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War on Dissent in America

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War on Dissent in America

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

As speech, media and academic freedoms erode in America, all other rights are threatened.

During Obama’s tenure, the Center for Constitutional Rights said: 

"The growing threat to the right to dissent has been demonstrated in the US government’s efforts to silence speech, and criminalize and target peaceful movements,” adding: 

“These efforts are becoming more aggressive, emboldened further by the Supreme Court’s increasingly conservative decisions, for instance regarding material support in the form of humanitarian aid to so-called terrorist organizations.”

Activism and dissent are increasingly threatened in America - for expressing constitutionally guaranteed views US dark forces want suppressed. 

Earlier Supreme Court rulings upholding First Amendment rights  don’t matter, including Justice William Brennan’s majority opinion in Texas v. Johnson (1989), saying:

“(I)f there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable.”

Justice Thurgood Marshall once said: “(A)bove all else, the First Amendment means that government has no power to restrict expression because of its message, its ideas, its subject matter, or its content.” Nor does anyone else.

Separately he said: “If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a State has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch. Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men’s minds.”

Post-9/11, dissent in America has been increasingly marginalized and threatened. It’s all about wanting views opposing the official narrative suppressed.

It has nothing to do with protecting national security from terrorist or other threats, as falsely claimed.

Raging US war on terror is a colossal hoax, a pretext for raping and destroying countries, along with eroding fundamental freedoms all just societies cherish - at risk of disappearing altogether in America.

Targeting net neutrality, the last frontier of media freedom, is all about giving cable and telecommunications giants greater control over online content, along with empowering them to charge more for increased profits.

Eroding digital democracy is all about heading toward silencing dissent altogether, controlling the message - the hallmark of totalitarian societies, what America and other Western states are increasingly becoming.

On August 6, Alex Jones’ Infowars website said the following:

“Apple, Spotify, Facebook and YouTube all banned (the website) within 12 hours of each other, illustrating how last night’s purge was a coordinated effort and has nothing to do with these platforms enforcing (phony) ‘hate speech’ rules,” adding:

“Infowars is being purged by Big Tech” for helping to elect Donald Trump. “By banning Infowars, big tech is engaging in election meddling” ahead of November midterms.

Banning Infowars is “part of a wider censorship purge,” wanting views conflicting with the official narrative suppressed - “the modern day electronic equivalent of book burning.”

Alternative media in America and other Western societies are threatened. Banning other online content may follow Infowar’s targeting.

Earlier, the NYT blasted Jones for reporting on 9/11 truth, calling him a “notorious conspiracy theorist,” claiming it again on Monday after tech giants suppressed Infowar’s content.

“Mr. Jones and Infowars have used social media for years to spread dark and bizarre theories,” claimed the Times.

The self-styled newspaper of record operates as a press agent for wealth, power and privilege, along with other Western media scoundrels, proliferating the official narrative, suppressing hard truths on vital issues.

Criticizing online and other content is acceptable, exercising the right of free expression.

Suppressing “idea(s) simply because society finds (them) offensive or disagreeable” is unlawful and unacceptable, as Justice Brennan explained.

No one on the US Supreme Court today approaches his or Thurgood Marshall’s stature. 

Their support for equal justice under law no longer exists in America, police state injustice replacing it all too often - along with censoring content dark forces in the country find objectionable.

VISIT MY NEW WEB SITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at [email protected].

 

My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

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