On this fine holiday I wanted to talk about something happening right now to businesses like mine. It’s the issue of censorship. I have never said anything about it before but what I post on social media is heavily censored. Yes, what I post, me, someone who is not advocating hate, violence, or discrimination but rather someone who posts about self-help issues, love, mindset issues and the occasional “how to drop a few L-B’s without going on a diet” post. It’s that last one that gets me into the most trouble.
This problem is happening a lot more than most people think and not necessarily to whom you would expect. Almost everyone I work with in the healing arts has at some point had their content removed or restricted on one or more social media platforms. And we are talking about some pretty tame self help type content.
And as some of you have already figured out, social media platforms and amazon are judge, jury and executioner when it comes to this issue and there is nothing you can do about it.
So why am I telling you this now?
Well, it’s not just because I am a complainer (OK I am I admit it). But mostly it’s because this issue affects a lot of people who create all kinds of content and it’s also not something that’s talked about in the media. It seems like every day I am hearing about another person whose content I really like being censored in some way, including my own… Also…
-Pinterest (my favorite platform) just gave me a new and very very long list of things I am no longer allowed to talk about on their platform. NO!!!
-About once a week I hear from someone doing advocacy for an organization tell me that they can’t say “What’s really going” because regardless of what they say and how carefully they word their statements they will be accused of being racist, doing hate speech or something even worse.
So instead, they don’t expose corruption or social injustice. In short they “self-sensor” just like the rest of us, and don’t post material that they will have to explain to a review panel later. And that information stays hidden.
I watched a you-tube video the other day about how the real-estate market works, and the host mentioned that a few years ago his you-tube channel got “Knee Caped” because he said something “you aren’t supposed to say about China”. He expressed surprise that any of his viewers were able to find the channel anymore. His whole channel is about real-estate, not an industry that usually gets censored. Now I don’t know what he said, maybe it was really bad, but I am going to guess we all know how to “unsubscribe” to something by now.
Nobody wants to see overtly racist material on their public platforms, me neither. But I would argue that this material is still easier to find than a lot of the very positive or helpful information that is currently being censored.
I think it’s important for you to be aware of how much ordinary day-to-day self-help or informative material is being kept from your view, for reasons you may not be comfortable with.
On this fine day I want you to think about how comfortable you are with censorship? How do you feel about how much of what you hear about in the media is being filtered? Are you ok with that?
If you are ok with censorship that’s totally fine, I respect that. We can disagree and still be friends..that’s my hard and steady rule, but I wanted you to know that this is not just crazy extreme hate groups this is happening to but also to lots of voices whose message might really bring joy and wisdom into your life..if you could see find them that is.
I hope you take some time today to ponder those questions for yourself, enjoy family and recognize that “freedom” may be a more complicated issue than you thought.
Much love,
Jill K Thomas CHT
Soul Connect Transformations
Hypnotherapy and Intuitive Readings
760-803-2841
www.jillkthomas.com
Author of the books “The High Income Healer” “Tales from the Trance” & “Feed your Real Hunger”
Appointments available Globally by Video Chat