Don’t want a dictator. Don’t want a 4th iteration of Obama and his pals “fundamentally transforming” the USA. I prefer a strong USA with intact borders and without the need to placate ourselves with EU and UN.
There's a pretty big difference there, I think. When Tony Soprano asks a favor, I think people know what happens when they refuse .. because he has a history of retaliating. When has the president punished a bookseller for selling a book? Or threatened to punish the bookseller? Has it ever happened? I'm sure there have been plenty of times the administration or intelligence agencies have asked newspapers to not publish a story or certain details in the story.. Yes, there is way too much belittling, denigrating, etc., instead of honest conversation. But do you really think that's limited to one side of the aisle? I don't.
I disagree. When the person or entity with ALL the power makes a request there is a sense of punching down. Think about if a CEO approached an employee and asked if she would work weekends or would she go out for drinks.. whatever realm you want.. the employee is going to feel pressure because of the power dynamic. Whether or not there is a history of the boss retaliating. Same with the WH asking Amazon YouTube etc to censor their offerings.
Apparently, the request was not to remove the listings and no longer sell the books, but rather not to promote them. Nobody pulled a DeSantis here. No one should have an interest in promoting factually or scientifically inaccurate books, but they should be available to people who want to reinforce their erroneous beliefs. I have no issue with Amazon selling "Earth is Flat" or "Moon Landing Was a Hoax" books, but I don't want to see that crap on page one of the search results when I'm looking for books about geography or NASA.
I get that. Let’s look at Covid. Should Amazon have not promoted books claiming that 6ft distancing was inaccurate? Should they have not promoted books that say double masking was necessary. Or that masks are not effective. Should they have not promoted books about Hunters laptop( clearly we know now it isn’t a hoax and I think it’s fair to say the WH knew all along). At what point is it ok for the WH to decide what is censored? Can Trump, if elected make unilateral decisions? Can he decide what should and should not be promoted? Somehow I think many ( including me) would have big issues with that.
Funny story, the Trump administration also worked with the same social media companies to deplatform anti-vaxxers. The more you know. It's only a problem if they were making threats. There's nothing wrong with the government asking private businesses to do something that is in the public interest. It becomes a problem when they use threats or coercion.
Yeah, you're way off the mark. The government asking private businesses to act in the public interest is not new. There is a point where it can become coercion, but a mere request is not out of bounds, nor is it comparable to a CEO asking somebody who works for him to do something.
The public interest? Who decides that? You’re ok with the WH making those calls? Suppress the Uunter Biden Laptop story.. it’s Russian propaganda? In the public’s best interest? Making up faux science is in the public’s best interest. Let’s suppress anything that might go against the WH … everyone mask up because… it doesn’t help at all but WH says we should do it. Covid is spread on hard surfaces. … no.. through the air. Everyone must be vaccinated even kids.. although science showed that was a joke.. So who decides it’s in the public’s best interest. Are you going to be cavalier about it if Trump wins and asks Amazon to suppress certain hooks.. in the public’s best interest of course… or maybe he should asks media outlets to suppress info about the boarder.. in the public’s best interest. Somehow I think the left wouldn’t be anywhere near as forgiving. And I think you know it.
1. If you don't think that POTUS carries a lot of weight and asking a "favor" doesn't have implications I would say you're naive. 2. No doubt - and they may have appropriate reasons why. What were the appropriate reasons why the Biden Administration shut people down? "Science!!!" is not an answer no matter how loudly it's proclaimed. The reasons given at the time have by and large proved to be incorrect - incompetence? Political switcheroo? Just don't give a rip? 3. It is not uncommon, when I start a thread or make a post, that the response has little or nothing to do with the substance of the post but is directed at me the original poster. "Lack of critical thinking skills..." "...didn't understand or got too tired....because of too many paragraphs" "source is tainted." Those were from the first three responses to the OP. How many folks from the Right no longer post on THFSG? Are they all snowflakes? Perhaps; but, I don't read about handfuls of folks on the Left leaving because they find the site intolerable. Here's the thing: maybe they are correct - but nowhere is provided any substantive reasons, facts or documentation why all the things they claim are true. It's simply: "Moron MAGA alert" Yuck, yuck, yuck... I receive and accept those type of comments and point out their weakness. Understanding human nature, unfortunately, not everyone will take it as a compliment.
White House seeks Silicon Valley help battling coronavirus Isn't that the point of elections? Am I okay with the White House making requests? Yes, I am. L-O-L. Donald Trump was President when the Hunter Biden laptop story dropped. Oh god, the world is ending if the White House can make requests of private businesses! It's not like that has been a normal thing for decades. You mean like this: Trump asks Walmart, Target and other retail giants to help tackle the coronavirus crisis THE HORROR, THE HORROR! Like I said, if it's just a request, no big deal. The media or Amazon can say no. When it becomes coercion or when he makes threats, we'll have a problem.
If you only understood how disinformation has you believing we did the right things during Covid… Any epidemiologist or public health official worth anything knew this disease was a threat to a very small group from the very beginning (Italy/Diamond Princess/New York/etc). But you want to think we should still jab a 6 month old lol?
A president using the bully pulpit isn’t or illegal or even unusual. You could say improper if that were your opinion. What do you think about DeSantis and Disney, which went well beyond jawboing?
1. Examples of what has been done? Or what has been threatened, other than Trump's threats to go after MSNBC and others if he's reelected? Anything at all? 2. I don't think either of us have a breakdown of the requests over the years. And who exactly did the Biden admin 'shut down?' 3. I suspect there's more than one reason why we don't have a ton of conservatives anymore. If you think it's all because "liberals are so mean ..." then there's probably nothing I can say. But let's don't hijack this thread with that discussion, please.
