Plots to censor information are rooted in the left’s desire for power and control, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) warned in a fired-up speech.
Schmitt raised the alarm about the endgame of censorship and suppressing Americans’ freedom of speech. The senator tweeted a clip of his speech on Monday, with the caption, “Censorship is on the rise is [sic] America — and it’s being done under the guise of controlling ‘misinformation’ or ‘disinformation’ — but the goal is still the same: power and control.”
Schmitt lambasted leftist efforts to control information and highlighted the importance of freedom of speech. “The freedom to speak your mind in the public square or virtual towns square is vital to the health of the Republic, and far too many Americans are being told what they can say, what they can hear and what they can see,” Schmitt said. “Censorship is on the rise. The desire of governments and powerful leads [sic] to control speech is hardly new but America has always stood as the exception.”
The Republican senator went on to blast the federal government’s collusion with Big Tech to censor information. “Recently, government actors colluded with Big Tech companies — some of the biggest companies and most powerful companies in the history of the world — to censor and de-platform individuals for not buying into the approved narrative,” he said. “Whether you agree with that narrative or not is hardly the point. The point is it’s incredibly dangerous. Suppression of speech and censorship is justified now as it has always been but with a new lexicon, calling it misinformation or disinformation.”
It’s not the government’s job to tell us what we can see or hear. Each one of us can make those decisions ourselves. Period. pic.twitter.com/UQSJd8G60M
— Eric Schmitt (@Eric_Schmitt) June 20, 2023
Schmitt cited the Biden administration’s defunct Disinformation Governance Board, which he described as “Orwellian,” as evidence of the federal government’s plot to seek power through the censorship of information. “We saw individuals silenced and suspended from platforms at the government's behest for challenging the validity of mask mandates and lockdowns or for questioning the official narrative as the origins of COVID-19, for simply speaking their minds,” the Missouri senator stated.
Schmitt concluded his passionate speech by rejecting the notion of government control. “It’s not the government’s job to tell us what we can hear or what we’re supposed to believe. Each one of us can make those decisions ourselves.”
Watch his full remarks here:
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