ACL WHO? Civil liberties union defends impending Trump Facebook return
According to its website, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was founded in 1920 “to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.”
The ACLU has always been a champion of free speech, and its deep history shows a record of protecting marginalized people whose civil rights have been violated.
However, they might have to add an asterisk to that description to read “*even the people who tried to overthrow the US government” because their take on Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram) reinstating Donald Trump has set off a huge controversy.
Check this.
I literally did a double-take to make sure it wasn’t an ACLU parody.
This is the right call. Like it or not, President Trump is one of the country’s leading political figures and the public has a strong interest in hearing his speech. https://t.co/PbY8AevFDy
— ACLU (@ACLU) January 26, 2023
First of all, NO.
And then secondly, HELL TO THE NO.
“One of the country’s leading political figures”?
More like leading our national collective nightmares.
“A strong interest in hearing his speech”? NOPE.
There are several laundry lists of reasons why Trump lost access to all of his mainstream social media accounts in January 2021 after the attack on the Capitol by his MAGA cult minions.
Trump acted like he didn’t care (but you know he cared SO MUCH) and got a shifty SPAC to fund his Twitter wannabe hate speech app, Truth Social, which is neither truthful nor very social.
Everyone knows where this bitch is and how to find his triggered tantrums full of typos.
So let’s ask the Google what words mean, which is a skill that is beyond MAGA comprehension.
“Hate speech” is defined as “public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation“.
“Free speech” is “the right of a person to articulate opinions and ideas without interference or retaliation from the government.”
The term “speech” also constitutes personal expression more than just words, but also what a person wears, reads, performs, protests, and more.
Are we clear on this? Cool cool.
It is NEVER the “right call” to give Donald Trump an unchecked platform.
Even if Meta says they’ll take action if he violates their terms, it’ll be too late.
Donald Trump is both the horse AND the barn door.
Twitter users–myself included–challenged the ACLU’s take on Trump, which got us in some hot water thanks to Fox News blowing us up.
Petty bitches.
Click through our tweets to see the comments from the MAGAbots who just keep proving our points for us.
He has his own social media platform to spread dangerous and hateful propaganda, including anti-Semitism. I’m disappointed in this take from you, because you know hate speech should never be protected while victims of hate crimes should be
— Tara Dublin (@taradublinrocks) January 26, 2023
Sort of hard to believe you have mistaken a private website acting under its Terms of Service, and the government trying to suppress 1st Amendment rights.
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) January 26, 2023
You are really testing my commitment to remaining a donor.
— Kim Masters (@kimmasters) January 26, 2023
The public also has a strong interest in not being gaslit. You want us to pretend Jan 6 (and everything else) never happened? Use the same media channels as stochastic terrorists? Don't eat where you s**t.
— @heartcenteredmaria (@vicequeenmaria) January 26, 2023
