We are all Josh Hawley now

I'm not someone who regularly posts on political boards, nor am I an American, however, I wanted to open a discussion around the recent shunning of Josh Hawley by Simon and Schuster and he is apparently facing calls to resign from the Senate.<br><br><br>Here are some key points that I think are very relevant to the discussion:<br><br>1. The first amendment protects all citizens from actions by the government to punish them for their political beliefs. It does not protect citizens from actions by the private sector. In other words, the first amendment does not protect a citizen from being fired from a private company for their political beliefs. The first amendment does protect that citizen from being charged and tried by the government.<br><br><br>2. Political censorship seems to be ramping up. Twitter, for example, has been known to 'shadow ban' accounts that it disagrees with. Parler is being threatened with a possible ban from the app stores. The most egregious example of this was when Chase Bank cut ties with several high profile conservatives. We actually had a former head of the OIG at the State Department have his Credit Cards and checking account cut off because of his political beliefs, not because of anything he had done. I am sure you have heard the phrase history repeats itself, the first time as a tragedy and the second time as a farce. This reminds me of Krystalnacht, when Jewish owned businesses were targeted and burned to the ground in pre-war Germany. <br><br><br>3. The line between corporate and government censorship seems to be blurring. You can argue that social media companies that receive SBA money have a line to the government that is decidedly grey. Further, with a new administration coming in, you have to wonder whether or not there will be a crackdown on 'dangerous' speech.<br><br><br>4. Republicans had a chance to pass laws that protected freedom of speech from private censorship, they failed to do so. They had a chance to pass laws that would protect citizens from being fired for their political beliefs and they failed to do so. <br><br><br>5. The grey line between corporate and government is getting blurrier and we are all now living in a world where we could be fired for our political beliefs. Many of us will have to keep our political beliefs secret. The same goes for those with controversial opinions. I'm not saying that I condone controversial opinions, merely that now discussions of controversial opinions is now in danger. Many people have opinions that are now considered radical that were mainstream less than a decade ago.<br><br><br>We are all Josh Hawley now.<br><br><br>Edit: Removed a word, added a space to make reading easier and dropped the last preposition.<br><br>Edit 2: If you are on the left and you think that this is a good thing, I suggest you watch a video of what Castro had to say about homosexuals. You could very easily be considered radical in the future.<br><br><br>Edit 3: For those saying that this is not censorship because it is by a private company, that's a very strange grey area. The government now buys social media data that is so granular and so accurate that they know everything about you. Furthermore, government pressure can cause private companies to shun people, after all, government contracts are very lucrative and a government investigation can be very costly. Thus, there is a very grey line between government censorship and the recent moves by Twitter, Facebook et al. <br><br><br>Edit 4: This post has been put on r/all for informational purposes only. Any political post should be on r/all so everyone may read it and form their own opinions.<br><br>Edit 5: This post has now been put on r/popular for informational purposes only. Any political post should be on r/popular so everyone may read it and form their own opinions.<br><br>Edit 6: If you're on the left and you think that this is a good thing, look at the front page of Reddit. This website is not an echo chamber. It is a place to go to learn and to open yourself up to new ideas. To hear and see and experience things that you may not agree with necessarily but to learn from other people. Many of the front-page subs are targeted at subverting the echo chamber and providing a different view point than the ones that you yourself hold. Many of the most upvoted comments on Chambers are people who have changed their opinions. Many of the most popular posts are people who have changed their opinions. This place is not supposed to be an echo chamber.