The fallout continues …

Twitter stands firm … Just about every social media/internet company jumped on the ban-wagon to remove InfoWars’ Alex Jones from their services. Much to the consternation to those in the anti-free-speech media, Twitter has not banned Jones. In a defense of the site’s decision, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, aka @jack, offered a defense worth reading in a tweetstorm.

What Dorsey is telling the Oliver Darcys of the world is that they must learn to tolerate the existence and even publication of differing points of view. Absent violation of the terms of service, Twitter isn’t merely going to ban someone for thought. While there have been instances in the past where I’ve questioned Twitter’s actions, this is a good place to start, although Dorsey later said he agrees that tools need to be developed to fight disinformation and that he “can’t build a useful service without the integrity journalists bring.”

When tech giants stand for free speech against the collective weight of the left-wing anti-speech movement, we should offer our support.

Bonfire of the vanities … In 1497, Dominican Friar Girolamo Savonarola whipped the populace of Tuscany into an anti-Medici, anti-art frenzy. It culminated in the bonfire of the vanities, where art, books, and other “sinful items” were burned.  Over the past week we’ve seen the torch passed, from Savonarola to the media gatekeepers of today.

Yesterday the left-wing site Vox piled on to Alex Jones by suggesting that YouTube remove the channels of some of my colleagues at CRTV. In the tweet, which republished an October 2017 YouTube video, Vox claimed it was “not just Alex Jones.”

If you go to the 39-second mark in the video, you will see a “Brady Bunch”-style montage of the offending YouTube hosts. Prominently featured were CRTV’s Steven Crowder and Gavin McInnes.

I said earlier this week that this wasn’t going to stop at Alex Jones. I was right, quicker even than I imagined.