(Okay, so it’s a clickbait title. Mark, you’re off the hook – I know you didn’t kill western civ. This is an article about privacy, free speech, and why the 1st amendment really, really matters. Enjoy.)
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Privacy has been dead longer than you think.
The simple truth is that any information you put online could be seen by someone else and shared with strangers. Sometimes hackers steal our information. Other times our ISPs, Social Networks, and Search Engines skip the middle man all-together and give/sell our information directly to a third party. And sometimes the government compels companies to share our information.
The point is that any privacy you thought you had online never really existed in first the place.
So what’s left without digital privacy? What protects the individual?
Free speech, thats what.
Free speech is the right to say anything in public without fear of censorship or restraint from the government. Grab a megaphone and stand on the street corner telling us what you think – that is your right.
I’d even go as far as to say it’s your obligation. Free speech is the only protection left for the individual and if we don’t use it we’ll lose it.
In fact, its even bigger than that.
Free speech is the only protection left for the individual, our democratic system, and our entire way of life – it represents the inalienability of the individual – which is the cornerstone of this democracy and the fundamental realization of Western Civilization.
And we know what happens without it.
Without free speech protections for the individual the mob will take power, and once in power – now as the State – the mob will subjugate the individual.
The destruction of the individual happens slowly, over time, in a million non-violent and seemingly benign ways. Her rights and freedoms are chipped away until she can’t fight back because she is censored and controlled by the State, because she is dependent on the State, because the State has the power. Because she didn’t say anything and now she can’t say anything.
We can’t let that happen.
If privacy is your concern – and it should be – than make free speech your rallying cry.
Demand free speech. Practice free speech.
Channel your inner Mel Gibson – paint your face blue, don’t wear any underwear, and scream at the top of your lungs.
The future of Western Civilization depends on you.
MW 