Conservatives have long referred to themselves as the “Silent Majority.” The norm has long been that we law-abiding conservatives are quiet and less often heard than our counterparts on the Left. We do not riot or throw fits of outrage as the Left are prone to do. We have long felt that although we are not as loud, we do constitute the majority in this country. Our silence was mostly our own doing. We tended not to speak up as much, not to overreact as much, but when we made our voices heard, we did so at the voting booth. This is how it WAS. Things have changed.
Now, we have become the “Silenced Majority.” Our voices are not heard in the mainstream media. Our opposing viewpoints are no longer being shared in that forum. Our opinions are not welcome there, and they simply are not given any time. We all know the new norm is that opposing viewpoints are ignored and not given a platform. We all know that the same is now true for our social media forums. Note that I use the word “forum” repeatedly on purpose. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as a public meeting place (or a print or online medium) for the purpose of the “open discussion or expression of ideas.” These private companies enjoy protection from liability because they once represented a digital, online “forum.” They are no longer that. Opinions are flagged, fact-checked, or marked as inaccurate or inappropriate for discussion within their platforms. Unfortunately, it is a one-sided suppression. It is censorship, plain, and simple. Now, many of us are concerned that our voices are being artificially drowned out even at the ballot box. All these factors combined in an unprecedented level of censorship this year. We are no longer the “Silent Majority,” we are now the “Silenced Majority.”
The purpose of this letter is not to inform us, we all know this already. Rather, it is to remind everyone that we still ARE THE MAJORITY! There are more of us than ever before, and we are finally willing to speak up. It is unfortunate that now we are willing to use the voice, we try to speak but no sound is heard. Nevertheless, this can only happen to us if we allow it. There are more of us than there are of those who would silence us. Not only that, but we are not powerless to be heard. We are not yet in a society where the government can suppress our speech. We are the ones allowing corporations, who profit from OUR participation as clients, to manipulate their forums into platforms aligned against us. Many of us are attempting to leave these platforms, but the problem is, there are not equivalent alternatives of substantial size that will allow our voices to be heard. As a result, we end up dispersing our voices—and we remain unheard. We are not powerless, but what can we do that will work?
We need to be more active and engaged than ever before. We need to push back on those trying to censor us and eliminate their protections under law. Unfortunately, the legacy platforms (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) worked because of their volume. They drown out their competition. There are some particularly good alternative media forums out there, but they are too small and dispersed in comparison to provide a truly alternate forum where we can be heard. Or is there an alternative ...
The internet has many providers sharing the same information, email has many providers that allow communication-based on a shared set of protocols. These systems work because they share information. Imagine if all the Twitter competitors decided to share communications and protocols to become providers of aggregated communications that can compete against Twitter. I may post using Company A’s product and you use Company B’s, but we would see one another’s uncensored posts. This would allow us to leave our captors in favor of a forum that would outnumber Twitter. Do the same with the other Big Tech censors, and we create new companies, new jobs, and a truly free universal online forum where we can carry on open discussions and freely exchange ideas, which has always resulted in growth and prosperity for all.
