Letter writer takes statements out of context
“Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, Emmanuel Macron the president of France, Andrés Obrador, the president of Mexico and numerous other political figures around the world, have condemned Twitter’s deplatforming and silencing of the former president of the United States and other major figures and organizations because they did not adhere to the 1984ish ‘right think’ they approve of.”
This is misleading and manipulated commentary. What Merkel and other leaders said was that laws should be enacted to prevent incitement to violence, hate speech, and misinformation, rather than leaving it up to the tech platforms to police themselves.
It has been suggested that social media platforms should be identified as publishers and have to follow the same laws that newspapers and TV broadcasters do. What is not being said is that Trump should be able to continue his incitement. Germany and France were not condemning the “deplatforming” or “1984ish ‘right think’”, they were criticizing how the U.S. regulates social media platforms.
Germany’s Network Enforcement Act of 2018 is considered one of the western world’s toughest restrictions on online content. France’s finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, was quoted as saying, “Digital regulation should not be done by the digital oligarchy itself….Regulation of the digital arena is a matter for the sovereign people, governments and the judiciary.”
I am not promoting one side of the argument over the other. I am merely pointing out that Perry Foster’s presentation of his opinion was misleading and manipulative because he was projecting his own position onto world leaders by taking their words out of context. He may have not done this intentionally and became a victim to his own biases by only gleaning information from sources that mirror his narrative, or he may have been very calculated in his expressions. It is unimportant as to the why of it all, it is, however, important to have some accuracy and integrity when trying to promote a position that seems to be so obviously geared to the spreading of hate, violence and lies.
This is not 1984ish “right think”, this is 2021 think.
Dara Quast
Cobble Hill