RESPONSE TO
FACEBOOK CANCELATION ACTIONS BY J. PARNELL MCCARTER
Date:
10/12/2020
This
past week many of us in Michigan and beyond who support Second Amendment gun rights
were shut out from Facebook, even though we oppose illegal violence and have
nothing to do with those who are alleged to have been plotting to take illegal
actions against Michigan’s Gov. Whitmer. Our support of Second Amendment
gun rights has nothing to do with illegal violence. In my own case, I have never even protested
against Gov. Whitmer, but of course even that is not illegal.
The article at https://www.michiganradio.org/post/facebook-shuts-down-michigan-second-amendment-group-more-94000-members
explains what happened. I happened to be one of the 94,000 members spoken
of in this article:
Facebook
has shut down a Michigan Second Amendment rights group page that had more than
94,000 members. Administrators for the group say there was no warning or
explanation from Facebook before the page was taken down. “They just shut it
down,” says Tom Norton, an administrator for the group. “We woke up this
morning, everybody was kicked off, blocked and 95,000 people disappeared.” The
move comes a day after federal and state law enforcement officials announced terrorism and other charges against 13
men who they say plotted to overtake the Michigan Capitol and kidnap Governor
Gretchen Whitmer ... The Michigan
2A for Sanctuary Counties Facebook group launched last year, before the emergency orders, as a
way to organize support for local resolutions to declare counties “sanctuaries”
for the Second Amendment. "When we have the people standing up and
representing what they want for their values, good things happen,” said Jeff
Fuss, who was a founder of the page, and spoke to Michigan Radio about it
earlier this year. Today, Fuss says he also can’t access his personal Facebook
page. The page for another group, the American Patriot Council, also appears to have been shut
down. A Facebook spokesperson said the Michigan 2A for Sanctuary Counties group
was shut down because it violated Facebook's policy on "militarized social
movements." Facebook first announced the policy in August and says it
has removed pages tied to more than 300 "Militarized Social
Movements." The policy says Facebook will remove pages "where we
identify discussions of potential violence, including when they use veiled
language and symbols particular to the movement to do so."
So public support of Second
Amendment gun rights is held to be a dangerous “militarized social movement” by
Facebook. This characterization of 2A gun rights is wicked and deceptive. There
will be in every society those with weapons, and the question is whether they
will be restricted to a professional standing army controlled by the central
government, along with criminals who disrespect all laws, or whether there will
be well-regulated citizens’ militias of states and localities to stand against
centralized tyranny as well as criminal elements.
Yet this cancelation action of
Facebook goes beyond simply those standing up for gun rights. This is part of
Facebook’s overall effort to expunge so called “hate speech” from its social
network, as stated at the Facebook website at https://www.facebook.com/communitystandards/objectionable_content
:
We do not
allow hate speech on Facebook because it creates an environment of intimidation
and exclusion and in some cases may promote real-world violence. We define hate speech as a
direct attack on people based on what we call protected characteristics — race,
ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, caste,
sex, gender, gender identity, and serious disease or disability. We protect
against attacks on the basis of age when age is paired with another protected
characteristic, and also provide certain protections for immigration status. We
define attack as violent or dehumanizing speech, harmful stereotypes,
statements of inferiority, or calls for exclusion or segregation. We separate
attacks into three tiers of severity, as described below.
This is part of liberal efforts
even to criminalize so called “hate speech”, as exemplified in the Washington
Post editorial https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/10/29/why-america-needs-hate-speech-law/
:
Since
World War II, many nations have passed laws to curb the incitement of racial and
religious hatred. These laws started out as protections against the kinds of
anti-Semitic bigotry that gave rise to the Holocaust. We call them hate speech
laws, but there’s no agreed-upon definition of what hate speech actually is. In
general, hate speech is speech that attacks and insults people on the basis of
race, religion, ethnic origin and sexual orientation. I think it’s time to consider
these statutes. The modern standard of dangerous speech comes from Brandenburg v.
Ohio (1969) and holds that speech that directly incites
“imminent lawless action” or is likely to do so can be restricted. Domestic
terrorists such as Dylann Roof and Omar Mateen and the El Paso shooter were consumers of hate speech. Speech doesn’t pull the
trigger, but does anyone seriously doubt that such hateful speech creates a
climate where such acts are more likely?
