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From Gulag to Google

It is true that Google is not imprisoning dissenters in a vast network of prison camps, similar to what Alexander Solzhenitsyn described in The Gulag Archipelago. But there is a good reason that retired NYU professor Michael Rectenwald titled his 2019 book Google Archipelago: The Digital Gulag and the Simulation of Freedom. The reach and power of the social media giants is frightening. It is with little exaggeration that the owners of Google (which includes YouTube) and Facebook and Twitter are called “the masters of the universe.” Their domination must be challenged – while it can be.

The recent elections have provided stark and shocking proof of the power of these internet giants, dwarfing any concerns about voter fraud. The influence that Big Tech had over the elections was far greater, illustrated in the censoring of the Hunter Biden story, with the help of the mainstream media.

According to one survey, had more Americans known about the alleged scandal, some would not have voted for Joe Biden. That alone would have tipped the scales in Trump’s favor. Added to this (again, with the enthusiastic help of the mainstream media) was the failure to report on Trump’s many positive accomplishments. According to this same survey, had more voters been aware of the good Trump had done, some would have changed their vote.

What Big Tech has done, though, is absolutely brazen. “You will report our version of the news,” they are basically saying, “or you will not report at all.”

And for the most part, when we search for news online, we don’t even realize we are being manipulated. Google will show us what it wants us to know, not just the most relevant information.

We are being programmed and indoctrinated and we haven’t a clue that it’s happening.

Is not this like the reach of the Gulag? Is not this more similar to totalitarianism than to our supposedly free and open country?

Just think.

Big Tech (specifically Twitter) shut down the account of The New York Post, one of the nation’s leading and oldest newspapers. That’s right. They shut their account down for daring to report on the Hunter Biden laptop. How can this be?

But it gets worse. Big Tech (again, Twitter) has taken on the president of the United States, censoring (or, at least filtering or commenting on) his own tweets.

Let that sink in for a minute.

If Big Tech is not afraid to take on the most powerful man on the planet – and one of the most fearless and even vindictive as well – what makes you think it will not try to take us on as well, not to mention shut us down?

And now YouTube has announced that it will remove all videos that dispute the results of the elections, even while legal challenges are still being processed in the courts. In the same way, YouTube has removed videos with different takes on COVID-19, even if those videos come from experts in their field. “Thou shalt not dissent!” is the word for the hour.

The purge is on — full steam ahead.

To this moment, every post that my team puts on Facebook that has anything to do with the elections, however remotely, appears with a link to the election results, courtesy of Big Tech.

To this moment, virtually every video we post on YouTube, regardless of content, gets flagged immediately, forcing us to request a manual review. And even though the vast majority of the videos are approved for monetization, why are they flagged in the first place? Based on what?

Other colleagues of mine have not fared so well, having their entire library of videos removed from Vimeo (they dared question the “gays are born that way and cannot change” narrative).

Others have had their Facebook pages shut down for posting verses from the Bible that spoke against homosexual practice or, within the last two weeks, for exposing Facebook’s anti-conservative methodology.

Gulag-like, indeed.

What, then, is the solution?

First, Congress needs to continue to hold the feet of Big Tech leaders to the fire, exposing unequal practices that violate their terms as platforms (rather than publishers). And where there are monopolies that need to be broken up, so be it. (I’m not a legal expert; others will have to parse these details.)

Second, we need to continue to develop viable, alternative platforms and search engines. This is happening already, but it will take some time to catch up to the massive numbers of Big Tech.

Third, rather than simply fleeing the platforms that are seeking to shut us down, we need to flood those platforms with good, godly, truthful content.

Get the word out. Push the envelope. Challenge the system.

I have often pointed to the words of the courageous, German Christian leader Basilea Schlink, penned in the aftermath of the destruction of World War II. She wrote,

“We are personally to blame. We all have to admit that if we, the entire Christian community, had stood up as one man and if, after the burning of the synagogues [on Krystallnacht, November 9, 1938], we had gone out on the streets and voiced our disapproval, rung the church bells, and somehow boycotted the actions of the S.S., the Devil’s vassals would probably not have been at such liberty to pursue their evil schemes” (see her book Israel, My Chosen People).

This is a message to take to heart, a message to move us to action.

Let us, then, do the equivalent of going out on the streets and voicing our disapproval and ringing the church bells. (And again, I recognize that Big Tech is not imprisoning us or, in this example, behaving like violent Nazis. It is our response I am focusing on.)

Let us post gospel truth on every social media outlet we have. Let us stand up for righteousness and get our message out. And let us oppose censorship when it raises its ugly head.

We can have different takes on COVID. We have different views on election fraud. We can love or hate Trump or Biden. That is not the issue.

The issue is one of freedom.

Google and its cohorts can only become more Gulag-like if we let them.

We cannot and we must not. Let us shout together, “Freedom!”


This article was originally published at AskDrBrown.org.



Shame on the Silent Christian Leaders Who Refuse to Stand Against Government Tyranny

There is only one thing more appalling than the Washington Supreme Court’s 9-0 ruling against religious liberty [on Thursday]. It is the silence of Christian leaders across America, leaders who choose convenience over confrontation, leaders who would rather be popular than prophetic, leaders who prefer the favor of people over the favor of the God. Shame on these silent leaders. Today is a day to stand.

