Facebook Is Only a Symptom of Leftist Intolerance

Facebook Is Only a Symptom of Leftist Intolerance

Despite creating all those new “reaction” buttons, Facebook hasn’t found the perfect emoji to describe the latest news surrounding the social media giant’s political suppression tactics. As wewrote earlier this week, former Facebook employees have claimed the company rigs its “trending” section to downplay news from conservative sources. In short, while Facebook users think they’re seeing trending news, they’re really seeing the news Facebook wants them to see. Leftists would always rather suppress conservative thought than debate it.

Making this web of intrigue even stickier is the recent revelation that the person responsible for managing Facebook’s Trending Topics section, Tom Stocky, has given the maximum $2,700 to Hillary Clinton’s primary campaign. His wife also maxed out at $2,700. Of course, both are free to support their candidate of choice. But it certainly does add credence to questions over whether Facebook’s trending topics are really trending or simply “Stocky-approved.”

That’s not to say Facebook doesn’t have the freedom to govern its technology or ideology. As a private (publicly traded) company, it most certainly does — which makes the recently launched Senate investigation not only an outrage but a serious embarrassment to the GOP-led chamber. This week, the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee sent a letter to Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg asking the company to explain its process for picking trending stories and to hand over its internal guidelines to the government.

As David Harsanyi notes, “[D]oes Facebook even have to link to any conservative news stories? And do we really want the Senate defining what constitutes ‘conservative’ news, anyway?” We echo Harsanyi in saying when it comes to the Senate’s demands, the proper answer is “none of your business.” (Just like any number of issues Congress has investigated — steroids in baseball, concussions in football, etc.) And for those who may not like Facebook’s ideology, they can simply hit “deactivate.”

Besides, the real issue isn’t Facebook as a private company delivering selective news. What’sreally trending — and has been for some time — is the Left’s effort to silence and even criminalize any thoughts not in lock-step with its own — and leftists' determination to use the government as a weapon to do it.

Don’t believe us? Just think about U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s admission that her office has considered taking civil action against those who dare question man-made climate change. “The matter has been discussed,” she said. “We have received information about it and have referred it to the FBI to consider whether or not it meets the criteria for which we could take action on.” That’s right, if you put any credence in the science that questions climate change, you may end up on an FBI hit-list. Welcome to the Left’s America.

Then there’s the battle of lawsuits over transgender bathrooms. The Left demands not only that you don’t question adults with gender disorientation pathology sharing bathroom space with children but that you actively endorse it. Perhaps someone should go into a “Employees Only” area of Target, claim they self-identify as a Target employee, and then refuse to leave. Or better yet, as the Department of Justice targets North Carolina for the radical idea that children should not be put at risk to cater to those suffering from gender dysphoria, why don’t we self-identify as Congress and defund the DOJ?

Of course, that would never fly. That’s because none of this is about reality — it’s all about ideological control that demands conformity, or else.

We’ve seen it in bakers being excoriated for suggesting marriage is between one man and one woman, a black police chief being fired for his same belief, and a grandmother at risk of losing her livelihood because she refuses to let the government dictate her beliefs. And we’ve seen it in a Harvard professors call to treat conservatives as the vanquished Axis Powers of World War II.

Perhaps he’s unaware of the irony that this thought suppression is nothing new. It’s been true of leftist movements from Bolshevik/Soviet Russia to Nazi Germany to modern Cuba. But it’s become increasingly true in America as well. Facebook is but a symptom of this greater disease.

Make no mistake. The Left wants neither freedom nor tolerance. They want absolute ideological domination. And in that world, no one is safe.