The following op-ed has been authored by a nonclinician.
Decades ago, when Big Tech offered its services, it promised that it was creating a digital community square where the public was welcome to participate in public discourse.
And in the beginning, this was certainly true. Then millions of Americans created Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts.
Families often used these social media accounts to keep grandparents informed and others used them to set up digital clubs to discuss topics of mutual interest. Still more regularly used the platforms to engage in robust debate about the important policies of the day.
It was in this spirit that the Project 21 Black leadership network joined YouTube.
The group — of which I am a member — was founded to promote the views of Blacks whose patriotism, entrepreneurial spirit, dedication to family, and commitment to personal responsibility haven’t been promoted in the media or by the so-called civil rights establishment.
Our ambassadors appear on TV, radio, in print and on campuses across the country.
Especially as the hard-left has racialized practically every policy and discussion topic, YouTube seemed like a natural space to amplify our activities and remind people of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Aug. 28, 1963 delivered vision that we Americans — Black and white — shouldn’t be judged by our race, but by the content of our character.
Today social media has become a staple in American society.
But what Big Tech gives, it can take away. And over the last few years it has aggressively engaged in retrenchment.
This is especially true for YouTube.
Project 21 is the latest victim of their censorship.
One of our ambassadors and a prominent radio talk show host, Chris Arps, was suspended over making the commonsense observation that the majority of gays don’t support the sexualization of young children.
YouTube claims that such a view "violates our violent or graphic content policy."
How so?
Is YouTube claiming that Arps statement is false? They won’t say.
But this is the pattern.
Ask Dan Bongino.
Bongino, host of the popular Fox News show "Unfiltered," was unceremoniously banned from YouTube last January.
His crime was telling his audience that the use of masks lacked scientific consensus as a valid means of stopping the spread of COVID-19.
Now the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has put out guidance in the last couple weeks announcing that masking is largely optional — even in hospitals and nursing homes. If you check, the CDC’s YouTube’s page is still working.
Earlier, they suspended a sitting U.S. senator, Ron Johnson, R-Wis.
His crime?
The senator posted a video of a roundtable he convened that brought together medical experts from across disciplines that advocated for early treatment of COVID-19, discussed the importance of natural immunity, heard stories on the disastrous consequences of vaccine mandates, highlighted the lack of transparency from the federal health agencies, and gave a voice to the vaccine injured. (For more on this, please click here.)
Meanwhile, less than a week ago, a new study revealed a link between myocarditis and COVID vaccines. In fact, the study concluded that COVID-19 vaccination is associated with "higher risk of myocarditis death, not only in young adults but also in all age groups including the elderly."
Remember the lie that the vaccines prevented COVID transmission?
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky claimed last year that "vaccinated people do not carry the virus, don’t get sick."
You guessed it, her YouTube page is still accessible and has never been suspended.
But YouTube’s censorship isn’t just associated with COVID mitigation matters. Like the other members of Big Tech, Twitter and Facebook, social media giants have made a giant left turn embracing a woke world view.
And YouTube has led the way. YouTube has all but turned its platform into an exclusive club of wokesters where only the extremist views of the far left are welcomed and celebrated.
Their message is clear. Adhere to our views or else.
If you post an apocalyptic episode explaining that the end of the planet is coming in less than seven years, not only will your YouTube page remain on their network, but you can also monetize it — meaning you can raise money.
Reminiscent of the clergymen in the 1970s and 1980s on AM radio who were condemned for sharing their apocalyptic eschatology that conveniently lined their pockets, this is OK on YouTube.
This summer, YouTube suspended the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) over "misinformation" allegedly broadcast at its August convention in Texas.
The conference featured high-profile conservatives such as former President Donald Trump, Fox News host Sean Hannity, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
Incredibly, The Hill’s morning politics show "Rising" was suspended for carrying excerpts of the CPAC event along with their own independent commentary.
It's clear that YouTube no longer wants to be a place where Americans — particularly those of modest means — can participate in high-profile events digitally.
Americans are seeing Big Tech for what it is: social platforms operated by woke-scolds more interested in lining their pockets than creating a space for America to engage in discourse.
And they’ll remember this November.
Horace Cooper is a legal commentator and Co-Chair of the Black Leadership Network Project 21. Previously a visiting assistant professor of law at George Mason University School of Law, his research focus was on U.S. intellectual property rights policy, the role of the United States Supreme Court in the American constitutional system, political forecasting, the legislative process, and federal labor law. Dr. Cooper has also served in senior capacities in the George W. Bush administration. He is the author of "How Trump is Making Black America Great Again." Read Horace Cooper's Reports — More Here.
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