Tucker: Big Tech attempting to censor COVID-19 vaccine dissent
'Tucker Carlson Tonight' host slams media coverage of coronavirus vaccine as 'totally disingenuous'
Anyone who tells you the details of the ongoing Potemkin impeachment trial are important is probably trying to distract you from something that actually is, like our ongoing COVID pandemic.
After months of hearing that life could never return to normal until we get a vaccine, we got a vaccine (two, actually), but life did not return to normal. In fact, life got worse. We were instructed to take the new vaccine as soon as possible and then to put on more masks. Anyone who complained about that was punished. Most people obeyed the orders (not like they had a choice), but the whole thing made them nervous.
Why exactly did the rules change all of a sudden? Was there a good reason for that? When are we finally going to repeal corona law? And what about this vaccine? Why are Americans being discouraged from asking simple, straightforward questions about it? How effective are these drugs? Are they safe? What's the miscarriage risk for pregnant women? Is there a study on that? May we see it? And by the way, how much are the drug companies making off this stuff?
These questions are not conspiracy theories, they're the most basic questions in a democracy. Every citizen has a right to know the answer, but instead we got fluff and propaganda. The media rollout for the vaccine came off like a Diet Pepsi commercial at the Super Bowl. Tons of celebrity endorsements, not a lot of science. It was totally disingenuous and naturally it had the opposite of the intended effect.
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Most Americans already supported vaccines. They didn't need to be browbeaten in order to be convinced. They were grateful their kids no longer get tetanus and polio and chickenpox. They weren't anti-vaccine. And yet from the very first day, the way the authorities handled the coronavirus vaccine did not inspire confidence.
From the moment the vaccine arrived, the most powerful people in America worked to make certain that no one could criticize it. Here's Bill Gates' wife Melinda on CNN back in December:
MELINDA GATES: The Internet and the rise of social media has happened so quickly that really the regulations and the good policymaking hasn't stayed out in front of it. And quite frankly, it needs to catch up.
Quite frankly, she says, we need to censor people's views on the COVID vaccine. Remember, Melinda Gates is not a scientist. She did not develop this vaccine. She has no background in epidemiology or any relevant discipline. She worked in the marketing department at Microsoft, but she's the wife of a billionaire. That's why she's on television, and it's why she's allowed to control what you're allowed to say about the drug she is demanding you inject in your body.
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Is this really science? Not even close. It's oligarchy, and all the billionaires are participating in it. The tech companies announced early they would not allow anyone to criticize this vaccine, and anyone who did would be kicked off their platforms right away. Corporate media then took it upon themselves to enforce this rule.
On Monday, CNN ran a story with this headline: "Facebook vowed to crack down on Covid-19 [sic] vaccine misinformation but misleading posts remain easy to find." That's not a news story. That's an open call for censorship, and it worked. CNN identified a group on Facebook called "COVID-19 Vaccine Injury Stories". The group was exactly what it sounds like: People talking about their experiences with the vaccine. Last week, that group was among the top 20 groups on all of Facebook. Tuesday, it couldn't be found, not even if you searched specifically for its name.
Effectively, "COVID-19 Vaccine Injury Stories" no longer exists. CNN shut them down, erased them. Search for the word "vaccine" on Facebook now and you will find a lot of material that precisely matches the storyline approved by Melinda Gates and her fellow non-scientist billionaires. The line is clear, you've heard it a million times: The COVID vaccine is morally good, period. Don't dare say anything else. So if your neighbor drops dead after getting the shot, keep it to yourself. Facts like that are not allowed on Facebook nor on Twitter.
"I posted that there were multiple reports of adverse reactions [to the vaccine]," wrote one Twitter user, "and that the vaccines were still not fully trialed on pregnant women and kids. Twitter banned me until I deleted it for false information."
Is it false information? That's irrelevant.
According to another user, "Twitter suspended me for saying that vaccines have known side effects". Of course vaccines have side effects. Physicians who develop vaccines concede that. But at the moment, you are not allowed to say it.
Facebook has long led the way in this kind of censorship. Last year, the company prohibited users from buying any advertisement that might discourage people from taking the vaccine or that might portray the new vaccines as "unsafe or ineffective." In the months since, tens of millions of Americans have been vaccinated and most of them seem fine.
On the other hand, scientists are now conceding on the record that the vaccine may trigger a fatal blood disorder in a small number of people. The New York Times recently wrote about it, and it's one of the stories you should save as a period piece for when the current darkness finally lifts and we can think and speak clearly again.
Two of the people the Times interviewed wouldn't even give their names. One said she'd been badly injured by the drug, but she feared she'd be punished if she criticized the vaccine in public. In the picture the New York Times ran, the woman covered her face like she was a fugitive.
Science can't live in an environment like this. Without relentless skepticism, science dies. That's what science is, relentless skepticism. And when it leaves, inevitably it's replaced by witchcraft and superstition. Are we there yet? You decide.
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The liberal website Vox recently ran a piece complaining that Facebook users were still being allowed to "make fun of Covid-19 [sic] vaccination", because mockery is always the gravest threat to false religions, and demanded that Facebook remove the offending content immediately. Damn those smirking Americans. Make them stop laughing.
In a way, it is amusing. Even with total blanket censorship, it is pretty hard to crush the average person's sense of humor. But you've got to wonder: If they can force you to stop laughing about vaccines, what can't they make you do?
This article is adapted from Tucker Carlson's opening commentary on the Feb. 9, 2021 edition of "Tucker Carlson Tonight".
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