I don't agree with most of the shit in this vid, especially that this is all some coordinated effort to control people into being slaves, but your comment about 'safety' made me remember this clip, primarily the part about YouTube videos.
View: https://streamable.com/3lljkc
It was definitely a gradual shift, but over the last few years we've seen social media websites with growing influence, growing control over public discourse and expression become emboldened bit by bit to remove what they don't like under the guise of "safety". First they demonetized edgy content, then they removed edgy content, then they removed controversial news and figures who made controversial content, and now they are removing dissenting opinion because its "hate speech" or "misinformation" all in favor of advertiser friendly "content" on advertiser friendly platforms, in the name of 'safety'.
On a different but relate note, the other day i was browsing Vidlii, and stumbled upon a song called "Alabama "GAYmer word"" by Johny Rebel. I saw the thumbnail, a confederate flag, and immediately remembered how a couple years my ago me and my early teen friends (some of them were black) used to ironically sing this song in 9th grade along with other KKK anthems ironically because, back then, super racist shit was something people laughed at online. In fact, the other day I rewatched a 2017 video of Deji (previously known as Comedy Shorts Gamer) react to a racist song about black people and he was slightly triggered by it for comedic effect, but that was it. He said "this is so racist" and started laughing. No one said it was problematic, there wasn't a bunch of drama on twitter, everybody in the comments was joking around and laughing at the reaction, there was nothing dangerous about it. The video even has ads on it.
View attachment 37086
Anyway, I have distinct memories of us going around the halls and singing "I am the grandwizard man, born leader of the ku klux klan", and while it sounds weird to say, I look back at those times fondly. Edgy humor, especially ironic racist humor revolving around these songs was something I remember seeingly regularly on youtube in 2016. It wasn't considered dangerous at the time. After being reminded of them them by vidlii, I went to look up these songs on youtube again, and what do you know they are ALL gone. I remember specifically looking them up on youtube back in the day, but now its as if they were never there. All of the johny rebel songs, all of the KKK songs, all of the moonman songs, even the original upload of the black people song that Deji reacted to in this video is gone.
I just wonder how the frick did we get to this point?
Maybe it's just the sort of media I follow, but I feel like 2022 has been an especially telling year for how fast censorship is being adopted in mainstream/non-political media in the name of 'safety'. It was slow at first, but its very clear its snowballing. It's not like we gave them an inch and they took a mile, its like they took an inch, saw us get mad and still give them our clicks and attention, so they took additional inch after inch after inch until we got to where we are today.
Corporations have set a precedent that a simple claim that something is "dangerous" or "hate speech" is enough to boot someone off their platforms, and now the internet.
- Kiwifarms can get dropped by cloudflare because of "an imminent threat to human life", no notice to the owner, no action to mitigate the threat, and lastly, no proof to back it up.
- Andrew Tate can be banned from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook within the span of 2 days for "hate speech", "misinformation", "being a dangerous individual/organization". No proof to substantiate the claims, meanwhile they promote rappers who openly sing their murder confessions, and female artists who openly admit to drugging and robbing men.
They don't have to cite or explain what exactly was said or done that falls under "hate speech" And a significant number of average people online think this is ok because it's being done in the name of "safety", creating a safe space for snowflakes and advertisers.
To be honest, I shouldn't be surprised. This is what TV was. The primary source of information to the masses will always be regulated. The only reason we were allowed to express ourselves with basically no bounds online was because, at the time, social media was not the primary means for mainstream access to media. It was fringe, alternative, underground. It wasn't as profitable for brands and corporations to advertise on as it is today and so they had no need to regulate it. Where there is influence and money, there will be forces who seek to control.
That's why its in these smaller underground communities, that you get to express your politically incorrect humor, thoughts, opinions, self, as you once did online.
You guys on agora, on the yesterweb, on saurbraten talk and joke exactly how I remember people talking online when I was a kid. Calling each other faggots, having thoughtful conversations, laughing at offensive jokes. This is what the internet used to be, and what im realizing, still is. It's just been overshadowed by 7 sites and like 2 search engines adopted by the masses.
Perhaps its just better to lay low in this 'underweb' a portion of the clearweb that most people don't visit. Because the more attention you draw to yourself, the more likely corporations and governments will show up to regulate your fun.