Social media and free speech can be strangers

Twitter slammed the trunk lid on Donald Trump.

Like Twitter, Facebook is trying to squelch not just lies and misinformation, but expression deemed dangerous, potentially leading to death and destruction.

Parler, a darling of conservatives, appears to allow anything and everything — yet its wings were abruptly clipped when Google, Apple and Amazon all booted it from their platforms.

Those living in some alternate social media universe — in other words, most modern human beings — are seeing their reality shaken like passengers on a slow plane in a terrific windstorm. And yes, there's barf all about the cabin.

The battle for free speech will go on just as long as people demand that this precious right be preserved. But nothing in the First Amendment says that a private company has to publish your thoughts; they have every right to tell you to take your message elsewhere.

And so, some of you are. The social media universe might be shifting as it grows, but it is in no danger of going away.

More's the pity.

A society that depends upon tweets and posts and shares for essential information is doomed to be dumb — or worse, horribly misled. Even on its best days, veracity is a lost art on social media platforms. You can't even trust that the opinions being expressed truly represent how that person thinks or feels.

No, no, this is not a plug for traditional media, which in many ways has fallen prey to the same phenomena that gave rise to social media — the quest for eyeballs at any cost.

But this editorial does offer a suggestion, one that's been uttered in this space before.

While social media does provide some worthy entertainment and benefit in connecting people — it can be a good way to stay in touch with distant friends and family, for instance — we have gone too far in our belief in it and our dependence upon it. We have given social media platforms too much power, and in the process, we have devoted less of our attention to personal relationships, to intellectual and emotional growth, and to honest, open, (masked) face to face communication.

If you've got a beef with Twitter because it kicked your guy to the curb, or you think Facebook's gone too far with its patrols of thought police, or you object to Parler because seeing swastikas doesn't turn you on, you know what to do.

Turn the damned things off and pick up a book.