What a world we're living in

No need for the state to protect us from improper, upsetting thoughts, we’ll do it ourselves

A friend forwarded one of my innocuous posts to another friend, while inadvertently sending a copy to me. A few hours later, my friend wrote again:

Hi. Do me a favor? My [friend] is nervous about his politics being revealed in these perilous times. Would you kindly delete that email I mistakenly sent you, as well as my follow-up asking you to disregard it? I'd be most grateful.

Mind you, this involved private correspondence only, yet the recipient feared for the effect on his employment should it somehow be exposed. Self-censorship is now supplementing that of Big Tech, and that’s disheartening (understatement intended).

Supplementing, but not replacing. Yesterday, Facebook announced that it was banning ads calling for the recall of Governor Newsom. Not ads advocating his (richly-deserved) hanging, ads these merely called for the peaceful exercise of the right granted California’s citizens to recall elected officials. According to Facebook, such recall petitions are now permitted only when directed at conservatives.

UPDATE: Youtube has demonetized The Epoch Times. No reason was given, other than the usual “violates [unspecified] community standards”, but Epoch has been a harsh critic of the Chinese Communist Party — can’t have that.