My views on censorship: we can’t have an opinion

Lately, there has been an issue that has been bothering me and I would like to blog about it.

Ever since what happened on January 6^th at the Capitol in the United States, Donald Trump has been banned from Twitter and I think every mainstream social media app out there (correct me if I’m wrong).

As the president of United States, I think he should not be able to say whatever he wants due to the effect his words may have on his followers. Actions have consequences, and those who have participated in violent acts should be punished.

Some of his supporters are so extreme that they would probably kill or die for Trump.

So, I thought limiting Trump’s access to Twitter was actually a pretty responsible thing to do.

I didn’t, however, expect him to be banned from everything. Furthermore, a super right winged conservative app, Parler, has also been taken down.

While I do understand, I do think it’s an issue that needs to be discussed.

There are extremists for everything. Does that mean all extremists should be banned? Or are we only focusing on right winged extremists? How about violent left winged extremists?

Now, I’m neither extreme left nor right, but I feel like nowadays, people can’t even have an opinion.

What if you’re just a non violent supporter of Trump? Or BLM? Or Communism? Or whatever you believe in!?!

If you state a political view, someone is going to be triggered. The more popular you are, the more backlashes you’ll receive from the other side.

Nowadays, people may be afraid to speak out their views because they want to avoid getting banned or losing access to their accounts. In more serious cases, they may even lose their jobs.

This is even worse if you have a following. Because that means you have impact and haters may just be waiting around the bush to strike.

There was a recent incident where Nigel made a collaboration dumpling video with a guy who is anti CCP (Chinese Communist Party). For those who don’t know, Nigel is a Malaysian comedian based in the UK. He got very popular this past summer due to his fictional character, Uncle Roger.

Anyhow, Nigel removed the video from youtube and all the other platforms when he realized this and apologized to China. Many viewers were extremely disappointed by his actions.

Note: In the video, they didn’t even talk about politics at all. However, Mike is apparently very vocal about his political views on his social media.

Nigel may have apologized because he wants to enter the Chinese market and didn’t want to piss China off. Perhaps, he was afraid he would get banned in China. Or maybe, he is a supporter of CCP and really feels differently from Mike. I don’t know.

Regardless, I do feel somewhat disheartened by everything I’ve mentioned.

If I don’t ever talk about politics, I’m ok. But if I am a supporter of either left or right, then I will be in trouble. Someone is going to be mad and I may lose my sponsorships/readers/subscribers/followers and so on.

Also, if you get banned on twitter, facebook, instagram, google, apple, tiktok, spotify, and amazon, you’re basically nonexistent in the digital world. If you’re a business, good luck to you.

To conclude, I just feel like it’s sad how we have to be so careful nowadays.

Regardless if you’re an influencer or not, think twice before you say something online.

They’re all watching.