There are, of course, the handful of expected Christian voices protesting the court’s outrageous decision, as these justices ruled unanimously against florist Barronelle Stutzman, claiming that she discriminated against a longtime gay customer (named Robert Ingersoll) when she told him she couldn’t make the floral arrangement for his upcoming gay “wedding,” despite the fact that she had served him for years and despite her recommending three other florists who could do the arrangements for his wedding.

Instead, the court ruled that this 72-year-old grandmother who had employed gay workers and served gay customers for years, was required by law to participate in a gay wedding, even though this constituted a direct violation of her religious beliefs – beliefs which have been consistent and almost universally held among Christians for the last 2,000 years.

Not only so, but the court upheld the attack on her personal assets as well – her house, her savings, her retirement funds – by requiring her “to pay the attorneys’ fees that the ACLU racked up in suing her,” fees which could reach as high as one million dollars.

Previously, when Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson, an aggressive liberal who brought the suit against Barronelle, “announced he would accept $2,000 in penalties, $1 in fees and costs, plus an agreement not to discriminate in the future and to end further litigation,” Barronelle rejected the proposed settlement.

She explained, “Your offer reveals that you don’t really understand me or what this conflict is all about. It’s about freedom, not money. I certainly don’t relish the idea of losing my business, my home, and everything else that your lawsuit threatens to take from my family, but my freedom to honor God in doing what I do best is more important. Washington’s constitution guarantees us ‘freedom of conscience in all matters of religious sentiment.’ I cannot sell that precious freedom. You are asking me to walk in the way of a well-known betrayer, one who sold something of infinite worth for 30 pieces of silver. That is something I will not do.”

She continued, “I pray that you reconsider your position. I kindly served Rob for nearly a decade and would gladly continue to do so. I truly want the best for my friend. I’ve also employed and served many members of the LGBT community, and I will continue to do so regardless of what happens with this case. You chose to attack my faith and pursue this not simply as a matter of law, but to threaten my very means of working, eating, and having a home. If you are serious about clarifying the law, then I urge you to drop your claims against my home, business, and other assets and pursue the legal claims through the appeal process.”

Today, on my radio show, shortly after the ruling was announced and with the full weight of the state’s ruling hanging over her head, she told me would do the same thing again (stating that when God changes His Word, she will change her mind), also stating without the slightest trace of bitterness that she would gladly serve Robert Ingersoll should he come into her store today.

Friends, what are we witnessing today is a breathtaking abuse of power, an extreme overreach by the government, a shocking example of LGBT activism out of control, yet over the next 7 days, church services will come and go without a word being spoken, and over the next 48 hours, the Christian blogosphere will remain relatively quiet. How can this be?

In the aftermath of the Holocaust, courageous Christian leader Basilea Schlink rebuked the silence of Christians immediately after Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass (November 9, 1938), when the Nazis set synagogues on fire and vandalized Jewish places of business, also killing and beating some Jewish victims as well. And while I am not comparing gay activists and their allies to Nazis and I am not comparing the Washington court’s ruling to Kristallnacht, I am comparing the silence of Christians then and now.

Please stop and read these words carefully.

Schlink wrote, “We are personally to blame. We all have to admit that if we, the entire Christian community, had stood up as one man and if, after the burning of the synagogues, we had gone out on the streets and voiced our disapproval, rung the church bells, and somehow boycotted the actions of the S.S., the Devil’s vassals would probably not have been at such liberty to pursue their evil schemes. But we lacked the ardor of love – love that is never passive, love that cannot bear it when its fellowmen are in misery, particularly when they are subjected to such appalling treatment and tortured to death. Indeed, if we had loved God, we would not have endured seeing those houses of God set ablaze; and holy, divine wrath would have filled our souls. . . . Oh, that we as Germans and as Christians would stand aghast and cry out ever anew, ‘What have we done!’ At every further evidence of our guilt may we repeat the cry.” (From her book Israel, My Chosen People: A German Confession Before God and the Jews.)

What adds to the tragic irony of the moment is that in recent weeks, designers have said they will no longer work with Melania Trump and stores have dropped Ivanka Trump product lines, not because of deeply held religious beliefs, which are explicitly protected by the First Amendment, but because of political differences. And these companies and individuals are being praised by liberal Americans for standing on their convictions. But when a Christian florist politely declines a gay couple’s request to design the floral arrangements for their “wedding” ceremony, she is taken to court and threatened with the loss of her business and all her personal assets.

Where is the righteous Christian indignation? And where are the bleeding-heart liberals who claim to care about the persecuted underdog? (Remember: The ACLU with its massive resources is leading the charge against Barronelle.)

I can respect Christian leaders who try to stay out of the culture wars because they don’t want to drive their LGBT neighbors and friends away from the gospel – as long as they speak up at times like this, when our fundamental liberties are being trashed and when a gracious Christian grandmother is being savaged by the state. But should they remain silent at a time like this, the next time they raise their voices on behalf of the LGBT community (and against the conservative evangelicals they so frequently attack) they will be shouting one message to the world: “I am a hypocritical coward!”

Let me urge you, then, to do three things: 1) share this article with others to help spread the word; 2) make a statement about this gross injustice however you can (on social media; to your family; from your pulpit – I’m urging every pastor reading this column to say something to your flock the next opportunity you have); 3) go to this website to stand with Barronelle and her team; 4) pray for God to awaken the Church of America.

Will you take a stand today?