Are we there yet?!
Yes. I think we are indeed there and it's about time A LOT more Canadians wake up. We seemed to have gotten comfortable watching the drama unfold in the US, and we thought we were somehow removed from all of it... we were somehow different.
A silly notion no matter how you look at it, as tech giants like Twitter and Google will blanket their censorship indiscriminately... they don't give a shit where you're from. But from a government policy perspective, maybe there was some hope for us: for our freedoms-- of speech, and expression, and the press, and assembly.
Oh, Canada. 🤦‍♂️
Have you not been paying attention over the last year? Trudeau sold us out... we're "building back better" now.
“While preserving a fundamental right to freedom of expression, our approach will require online platforms to monitor and eliminate illegal content that appears on their platforms,” Heritage Ministry spokesperson Camille Gagné-Raynauld was quoted in a recent Toronto Star article.
But these platforms are already being fascist dicks and censoring undesirable content, you might be thinking to yourself. Ms. Raynauld agrees, but with one caveat: “although we have recently seen social media companies acting proactively to address these issues, we believe that a more comprehensive, neutral and flexible framework will be more effective and efficient than self-regulation.”
You see, Comrade Trudeau must have specific things in mind-- unacceptable thoughts and behaviours, in the unique #Canadian political context-- that he feels may threaten his blossoming dictatorship. We have a different Constitution here, for instance, different legislative lingo, different cultural circumstances... all of which may not be on Dorsey's or Zuckerberg's radar. So he's taking a hands-on approach.
Smart. (And sociopathic. Textbook fascism.)
"The Canadian government hopes to introduce legislation in February or March," the article continues, "that will stop the posting of hate-speech, child sexual abuse material and other illegal content on social media platforms."
Do you see how they frame things? They cite morality as the basis for these moves, which makes it more precarious for any opposition that might pop up. How can we argue with removing "child sexual abuse material and other illegal content" from our online communities?
But there is one snag to this logic: ILLEGAL SHIT IS ALREADY ILLEGAL!
Any content that crosses the existing legal lines-- from child porn to violent threats, assault, and so on-- can be reported, and those people can be charged and convicted of crimes. Anytime... right now. I would even say that we DO WANT criminals posting evidence of their illegal acts, so they can be caught and punished. Right?
So... umm... why do we need tech overlords and governments to play Big Brother on social media? Why do we need this level of censorship? Or any restriction of our freedom of speech whatsoever?
Spoiler alert: WE DON'T.
And they're not really talking about blatantly illegal content like child porn... they insert these emotional triggers beside more ambiguous terminology like "other illegal content" to get us invested. Then they can cover their asses when they suppress alternative scientific and political views. Get the picture?
When will the bullshit get too thick for the majority of Canadians to wade through?! I know there are more and more people waking up around the world-- and that's definitely a big factor in the rising popularity of places like Leo Finance-- but I think we might be running out of time. It's not just censorship... regimes like Trudeau's and Biden's will use blatant lies and propaganda to destroy opposition large and small-- and destroy the lives of ordinary people.
The Toronto Star article illustrates this fact by using the recent chaos in the US to justify future smear campaigns here in #Canada: "The moves came after Trump and some of his high-profile supporters incited a mob that stormed the Capitol building in Washington D.C., leaving five dead."
Anyone who paid attention to that situation (ie. listened to Trump's whole speech at the protest, watched the events unfold and consciously searched for genuine testimony of attendees and other relevant accounts and evidence) knows that this narrative is mostly a lie... much like the election.
Virtually nothing we've seen on the news over the past twelve months, really, has been honest or accurate. This is almost universal, no matter where you live-- but definitely here in North America. The lies won't subside either, I bet, but rather will grow more egregious and elaborate.
If you think my commentary sounds extreme, then it hasn't progressed far enough to crack your cognitive dissonance... give it another three months of #lockdowns and restrictions, and perhaps another handful of topics that are too risky to talk about publicly. Maybe then?
Maybe then.