Our Modern Dystopia
This is an edited version of the transcript for Counter Points Media's video 'Our Modern Dystopia' The information might be old or outdated, and the author might not hold the same opinion today.
I have been following censorship for around three years now, and it is a subject that has always fascinated me. Not because I saw overt threats to free speech at the time, but because of the vast powers big tech holds. I didn't understand the world of censorship in my sophomore year in high school as well as I do now, but I knew enough to see that it was only a matter of time before a company that controls the top browser, runs the most popular entertainment website, and holds the keys to the entire internet would begin to abuse its power, and this revelation is no more clear than in our present, near-dystopian digital age.
YouTubers have long been complaining about demonetization of videos due to language or edgy political views, but as of late the conversation has been louder, and the punishment harsher. For instance, soph, a 14-year-old satirist whose content comes across as a cross between a political version of Studio C and an intellectual PewDiePie, recently got targeted by BuzzFeed for supposedly using hate speech in her video do not be afraid. The part BuzzFeed, and the other NPC-like mainstream blogs and outlets took the most umbrage with was her saying “isalamalakem” and referring to the middle-aged Muslim men who marry very young girls and rape them. BuzzFeed merely had to shout “sick em boy” for YouTube to take the video down. However they likely were not expecting the outpouring of support she received from the alt-right, many of them undoubtedly duped into believing that she was actually racist, similar to how the fake news media on the left gaslighted hateful groups like the KKK into supporting Trump, on the merit that he was racist too. Ironically, YouTube bowing to the wishes of a hateful fake news blog amplified the accused, and helped her inch ever closer to the coveted 1 million subscriber mark. It was rumored that YouTube would remove her channel after completely demonetizing it, but thought better of it after seeing all the support she recieved for being bullied by two large, left-wing establishment groups.
Even more recently, Steven Crowder, the host of Louder with Crowder, which essential serves as the right-wing’s Late Show with Steven Colbert, was targeted by Carlos Maza, a gay guy who hosts the cringeworthy, anger-fueled left-wing video series on Vox’s YouTube channel called Strikethrough, for supposedly harrasing him for being gay. And later, he added that it was for being Mexican too. He cites times that Crowder debunks the pervasive errors in his NBC-funded YouTube videos, and describes him using so-called “homophobic†as well as racial slurs; the irony here is, Maza’s own Twitter handle is the word “gay†paired up with an apparently racial slur. It is hard to take one seriously when they become angry with someone for describing them the exact same way that they portray themselves on the outset. In a sane world, these claims would be met with the same mockery and scorn as one who calls the cops on someone for calling them ma’am, even though she introduced herself as such. Even YouTube, while investigating the particular clips Maza presented in his raging Tweets, found that Crowder had done nothing wrong in the videos, although in an effort to placate the emotional gay man during Pride Week claimed that they are investigating aspects of Steven Crowder’s YouTube channel. That investigation ended with YouTube demonetizing his channel for sells a shirt featuring the word figs.
I bring all this up to say that rather than going away, censorship is reaching a fever pitch that is destined to burn hotter than 451 degrees fahrenheit. In fact, at the University in which I am currently enrolled, Albert Mohler, famed anchor of the Christian-themed news and culture podcast “Daily Breifingâ€, was invited on campus for numerous speaking events, one of them being a town hall. I used that opportunity to ask a question regarding free speech online, citing instances such as FaceBook blocking ads for pro-life causes and Twitch banning the non-political streamer HelenaLive for mentioning that there are only two genders. In his response, he predicted that there will come a time when Christians won’t be allowed to use the internet at all. While it sounds like an outlandish dystopian nightmare, it’s not an impossible reality, and most importantly, it’s the one we are creeping closer and closer towards. As we approach the end of free speech on the highways of the internet, it’s important to know how to navigate the underground railroad and arrive at websites and digital solutions that allow you to express yourself freely.
Thankfully, these havens of freedom aren’t all that difficult to use. I recommend watching videos by The Hated One for better and more detailed instructions, but one can easily evade big tech almost completely. Using Linux can help keep Microsoft from analyzing your activity, which you may find in your interest, as it’s been rumored for nearly two decades that they’ve installed backdoors into Windows for the NSA’s use. Simpler solutions consist of switching away from Chrome or browsers that use unmodified versions of Google’s Chromium engine, to an alternative such as Firefox, Dissenter, or even Opera. The next step is to find alternatives to the websites one typically uses, preferably one with high-profile users. Some nice alternatives to YouTube and Twitch are BitChute and DLive, as BitChute content from users such as soph, Infowars, styxhexenhammer666, Timcast and 1791, and DLive has attracted PewDiePie to their platform. Nice alternatives to FaceBook and Twitter are Gab and Minds, both of which also have popular internet personalities. Furthermore, the browser Tor is exceptional at evading network-wide censorship measures, as well as hiding the ability of third parties to track your network usage. With the abundance of alternative websites and free independent software currently available, you can find respite from the leftist, zombie-like trolls; always feasting on the flesh of those different than them, and yet somehow never tired and never satisfied.
Written by Casey Rollins.