Donald Trump being banned from a cross-section of social media and digital platforms has generated outrage from right-wingers in the United States and Europe, with claims that these decisions are tantamount to censorship, a violation of Trump’s free-speech rights and blatant political targeting on the part of companies described as “leftist.” In addition, the actions of Twitter, Facebook, Google and others have led the same group of conservatives to lament the unfettered power of these multi-billion dollar companies and the “Orwellian” tactics they are accused of employing.
There’s a lot to unpack here. To me, however, we really need to start by cutting through what can only be described as the dishonest, cynical and utterly decontextualized bullshit at the heart of the right-wing criticism of the Trump ban.
Bluntly, if there’s anything “Orwellian” about all of this — and it is clear that many citing Orwell’s “1984” have either not read or don’t understand the book — it is that the political right in the United States and Europe are re-framing as “leftist” and “anti-democratic” the for-profit, privately controlled “free market of ideas” they have religiously and relentlessly pushed for decades. Continue reading.