Will Twitter Become The New Platform Of Free Speech? Should it? Can It Become Even More?

Elon Musk has been in the headlines all year about buying Twitter, not buying Twitter and now, Elon bought Twitter. What does that mean for free speech? Will Twitter become the new platform for Free Speech? Does free speech have to mean personal attacks, lies, and hateful rhetoric? Let’s take a look.

Read to the end.
You’ll be like,
❝I didn’t see that coming.
That’s a great idea!❞

Free Speech And The First Amendment

First, let’s take a look at what free speech actually means when referring to The First Amendment. It’s a legal term protected by the federal government. It’s not a right given by the government, it’s a God-given right that the government is forbidden to intrude on or suppress. (Totally my words).

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

At first glance, the First Amendment is about as simple and straightforward as can be yet has been debated in the courts, discussed in the classrooms, and written about in publications as much as any other topic regarding our Constitution.

Look at how much was packed into that single paragraph.

1. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
2. or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
3. or of the press;
4. or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,
5. and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The First Amendment covers the Freedom of Religion, the Freedom of Speech, the Freedom of the press, our right to assemble, and our right to express our grievances with the government.

We see how The First Amendment has been walked all over by the government recently, don’t we?

How does The First Amendment Affect Free Speech On Twitter?

It doesn’t. Not really. It’s complicated and the courts can’t even agree on many cases.

Social media sites are not a government authority, even though they act as if they were and have taken the government as bedmates. Twitter is a private business.

That is why I want to separate the two in the minds of my reader for this topic – Will Twitter become the new platform of Free Speech?

What Is Free Speech In General?

In the most basic form, Free Speech should mean we can say whatever we like as long as it doesn’t break any laws. Right? Let’s look at it.

What about bullying? Yes, I went there. I believe this entire woke victimhood mentality we’re dealing with today began with the creation of a new victim status called “Bullying.” It’s mean words that cause weak souls so much anguish that they stay up all night long crying into their pillow and can even end up killing themselves. As sad and as real as suicide is, society has deemed ‘bullying’ as the problem and not how we raised generations of weak victims that can’t stand up for themselves or get the help they need.

It is victimhood at its finest, and ‘bullying’ is one of the first offspring crapped out by the woke.

Brian D. Hawkins

But I digress.

You get bullying if you have complete Freedom of Speech except where the woke agenda has infiltrated into the legal system and made it a crime to pick on someone.

Since that’s probably everywhere by now, I guess Twitter needs to sensor that type of behavior.

How does one determine what constitutes ‘bullying’ and how is it found in a firehose of information? See, it’s already gotten complicated.

Let The Censorship Begin!

What about personal attacks? Name-calling, is that allowed? What if you refuse to use my preferred pronoun? Which, by the way, is “Sir Lord Buttwipe” at the moment so you can call me Sir Lord Buttwipe Brian today. I’ll change it tomorrow because pronouns are fluid?

Can I post porn? Can I decide to split my sausage and call it a taco and post the operation up for everyone to watch?

Is there an age limit? If so, how do I verify age?

Speaking Of Verification

Some have speculated that Musk might require identification or verification somehow. I don’t know how that would be accomplished but it would likely stop a lot of the bots and fake accounts. It might even reduce the number of nasty tweets since people are always tough guys what shielded by anonymity.

Personally, I think it’s a great idea. I also have no problem with paying to play on the platform. What? How can Twitter become the new platform of Free Speech when it’s not free? Freedom ain’t free silly. 😉

How do they verify all the blue checks? It seems you have to have a woke badge to get the blue checkmark but maybe something like that is in order.

The Consequences of Free Speech

There’s no way around it, if Twitter is to become the new platform of Free Speech, there will be consequences. Can you live with that? I certainly can. I think Freedom trumps safety – EVERY TIME! But that’s just me. Society in general, they can’t take it.

If anyone can say anything, you’re going to have a lot of attacks and threats that end up hurting people for real.

I’m talking about hit jobs in the form of canceling and shutting down the truth and squashing honest debate about life and death issues. Oh wait, that’s what Twitter has always been.

By allowing ALL speech, will we open up even more of the blatant canceling we just witnessed over the last three years by governments all over the world, led by the United States?

Or would it counteract the canceling going on? That’s a nice thought but likely it would just add to the confusion and put more names on the government’s hit lists.

Those attacks on truth and debate were not only sanctioned by the government but the government encouraged and even demanded cancellation by schools, the medical industry, and social media platforms. And the mainstream media, the good little socialist leftists they are, supported the agenda at every turn. They dutifully altered truth and omitted fact – all in the name of safety over freedom. Rule over fact.

The Problems With Disinformation And Hate Speech

You end up with a cesspool like Rumble and a Trumptard convention like Gettr and other so-called free-speech platforms.

This isn’t an attack on Marina Sirtis personally, I didn’t know her real name until this morning when I respectfully wrote about her departure from Twitterland. 😉 . I thought she did a nice job as Counselor Deana Troi on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

I’m using her recent tweets as an example of the Hollyweird Woke Libtards getting butthurt over Musk saying he’ll allow free speech on the platform. It’s tiny events like this that shine the light on the true colors of celebs, along with political and corporate leaders.

Yes, Marina, Free Speech can be hate speech. It’s perspective and opinion. It’s not all puppy dogs and pigtails. The problem, when declaring anything ‘hate speech’ or ‘misinformation’ is that the label ALLWAYS benefits the accusor. It serves opinion and agenda and can almost always be argued and debated ’til the cows come home with no clear-cut solution.

If you want Free Speech,
you have to accept the labels;
and the tweets that caused them.

What’s The Solution Then? How Can Twitter Become The New Platform Of Free Speech?

I will not pretend to be smart enough to fix any of this. Personally, I think you have to fix human nature first and that’s going to take the hand of God. The real God, whatever that is, not the one people pretend to know and try to teach.

Twitter News – Wait. What?

Twitter – Tweetable News Without The Agenda!

I know what I wish. We have a problem with reliable and honest news in this world. I say, keep Twitter members, verify their identities, and turn them from tweeters to commenters – on the new Twitter, where news is researched and dispensed in a truly unbiased way.

Fire the leftist idiots, get rid of the lattes and catered lunches and the ridiculous on-site amenities, and bring in honest journalists and researchers. If you can’t find any without a left or right slant, create your own.

My advice to Elon – make Twitter the new platform of Free Speech, in the form of Freedom of the Press, truly protected by The First Amendment. Allow tweets as comments by registered and verified (possibly paid) users. Allow honest advertising but never allow sponsored news, articles, or opinion content. That’s how companies like Pfizer and the like rule opinion and thought.

The money and resources are there to create the first believable news agency.

I’m an opinion blogger, not a billionaire boy genius so what do I know?

See ya, Sir Lord Buttwipe Brian

There are six tarts in Nepal. I repeat, there are six tarts in Nepal.

Image Credit: Featured image created with the help of Clean PNG contributors Taleng, Canabooro, Suneth, and Akyereko.