Articles
Surveillance has been Normalized but so has Self-Censorship
ARTICLE
Revelations like those from Snowden and the Pegasus Project have this same unexpected and counterintuitive effect. Instead of rejecting the control, we increasingly learn to adapt and self censor. The panopticon effect lies exactly in this acceptance of the new normal. Afraid to say the wrong thing, we self censure our discourse and the allowable range of ideas becomes more and more narrow. Those who fail to ‘check their words’ are cancelled and provide an example for the rest. The Underground Episode 7: Media Watch — the Pegasus Leak
PODCAST
In this episode, Sasha and Nesim are joined by Plebity writer Rozali Telbis to discuss the recent revelations about the spyware Pegasus—produced by Israeli company NSO Group—which is used by client governments to spy on journalists, activists, political leaders, and others.Pegasus, Pandemics, and the Normalization of Surveillance
ARTICLE
All around the world, digital tools are being used in various ways to monitor data and control access. Privacy experts have long warned that these digital tools are not easily reversible; they are often repackaged, and repurposed for other means. As always, their calls have been ignored.Breaking up the Tech Giants is not Enough
ARTICLE
Monopoly used to be understood in a kind of one dimensional space, how a company may have gained dominance in its industry. However, today’s tech monopolies exist in multidimensions; they monopolize and control our data, they decide when and if to censor our speech, and they purchase government officials, the same ones charged with reigning them in. But our old conception of monopolies is totally inadequate to describe or understand the significance of today’s big tech companies.The Underground Episode 6: Big Tech, Censorship, and Capitalism
PODCAST
In this episode, we discuss the power a few big tech companies have amassed when it comes to who can say what. To have the power to silence even a president indicates a serious issue when it comes to a private company, especially when you start to look at the connections between the government and the tech companies. We discuss the way some of these companies appear to be state actors in some regards, and the need for genuine freedom of speech for everyone, a value which is being corrupted by the tech overlords’ desire for profit and power.Sean McCarthy on How the Left Can Find its Relevance Again
VIDEO
In this clip from Sasha and Nesim's interview with Sean McCarthy, Sean explains what he thinks the left needs to focus on in order to regain its relevance and make real change. McCarthyism, Political Courage and High Noon
ARTICLE
Witch hunts in various forms are one of those recurring themes of human history. One variation, known as McCarthyism, has returned recently, at least in the lexicon. The word McCarthyism has been thrown around a lot lately. Like ‘fascist’ or ‘marxist,’ it is a part of the word arsenal deployed in our current culture wars.Nadine Strossen on the Importance of Consistent Principled Support of Free Speech
PODCAST
Nadine Strossen, former president of the ACLU, joins Sasha to discuss a range of issues that revolve around freedom of expression including cancel culture, at-will employment laws, pornography, and the importance of speaking out to defend those who are under attack for exercising their freedom of expression.Anti-Oppression Politics is a Red Herring to Divert Our Attention from Empire, Inequality, and Class Solidarity
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Why are the rich so much better at uniting around class issues than the plebes? Outrage is a sentiment that feels so pure and so right. When it is pointed at injustice and burns bright inside of us we are reaffirmed as the moral beings that we believe ourselves to be. That our strongly held sense of righteousness could be a useful tool for others and even redirected to serve their purposes may seem impossible and even unbearable. What Canada’s Church Arsons Reveal About the ‘Progressive’ Country
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On Canada Day, July 1, 2021, a Catholic church in East Vancouver, B.C. was vandalized with orange paint. A video posted to social media revealed two young women behind this act of vandalism.Hey English Instructors – ‘Take a History Class and Learn about Free Speech’
ARTICLE
Recently, Oklahoma University contributed their own stark example of how the core values of free speech and critical thinking are being misunderstood and misapplied in the spheres of what we call ‘higher education’.Hyperbole on the Loose! The Left Cries Wolf and is Unprepared to Recognize the Real Thing
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When you’ve branded every dissenting voice–no matter how mild, with the harshest possible labels, what vocabulary do you have available to point out the actual wolf when it comes out of the forest?