in exposing the truth but others are demonising him as being more of a hacker and a criminal rather than a journalist. The debate on this matter is still taking place.

Media literacy

Media literacy is considered as an important educational subject when it comes to consuming messages, especially when we are bombarded with so many headlines and messages, many of which are unwanted and part of the untruth game. Before spreading and sharing such messages and headlines, care must be taken not to promulgate wrong messages. In this respect, media literacy means that the user is competent, critical and literate in all media forms so that he/she can control the interpretation of what is being seen or heard rather than letting the interpretation control them blindly.

Hillsdale College – outreach on behalf of liberty

Thankfully, there exist agencies, such as Hillsdale College, at online.hillsdale.edu/#home which conduct educational outreach efforts on behalf of liberty and media literacy. Some of its efforts include:

• Imprimis (digest of liberty)

• Online Courses (both free and paid)

• Social Media Outreach

Also, Hillsdale conducts surveys to understand the views of mainstream Americans on the issues of Big Tech which are regularly used: Amazon, Facebook, Google, Twitter, You Tube, Apple, Bing/Microsoft, Tik Tok and others.

Other threats to free speech is the banning of people from social media platforms such as was the case when Donald Trump was banned by Twitter following the 6 January attacks on Capitol Hill. Another threat is where one man or one woman vies to take control of social media networks as was the case with Elon Musk’s attempt to buy Twitter.

In Hillsdale’s College Survey on the threat of Big Tech, respondents are asked about any ideological bias on the way Big Tech firms filter information viewed online. Other questions relate to whether a person was censored, deleted or “factchecked” by Big Tech platforms. Other pertinent questions relate to whether respondents believe that with the Big Tech capabilities, if allowed to develop unchecked and unregulated, will pose a grave danger to American democracy.

Given the above scenario, it will be no great surprise that in the near future a new global world order will come even more clearly to fruition with the setting up of one large global media and banking system supported by one economic system under one leader with great dictatorial powers. The writing seems to be clear for everyone to see on the wall that the road to this Order may well be that it is already being set up, albeit subtly.