social media – When The Abuser Goes To Work…

Kyle Rittenhouse and Violent Video Games

What possessed Kyle Rittenhouse, a baby-faced 17-year-old, to pick up an AR-15 style rifle and head to Kenosha, Wisconsin in the first place?

There has been a lot of discussion about the harm caused by social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms to American youth but very little discussion about the role of violent videogames, where teens arm themselves with massive weaponry to maim and kill.

Rittenhouse claims he and a friend volunteered to go to Kenosha to protect a car dealership that was set upon by rioters the night before. Rittenhouse, who is now a nursing student, wore a medical kit and said he intended to provide medical care. At one point he also carried a fire extinguisher.

It all seems hopelessly naïve, but not altogether implausible for a 17-year-old teenager, especially one who testified Wednesday to playing violent video games.

Rittenhouse ended up killing two men and grievously wounding a third. He’s claiming self-defense. Cell phone videos of the action that evening in Kenosha show Rittenhouse lying on the pavement, while protesters/rioters attacked him and attempted to wrestle the gun away from him. The only reason they didn’t succeed is because it was strapped on his shoulder.

A few decades years ago, a teenager like Rittenhouse might be working to become an Eagle Scout.

Healthline reports that more than 90 percent of kids play video games and more than 90 percent of popular games portray violence.

Using The Legal System To Suppress Dissent?

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell filed a federal lawsuit Thursday in Minneapolis claiming that electronic voting machine companies are “weaponizing the litigation process” to silence political dissent over the 2020 election.

A few hours later, Lindell’s Minneapolis attorney Alec J. Beck , a respected 30-year litigator, was dumped from his white shoe law firm, Barnes & Thornburg LLP. The web site Law & Crime quoted a Barnes & Thornburg spokesperson as stating Beck failed to obtain prior authorization from the firm before filing the Lindell lawsuit.

Social media erupted with insults aimed at Lindell, who claims the 2020 election was stolen from GOP Pres. Donald J. Trump, calling him a conspiracy theorist, delusional, insane, “a loser crack head,” source of baseless information, etc.

Most of the national media ignored Lindell’s lawsuit but Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ anti-Trump newspaper, The Washington Post, took the opportunity to declare Lindell’s claims are not only false but ridiculous.

Federal Judge Calls One-Sided Media ‘Dangerous’

Senior Judge Laurence Silverman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Friday launched a full-frontal attack on the state of the American media today, calling it “dangerous.”

Judge Silverman bemoaned the “economic” and “ideological” consolidation of traditional and social media into a megaphone for the Democratic Party.

Judge Silverman warned the power of the press is “dangerous” today because America is “very close” to one-party control of the media.

He observed the first step taken by a potential authoritarian or dictatorial regime is to control communications, particularly delivery of news. “It is fair to conclude, therefore, that one-party control of the press and media is a threat to a viable democracy,” he said.

His comments were made in a dissent in a defamation case, wherein he expressed doubt the U.S. Supreme Court today would approve the landmark 1964 decision that protects the press from lawsuits by public figures. He said the case, New York Times v. Sullivan, effectively “allows the press to cast false aspersions on public figures with near impunity.”

Democratic Party Broadsheets

Judge Silverman, who was nominated to the bench by late GOP President Ronald Reagan, referred to the notorious McCarthy era, when Congress engaged in a vicious hunt for Communists in government and Hollywood. “As one who lived through the McCarthy era, it is hard to fathom how honorable men and women can support such actions,” he said.

He called the repression of conservative political speech today by large institutions with market power is “fundamentally un-American.”

Florida’s Historic Move To Combat Big Tech Censorship

The Florida legislature is working on proposed legislation to deter big tech from engaging in partisan political censorship in the state.

The effort, announced by Florida’s GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, is the first legislative response to big tech’s successful effort to silence former GOP President Donald J. Trump and other conservative voices on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

“We’ve seen the power of their censorship over individuals and organizations, including what I believe is clear viewpoint discrimination,’’ said DeSantis, who was accompanied by Florida House Speaker Chris Sprows and Senate President Wilton Simpson, also Republicans.

DeSantis said “the big tech oligarchy” is “more of a clear and present danger to the rights of free speech than the government itself.”

Is Social Media Engaged In Censorship Or Civic Responsibility?

It quickly became apparent at a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing Tuesday that the perception of whether social media is actively engaged in censorship depends upon party affiliation.

U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-SC, and other GOP Senators blasted Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for engaging in selective censorship of Republican content on their platforms to benefit Democrats in the Presidential election campaign.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-CT, took the opposite view. He insisted the social media platforms were not engaging in censorship at all but merely exercising “moral and civic responsibility” to limit misleading content. He said the platforms must do far more to “fact check to avoid amplifying misinformation” in the future.

The hearing was held to discuss potential changes to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which exempts social media platforms from legal liability for content published on their platforms.

More or Less?

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, noted the irony that Democrats, one-time champions of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment guarantee of free speech and a free press, are now demanding ever more censorship by social media platforms.