The 1st Amendment to the Constitution of the US:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…except when it concerns the rights of American citizens to access and use (speak freely) a media platform (press) such as TikTok.
China bad. Steve Mnuchin good. Or so the schtick goes in the escalating conflict between the erstwhile dominant Hegemon (US) and the upstart rival (China).
“I think the legislation should pass and I think it should be sold,” Mnuchin told CNBC‘s “Squawk Box” on Thursday. “It’s a great business and I’m going to put together a group to buy TikTok,” he added…”This should be owned by U.S. businesses. There’s no way that the Chinese would ever let a U.S. company own something like this in China,” Mnuchin said…
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-mnuchin-says-he-wants-buy-tiktok
“It’s a great business and I’m going to put together a group to buy TikTok,” says Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. “The issue is all about the technology. This needs to be controlled by U.S. businesses.”
pic.twitter.com/6yoLoL5bay— Squawk Box (@SquawkCNBC) March 14, 2024
For those who are not aware, the legislation mentioned is a bill passed by the US House of Representatives only a few days ago and sent to the Senate, where it is almost certain to meet overwhelming approval, to be sent to Joe Biden, who has already promised to sign it into law. This bill is officially titled “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act” (H.R.7521), more easily known as The TikTok Divestment bill. The introduction is sufficient to tell you what this is all about.
A BILL
To protect the national security of the United States from the threat posed by foreign adversary controlled applications, such as TikTok and any successor application or service and any other application or service developed or provided by ByteDance Ltd. or an entity under the control of ByteDance Ltd.
https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20240311/HR%207521%20Updated.pdf
Yesssss!!! Now the truth is coming out. ByteDance Ltd. is the real enemy which we have to conquer. In order to protect the “national security of the United States”, ByteDance Ltd., a Chinese-owned company MUST be forced to sell its American branch of TikTok to someone like Steve Mnuchin, one of the “elite, uber-wealthy, 1%-ers, who will then use it to enhance the “national security of the United States”, because it is “just not right” that ByteDance, China should be gathering all that information on its client users, even though they voluntarily give it up themselves. No, no, all that information really ought to be funneled to the US government, which, alone in the world except for Israel (I really didn’t say that), is righteous and concerned only with the “general welfare” of its citizens. Those dastardly Chinks, anyway! There ought to be a law!!
Well, according to Joe Biden, there will be shortly and then we will begin to see the repercussions.
It is a known fact that millions upon millions of Americans use TikTok regularly, including many who have built successful, thriving businesses on the app, and if this bill passes, they would find themselves unable to access it. Even those who only use it to communicate with their friends and acquaintances would be shut out, that is, unless a consortium of “patriotic Americans” (Steve Mnuchin, et al.) was to buy it, slap an American label on it, and sell the service to their own “captive audience”. If that happened, then everything would be right with the world. Again.
Nevertheless, drilling down into this issue, I conclude there is more here than meets the eye. This is a matter of free speech, as codified in the 1st Amendment to the Constitution, which Congress is rapidly infringing upon and abridging, contrary to the oath sworn to uphold the Constitution. Banning TikTok (and ByteDance) from serving their clients would have the effect of shutting down the free speech of countless people in America. This is where the rubber meets the road. The issue is all about control of the populace at large and the power to enforce what is said. Totalitarians everywhere, at all times, have always tried to control the conversation between people, outlawing “subversive” speech, banning the free exchange of ideas, forcing everyone to parrot the narrative, and have resorted to force and violence to make sure that no one gets out of line.
Disclaimer: I do not use TikTok. Except for a very few times when I viewed a video on TikTok which someone linked to, I have no experience with the platform. However, I am adamant about my resistance to those who would censor it or shut it off for whatever reason. Whenever someone, anyone, tells me that I CANNOT see and read, or hear and listen to anything which I want to, then I will view that as an attempt to control me. Whenever someone, anyone, tells me that I CANNOT communicate with anyone else that I want to, then there is going to be trouble.
TikTok may be a socially reprehensible vehicle. It may be used by one government against another. There may be other equally justifiable reasons to get rid of it. These “truths” may be self-evident, but they are irrelevant to my argument. I have the right, the absolute right, to manage my own affairs AND to go to Hell in my own way–if I desire to. Furthermore, since I believe in the principle of loving my neighbor as I do myself (even though I fail at times), I have to allow my neighbor that same right and freedom.
I will never relent. I will never back down.
Afterword: read for yourself.
https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2023/04/19/montana-the-new-state-of-censorship
https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2023/04/23/tiktok-round-2
https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2023/04/26/tiktok-round-3
https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2023/05/22/the-end-of-the-world-and-tiktok
https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2023/12/01/the-saga-of-tiktok-montana-continues
https://poorrogersalmanac.com/2023/12/12/and-the-beat-goes-on
Poor Roger's Almanac 