The legacy media seems borderline fixated on European censorship, so much so that after J.D. Vance's speech, the media seemed almost defensive. Vance's speech at the Munich Security Council wasn't even focused on American news corporations and yet, for some reason, one can't help but think they took it personally.
For those needing a refresher, Vance's speech to Europeans noted that their efforts to censor their citizens and even jail them for posting even accurate information or simply praying at the wrong place and at the wrong time is wholly against what we know as Western values. This level of despotism isn't exactly indicative of a civilization that sees its people as people.
This, of course, resulted in European officials rejecting the idea that their censorship efforts are a bad thing, and are right and moral. It's a head-scratcher how they got to that conclusion, and so far the only two realistic explanations I can come up with are that they're either extremely corrupt and are getting both money and power out of suppressing their own citizens, or they're unimaginably stupid. Either way, I sense some level of conflict brewing between the U.S. and Europe over this issue.
READ MORE: Could We See a 'Speech War' With Europe?
And naturally, as the Trump administration takes a position on something, the left takes the opposite, and this includes the legacy media, who immediately assumed a defensive posture and began pushing back against the administration over free expression.
This included a blisteringly, mind-numbingly stupid moment where CBS' Margaret Brennan tried to tell State Secretary Marco Rubio that free speech caused the Holocaust, after which Rubio had to teach Brennan basic history on air.
And then there was the 60 Minutes report. I'd like to tell you I'm surprised at the nature of the report, or that they thought it would help the pro-censorship side make its case, but it really didn't. The program talked to German officials about the lengths they go to censor people on the internet, including arresting people who posted things the government didn't like online... and 60 Minutes was allowed to attend and record one of these arrests.
It wasn't even just a report; it was a puff piece, and one that wholly proved Vance right.
Guy Benson commented on the report, noting that 60 Minutes interviewed five people and all of them were anti-free speech, with not one counter-voice to be seen within. There was no attempt at balance at all.
Which begs the question: Why would an American media company be so enthralled with the idea of censorship?
That's actually easy to answer.
You'd think that an American media company would hate the idea of censorship because it would mean that it would only be able to report on what the government told it to, but that's exactly what the American media companies did for years. The legacy media was never a friend of the people who asked hard questions and got to the bottom of events, both inside and outside of government. It has been a propaganda machine for years now.
"Censorship" as we know it would never apply to the legacy media, only to We the People.
For a long time, that's exactly how it was here in America, with the media controlling all the narratives on behalf of the Democrat Party. Even online, the Democrats had a say in who could and could not speak by applying pressure to social media companies who, for the most part, were more than willing to capitulate, being ideologically aligned to the point of radicalism.
Then Elon Musk bought Twitter, turned it into X, and the Western world's global town hall turned into a free speech haven. The results are still playing out to this day, with leftist narratives dying before they can find their feet and Democrats consistently being bombarded by the truth whenever they push lies. Musk's "Community Notes" is one of the single largest devastating forces to the leftist narrative ever seen in American history.
READ MORE: How the Media Is Trying to Scare the People About Elon Musk and Save Their Swamp
X did something incredible in turning the American people into the media, revealing the legacy media as slow, incompetent, and unforgivably biased to the left. They began losing their influence and power, and the wailing and gnashing of teeth can be heard in various ways today... like that 60 Minutes report.
The legacy media loves European censorship because it's what they want so deeply that it hurts. It's reminiscent of a time when they had the power of control over the minds and hearts of the people, and could dictate the narrative. They want it back so badly that they will travel to anti-free speech countries and swoon as these officials speak of arresting citizens who speak out.
They want that back, and they want you to want it back as badly as they do. They want you to submit your mind to them once more, and override your voice like they did in the good ol' days.
But we don't live in that America anymore, and no one feels that more painfully than the legacy media. If they could wave a magic wand and change everything, your ability to dispense information or voice your opinion would disappear immediately, backed by the threat of arrest for attempting to do so. They would seize the narrative creation process, finding ways to shut down or severely restrict websites like X, Rumble, or even RedState. Like Thanos with the reality stone, reality would be whatever they say it is.
They want to return to a time that wasn't that wasn't actually that long ago, but America has divorced itself from so significantly that it's actually causing tension with our European allies.
Rest assured, the legacy media is weaker, but it's not dead. It still holds comparable power and deep resources. We could dig for years and still not uncover half of its connections to powerful people, and we may never discover the extent of private communications between news corporations and officials giving out marching orders.
The moment they see an opening to regain power, they will take it, and at some point that will come. How, when, where, or why is still up in the air, but authoritarians are never defeated. They just regroup and try to find another way to assert their dominance. Major victories and landscape shifts don't keep them down for long. So long as your free speech is a threat, it will always be a target.
Your silence is their power.
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