Liberal efforts towards this
end have been effective on college campuses, and liberal immigration, education
and other policy transforming the USA into a modern Babel is no doubt designed
to effect the change throughout the nation, as described in the article at https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomlindsay/2019/05/31/new-report-most-college-students-agree-that-campus-free-speech-is-waning/#2e443b101433
:
University censorship regimes are teaching some students
not only to live with but to embrace the conformism of thought inculcated
through university speech codes, speaker dis-invitations, “safe spaces,”
“trigger warnings,” and campus shout-downs of invited speakers, the report
demonstrates…The report highlights the principled divisions over free speech
versus inclusion that surface when we view the survey answers through the lens
of a number of demographic factors: race, sex, political party, religion, and
sexual orientation…Sixty percent of college women surveyed believe that efforts
to promote and enforce an inclusive society are more important than fulfilling
the First Amendment…Women are not alone in this opinion. African-American
college students, more than those of other races, are more inclined to believe
that inclusion should trump free speech. More than six in 10 African-American
students believe that fostering inclusion and diversity should take priority
over upholding the First Amendment…65% of Jewish students, 60% of students who
profess Eastern faiths such Hinduism or Buddhism, and 54% of religiously
unaffiliated students believe that inclusion is more critical…There is also a
significant difference in opinion based on sexual orientation. Sixty-four
percent of heterosexual college students agree that hate speech should be
protected, compared to 35% of gay and lesbian students.…The survey defined hate speech as “attacks [on]
people based on their race, religion, gender identity or sexual
orientation.” Nearly 60% of surveyed college students say that
such speech should be protected, whereas 41% disagree…Most analyses of this new
survey data pay insufficient attention to the one conclusion on which an
overwhelming majority of college students agree: Sixty-eight percent of
collegians “largely agree” that the campus climate today prevents some students
from being able truly to speak their minds for fear of offending someone. Only
31% disagree.
Social networks like Facebook
are coming into conformity with EU law as explained at https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/31/facebook-youtube-twitter-microsoft-eu-hate-speech-code
, which in turn is likely headed for adoption by the whole USA.
There is a larger issue here
than “free speech rights”, and that issue is Biblical truth. God has spoken in
His infallible word the Bible, and no man dare try to stamp it out like so many
wicked and deceived seeking a modern Babel are seeking to do. What the wicked
call “hate speech” is often just teaching Biblical truths which man in his
fallen depravity and pride does not want to hear.
What will be my response by
God’s grace? As noted on the website http://www.puritans.net/ I administrate:
The goal of The Puritans’ Network and its various projects is Christian
conquest such that all men bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. Every man and
institution of man should glorify God and enjoy Him forever, according to the
Biblical Christian principles outlined in the original Westminster Standards,
the doctrinal confession of historic Puritanism. Our method to effect this goal is to proclaim the truths of God’s word,
and rely upon the Holy Spirit to change men’s hearts to follow it. This is in
contrast to the methods employed by false religionists, who often use the sword
and deceitful machinations. Because the truth lies on our side and our God is
sovereign, we can wait upon Him to bless our efforts in His due time. We do not
even have to worry about numbers on our side, for “there is no restraint to the
LORD to save by many or by few” (I Samuel 14:6). That which is contrary to God
and Biblical principles is a house of cards that God will in His own time blow
down.
I thus plan to continue to
work within legal avenues, not taking the law into my own hands to punish those
in rebellion against God by intent and deception. However, should liberals
succeed in passing their “hate speech” laws and enforcing them, I will have no
option but to continue to speak Biblical truth in love even if it becomes
illegal to do so, even as I am commanded in God’s word (Ephesians 4:15),
knowing that word of God will triumph (see http://www.historicism.net/aBrakel.htm
).
I am in the process of adding to
https://usa.life/ the discussion groups I have
already created at Facebook, some of which like Return to the Articles of
Confederation and Reformation Party currently have around 600 or more members
and growing on Facebook . As noted at https://w.usa.life/usa-life-is-the-1-new-social-network/
:
(San
Jose, California, March 24, 2020) USA.Life is
the most popular overall and/or in the USA of new social networks launched
since 2018 according to this comparison. USA.Life
describes itself as “the answer to Facebook and Twitter censoring Christians,
conservatives and liberty.” The social network was officially established in
March 2019, with a soft launch in February 2019...
Hence, here are some of the
main additional websites in development:
Return to the Articles of Confederation: https://usa.life/ArticlesOfConfederation
(see http://www.puritans.net/return-to-the-articles-of-confederation/
for further explanation)
The Reformation Party: https://usa.life/ReformationParty
(see http://www.puritans.net/the-reformation-party-2/
for further explanation)
Historicism Research Foundation: https://usa.life/HistoricismResearchFoundation
(see http://www.puritans.net/historicism-research-foundation/
for further explanation)
Puritans Home School Curriculum: https://usa.life/PuritansHomeSchoolCurriculum
(see http://www.puritans.net/puritans-home-school-curriculum/
for further explanation)
2A Citizens Militia for Every “Red”
County: https://usa.life/2ACitizensMilitia
(see http://www.puritans.net/articles/Militia.htm
for further explanation)
More
are in preparation.