Simply having an “unapproved” opinion is now enough for people to be silenced, at least if a troubling claim by conservative pundit Mark Dice is accurate.
From Conservative Tribune:
Last week, the author, filmmaker and commentator stated a view that millions of Americans likely agree with, but found himself in a chilling situation that can only be compared to George Orwell’s “1984.”
“Right-wing commentator Mark Dice, famous for YouTube video interviews with random passers-by in public spaces, says that his Twitter account was suspended Thursday of last week after he implied that transgenderism is a mental illness,” explained Lifesite News.
The incident began when Dice voiced his opinion that Facebook letting users choose literally any description they wanted as their “gender” was a bit over the top.
58 different genders wasn’t “inclusive” enough for Facebook, so now instead of picking from a list of options, that section is a ‘fill in the blank.’ The company is embracing mental illness on a massive scale. #Zuckerberg
— Mark Dice (@MarkDice) April 10, 2018
It was a simple and not particularly outlandish opinion: People cannot invent new genders out of thin air. Whether or not you agree with Dice on gender identity is beside the point, however. What happened next should raise serious questions about free speech and platforms like Twitter.
An angry user responded to Dice, and demanded to know if he thought “fill in the blank” gender identity was a mental illness.
“All of them but two, yes,” Mark Dice replied.
That simple answer was apparently enough to put his Twitter on lockdown. “Soon after the exchange, Dice’s response disappeared from his Twitter feed, and Dice announced via Facebook that Twitter had suspended his account until he agreed to delete the tweet,” reported Lifesite.
The pundit included a screenshot of his Twitter account, which showed the social media platform literally demanding that he delete his last tweet if he wanted to continue using the service.
Is Twitter in the right for deleting accounts of people whose opinions they disagree with? Although they are their own company and have every right to control the content of their website, what is the point of having a website that completely wipes their butt with the first amendment?
