Twitter dropped a bomb on us today, as they have officially suspended Donald Trump’s Twitter account. I never thought they would actually do it but considering events in recent days if there was anytime for them to strike it was definitely now.
I know this is probably an unpopular position on my side, but I cannot support or cheer this move. Yes, I will agree Trump’s rhetoric and tweets was a contributing factor for the violence that took place at the Capitol and I agree with restricting his account when tensions were high, but permanently banning his account is a dangerous slippery slope. The right likes to pretend they are the only group that faces censorship but I have seen plenty of censorship of people on the left, so just know that no one is safe from this kind of thing. I just hate the precedent that this sets and I would encourage people on the left to come out against this.
This does open up an interesting conversation that I would like to have with the right, however. The right are all about supporting private businesses and stripping away regulations, but I am almost certain they would support censorship regulations on Twitter right now. Well, Twitter is a private company so by using classic conservative arguments, they have a right to censor anybody that they want, it’s their own business!
Of course I don’t believe that, but that is the argument that conservatives have made time and time again to support things like a religious baker refusing to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. Why can a religious baker pick and choose who gets to use his business but Twitter can’t?
2021 is off to quite the crazy start, eh?
Green Buddhist 