Friday, March 29, 2024

EXCLUSIVE – Laura Loomer: Quit Your Big Tech Addiction Before It ‘Quits’ You.

You’re a social media addict and so was I. Big Tech has us hooked in, and while some conservatives are willing to be vocal about it, very few are willing to change their behaviors. That’s addiction.

There’s a great debate about this between Vox’s Ezra Klein and author Nir Eyal. Klein – in response to Eyal’s denial that people hooked on Big Tech can be classed as “addicts” – offers what I think is a killer blow: “I actually think that if we don’t talk about addiction, we are letting these companies off the hook. That’s what I think is dangerous.”

Of course it’s dangerous. As Jon Schweppe writes in the New York Post:

Big Tech companies hire psychologists and neurologists to develop addictive techniques that will keep users on the hamster wheel as long as possible. The longer users stay on their platforms, the more advertisements the firms can serve and the more money they can make. Advertisers are the consumer; users are merely the product.

It’s why Sen. Josh Hawley introduced the SMART Act:

To prohibit social media companies from using practices that exploit human psychology or brain physiology to substantially impede freedom of choice, to require social media companies to take measures to mitigate the risks of internet addiction and psychological exploitation, and for other purposes.

And yet many are unwilling to wrest themselves from the psychological clutches of Big Tech. A Big Tech not just intent on siphoning every cent they can out of you, but also forcing political bias and an uninformed and often sophomoric “world philosophy” down our throats.

In Silicon Valley the consensus prevails: globalism good, Orange Man bad.

Apps like Parler or Gab – truly free speech platforms – are overlooked by those with established accounts because they really don’t think Big Tech will come for them. But they will, with increasing speed, especially on the run up to a presidential election.

If people care about free speech (and I really mean care, not just about their own perceived right to tweet) and if they are tired of online censorship of conservative voices, now would be the time to practice what they preach.

Sure, these alternative platforms are not quite the size of their Big Tech competitors. But that Mom & Pop store you like visiting also doesn’t necessarily have the same things the big box retailers do. But you still prefer it. Why? Because it’s real. And neither Mom nor Pop feel the need to proselytize at you politically, nor shape or monitor your behavior like Amazon, Target, or otherwise.

In other words, there may be room in your life for both. And you may even end up spending less time overall concerning yourself with the digital world as a result.

Think about it this way: right now people get stuck in a social media loop. You load up Instagram, then Facebook, then Twitter. Then repeat.

Introduce a couple of other options in here and you’ll learn to disturb that “constant scroll/refresh” mentality.

You’ll see stories you hadn’t seen before, because Twitter crushes things from outlets like Breitbart or the National Pulse. And you’ll be more likely to hit “SHARE” and send it in an email to someone. Loop broken.

Right now Twitter and Facebook feed you things to keep you angry, fearful, and constantly refreshing. These other platforms don’t do that. In fact Parler specifically caters towards data security and doesn’t try to know everything about you. Big Tech’s 24/7 data rape mentality is just creepy.

But we’ve invited these digital peeping Toms into our lives. They live in our phones.

If you dare to go so far: hit delete altogether.

When people complain about bans and ask to be put back online, the only people who benefit are Jack Dorsey and Mark Zuckerberg. Oh, and their foreign investors.

Every time a popular conservative media influencer tweets or makes a post on Facebook that goes viral, Silicon Valley types get richer and more powerful. By accepting the monopoly, conservatives enable their oppressors.

It is the very definition of an abusive relationship: conservatives are getting abused by Big Tech, and then beg their abusers to accept them once again. Then, when Big Tech allows the abusive relationship to continue with even more conditions, conservatives further silence themselves through self censorship so that big tech doesn’t slap them silly with yet another suspension or ban.

This cycle continues until the victim breaks free, but often times, the situation turns lethal, and the abuser actually kills. Big tech wants to kill you off.

It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but the longer you allow your addiction to keep you in your abusive relationship, the more you increase the odds of becoming another statistic of digital extermination, when you could easily break free and engage in a relationship with a platform that actually respects you.

For two years I have listened to countless conservatives tell me they have sympathy for my situation – which you can read more about here – but the number of people this has happened to has only increased. We simply don’t have a handle on it. And we don’t have a handle on it because we aren’t willing to protest forcefully enough.

Do you dare?
We are long overdue a mass exodus to alternative platforms, or none at all.

With six months until the presidential election and with a pandemic with no end in site, there is no more time for half-hearted outrage, nor for virtue signaling on the matter. The time to act is now.

The First Amendment is the foundational principle of our Constitutional Republic, and it is what separates us from the rest of the world.

Tyranny, oppression, and authoritarian regimes silence political dissent and “wrong think” in order to control the masses. In many parts of the world like China, Iran, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia, people are literally jailed and killed for speaking up.

Censorship is a matter of life or death. It is not a marketing tool, and “influencers” who use their social media “lockouts” and temporary bans as a way to simply generate press without taking action to move to sites that do not engage in censorship ought to be ashamed of themselves for their mind numbing hypocrisy.

Whether you are a Democrat, a Republican, an independent, or not political at all, we should all be united in support of preserving and protecting this God given right.

And remember this the next time you load up Twitter: Big Tech is not America First. There is nothing MAGA about Big Tech.

As millions of Americans continue to file for unemployment and as small businesses shutter, Big Tech – which conducts the majority of their manufacturing in China – is only getting richer.

This is why I decided to run for U.S. Congress, and this is why big tech tyranny and censorship is a cornerstone of my campaign.

As a declared Congressional candidate in Florida’s 21st Congressional district, which is President and Mrs. Trump’s home residence and voting location, not only am I banned on all social media sites as an individual, but these same sites will not allow my campaign to have accounts.

Despite being the most banned woman in the world, I have launched a very successful congressional campaign in which I am the frontrunner, and while only having access to Parler and Gab, I have out fundraised all of my opponents combined for three fundraising quarters in a row.

This includes out fundraising Lois Frankel, my opponent, who is a four term obstructionist Democrat, and one of the first to call for President Trump’s impeachment.

You can restore your following outside of Twitter and Facebook. There is life outside of Twitter and Facebook. It may seem scary at first, but it takes courage to take the first step in making a difference and creating long lasting change.

As the saying goes, “actions speak louder than words”.

Don’t let Big Tech kill you off. Don’t let Big Tech hand pick election winners.

Join me on the other side where we can all be heard together.

Find out more about my campaign for Congress, here. And if you want to see what a real free speech platform looks like, follow me on Parler, here.

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