being influenced

 Have you heard about social media companies being sued for children using them? Yes, a class action lawsuit is being pushed forward blaming the companies for targeting children with dangerous content. These companies should take steps to protect the children. No mention of parents being held accountable for the kids using these platforms though, it's the companies fault. This whole class action lawsuit thing just looks like a legal attempt to censor and control media. It isn't being proposed by the government exactly but is being supported by our judicial system if allowed to proceed. What follows? The government begins to control content. They have to because no one is controlling the children. The parents aren't responsible for that usage therefore the "state" should be. It's what's best for the children. Sounds like a familiar narrative, doesn't it? It's for safety. It is being proposed that special permission would have to be granted to children to use social media. Just how you would go about that wasn't explained. Having identification to vote is just racist and unjust so how are we to verify age before allowing access to Facebook? Wouldn't having to provide proof be unfair? And just who controls that? And let's be clear about this proposal. It isn't that these people want the children barred completely from using social media, they want the content to be controlled! You can only post this or that, whatever is approved by? And there is the heart of the matter. Who will control content? And not just content, how that content is presented, by what methods. 

 You know it's a funny thing because a great deal of these proposed restrictions was already in place years ago. But there were those that challenged all of that in the courts claiming censorship. If the people that want to sue Facebook and others today for the content of their platforms were around in years past, we may not have television today! Television was poisoning the minds of our children, the boob tube! A phrase coined to describe how our children were being dumbed down by watching too much television. Boob tube takes on a new meaning these days with the content on regular scheduled programming! Consider the content on television today as compared to fifty years ago. The difference is stark and should be alarming, But it all happened just a little at a time. It happened in the interest of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and our rights! 

 The government has no business restricting any of that! But, we can sure sue those that provide it! If my children are watching that stuff, it is their fault! If they didn't provide it, they couldn't watch it. Yes they have an absolute right to broadcast that, we will defend that right to the death, but we will sue you if my children watch. The same applies to gun manufacturers. If your gun is used to harm someone else I can sue you for that, if you hadn't made the gun, no one could have used it! Now if drag queens are giving a show at the children's library that is their absolute right to do so! If you don't want your children to see that don't take them to the library. That seems to be a special category. Can I take my children to the library and then sue that library for the drag queen show? No, I can't do that! It's my fault for taking the kids to the library. 

 Really what all this is about is morality and ethics. That was always the job of the parents to teach their children. That was the purpose of religious instruction and the teaching of civic responsibility. It is about doing what is best for the majority. But parents aren't accountable for their children's actions anymore, it's not their fault. The government will now decide upon all of that. And remember our Constitution has separated church from state for that very reason! We can't have any religions teaching our children any of that! Only government can dictate what is moral and ethical. Consider what is now being allowed in the public domain, on main street, in our schools and pre-schools today. So, the new plan, the progressive approach is to litigate moral and ethical practices. The judge will decide what is best! Never mind what the parents allow, pay attention to what is being provided. If a child cuts their finger with a knife, it is the fault of the manufacturer! They should have provided a safety device to prevent that. 

 Well, all the ills of the world are being created by these social media platforms. These platforms are influencing the youth! And we all know about influencers! If isn't some guy that pretends he is a teenage girl drinking Bud light, it's the Russians influencing our elections! Why I remember when my mom or dad would tell me, stay away from that kid, he's a bad influence! They didn't sue the other kid though, it was up to me to avoid that. Today we need to control the influencers without censoring the influencers. They should still be free to say whatever they want, do whatever they want without restriction. And we can sue them for that, it isn't censorship, it's accountability. Those social media companies are making money off of attracting users! They are influencing people!