Our “Big Brother Censor” (or Dr. Frankenstein’s Monster) – Part III

February 12, 1809 was Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.  He said a lot of noteworthy things.  With our society’s rampant two-sided divide, it’s fitting to consider his speech from 1858 referred to as “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”

When Lincoln said those words, the country was facing an imminent civil war.  Our American society is now facing the same thing.  Only today the war is not about one issue (in 1858 it was slavery).  It is about political ideology in general.

Here is the part of Lincoln’s speech that applies to this situation:

“I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.

I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided.

It will become all one thing or all the other.”

So, Lincoln did not fear that the nation would stay divided.  His fear was that it would come together – in a unified ideology that slavery is a good thing for everyone.

Lincoln’s fear today would be that this nation will come together – in a unified belief that Censorship is a good thing for everyone.

We have seen an attack on our Freedom of Speech (including chronic “groupthink”) here in Gardner recently, and I will come around full circle to that, eventually. But, we have to look at this fatal disease (Censorship) from 30,000 feet first.  

Groupthink is the side effect of Censorship, which is a symptom worse than the disease itself.  We might be able to eliminate the Censorship, but Groupthink can last forever – regardless of  what form of ideology it comes in.

I have been writing about the monstrous collective that has taken over this nation – a collective I refer to as the Big Tech Oligopoly.

This particular Oligopoly has given birth to our Censor – which I refer to as “Big Brother Censor.”  “Big Brother” comes from Orwell’s “1984,” of course.

To this Oligopoly, everyone is a child.  Big Brother knows what is good for us to read/hear/say, and what is not good for us to read/hear/say.  I think “Big Daddy” or “Big Mommy” would be more accurate.  But, let’s give Orwell his due – no one was more prescient than Orwell when he warned us 73 years ago about what is happening right now – Censorship (which will lead to totalitarianism).  So, “Big Brother” it is.

Learn more about George Orwell

Our Big Brother Censor, like all censors, is a book burner.  

Our Big Brother Censor is burning the “books” of opinions, thoughts, and ideas that contain incorrect (or unapproved, or non-conformist) thinking.

But, unlike the Germany of 1933, during the rise of Nazism (see “Book Burning Memorial” in the former Berlin Opernplatz – today called the Bebelplatz), our Big Brother Censor does not have to bother with the actual burning of books.

Our Big Brother Censor has the luxury of operating in the modern (enlightened) world of virtual thoughts and ideas – where “books” are as commonly and easily accessed as air, and the “burning” is accomplished with a click – and without ashes.

Yesterday, the Censor had to go around and physically collect actual books, then set fire to them with flame and gas hoses in the public square.  Rain would put a damper on it – as it did in the 1933 Opernplatz Book Burning.  

Also, the masses would sometimes hear about the Jackboots and Brown Shirts stomping through the community seizing “incorrect” books from the masses.  So, the masses would hide the books under floorboards, and under rocks – before The Iron Heel knocked on their door.

Plus, that was time-consuming and inefficient (it wasn’t easy to find all the “incorrect” books), and it was messy and smelly.  Also, it didn’t really look too good (Censorship is more effective when it’s not an in-your-face, scorching conflagration in the open).

Today, our Censor has it made.  

One, he is certain to get all the incorrect “books” – because they are out in the open now, free as air (on social media and the internet).  

Two, the evidence of all this thoughtcrime can now be disappeared down the memory hole by some Big Brother Censor lemming sitting in a nondescript closet somewhere in Silicon Valley, Seattle, Paris, Xanadu, The Emerald City, Valhalla, or Nirvana simply by hitting the “delete” button on her keyboard – while sipping a Starbucks brulee latte – grande.  

Click, and just like that – your opinion is an unthought, an unopinion – never happened (that’s the beauty of the memory hole).

Three, and this is the best part of being a modern-day Censor, the evidence of the thoughtcrime can be kept forever!  In the old days, the books were ruined (turned into ashes). Today, when Big Brother Censor hits “delete” (or “cancel”), the masses never get to see it again – but the evidence of the thoughtcrime is saved in metadata that will still be safe and sound forever for Big Brother’s uses.

That way, the Oligopoly, and its loyal Government puppets can use the information themselves – all information is good for Big Brother, just not for you.  But, better yet, the Oligopoly has the proof with which to vaporize, eliminate, cancel, fire and ruin the “non-conformists” – the thought criminals.

Yesterday, I ended Part II by pointing out that no one is safe from the Big Brother Censor – even if you feel safe right now in your popular correctness and stylish self-righteousness.

The winds of inauthenticity (i.e., phony virtue-signaling mixed with lack of self-awareness) is fickle.  Today, you might be a “good person.” Tomorrow you are a “thought criminal.”  Inauthenticity is controlled by the strongest force of human nature – fear.  

But, the Censor does not care your fear, and doesn’t care about issues.  It cares about Wealth. If we do nothing, it will eat all of us (left and right) eventually.  Can we stop it?

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