Censorship Now Extending To Scientific Research On Gender Dysphoria
Facebook has been busy purging those accounts who espouse a "#conservative, #Christian, #constitutional" viewpoint after it was successful in limiting those accounts' following. YouTube has been busy removing videos and accounts for the same reason after it was successful in banning #AlexJones' #Infowars. Twitter has been up to the same tricks while Google severely limits search results to only #anticonstitutional, #lamestreamenemedia sites. Censorship of opposing viewpoints to anti-constitutional rhetoric is in full swing on social media sites. Although these tech giants are "platforms," the companies supplying the public with those platforms are acting as publishers with impunity. But, the #censorship that began with social media tech firms has now metastasized to include "scientific research." According to The Conservative Tribune: A study published by the Public Library of Science has found that most teenagers begin to identify as transgender when they are in a peer group that also has others who identify as #transgender. The study found that 87 percent of young people were reported by parents to have come out as transgender after spending more time on social media and the internet. The study also cited “clusters of #gende dysphoria outbreaks occurring in pre-existing friend groups with multiple or even all members of a friend group becoming gender dysphoric and transgender-identified.” It was also reported that 60.7 percent of adolescents and young adults (AYAs) who end up identifying as transgender saw a popularity gain among their group of friends. The findings helped validate the phenomenon known as “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” (ROGD). ROGD is described in the study as a “phenomenon where the development of gender dysphoria is observed to begin suddenly during or after puberty in an adolescent or young adult who would not have met criteria for gender dysphoria in childhood.” The study also noted some of the discriminatory behavioral practices that came with ROGD. #Transhumanism
“AYAs expressed a range of behaviors that included: expressing distrust of non-transgender people (22.7%); stopping spending time with non-transgender friends (25.0%); trying to isolate themselves from their families (49.4%); and only trusting information about gender dysphoria from transgender sources (46.6%),” the study claims.
Unsurprisingly, the study, published by Lisa Littman, has come under intense scrutiny from the LGBT community and activists. Littman is an assistant professor of behavior and social sciences at Brown University, whose response to Littman's research study is surprising. Brown University removed the study. By doing so, the university has all but promoted the censorship of scientific studies that could be perceived as "offensive" to some groups. Dr. Bess Marcus, Dean of Brown's School of Public Health, defended the censorship in a statement, noting "concerns that the conclusions of the study could be used to discredit efforts to support transgender youth and invalidate the perspectives of members of the transgender community." Now, while some may think behavioral and social sciences not to be science at all, the censorship of any professional study, regardless of the subject, should be concerning. It sets a precedent of suppressing any information someone in authority has personally judged to be disparaging to a select group of people, out of line with anti-constitutionalists' thinking, and possibly offensive to some groups, even when the scientific research is factual, accurate and satisfies the Scientific Method.
freedom_factionHow Dr. Marcus came up with the notion that the study could threaten efforts to support transgender youth or invalidate their perspectives, when their perspectives are an indication of mental illness requiring support, is beyond the pale. In truth, Littman's study could be used to support these youth to developing a healthy mental state. The problem Dr. Marcus and possibly others have with Littman's study is it disproves the theory (conveyed as fact) that gender dysphoria and transgenderism is not a product of biology and more closely related to the composition and thinking of peer groups. And, since Littman's study indicates transgenderism is not biological, it certainly can point to the non-biological nature of homosexuality – in other words, no one is born that way. This study actually helps parents of adolescents and young adults to be more attentive to the groups their children choose to associate and behaviors that would indicate their child is experiencing "rapid onset gender dysphoria." While some may not visit Infowars.com and believe Alex Jones peddles "conspiracy theory," the First Amendment protects and guarantees his right to free speech, as well as freedom of the press since Infowars.com is a news site. The freedom of speech and of the press also includes the publication of scientific studies beneficial to the public. It would be similar to the suppression of an independent scientific research study proving Monsanto's Roundup causes cancer, showing an increase in suicide rates among those identifying as transgender, confirming vaccines for children causing autism, and any other study providing critical information the public needs to make informed decisions related to health care or their daily lives.
But, this is how censorship expands. It starts with suppressing individual speech, then targets some in the press, metastasizes like a cancer to science, ropes in books, and eventually encompasses everything and anything not subscribing to the anti-constitutionalists viewpoints, group-think, ideological fantasies, and approved lifestyles. It happened in Hitler's Nazi Germany, Stalin's USSR, Mao's China, Pol Pot's Cambodia, and Castro's Cuba. Moreover, to make sure the censorship worked, millions lost their lives at the hands of government. A free people thrive on the free exchange of information and viewpoints. Stifling this exchange quashes critical thinking and the development of new ideas – everyone is to remain in the box created by government. Although the temptation exists to call on government to cease this corporate censorship, a free people, wanting and expecting to remain free, cannot solicit the government to perform a task where it has no constitutional authority – regulation of the internet, internet platforms and content, and information publications. Instead, a free people will find other solutions to corporation-controlled platforms censoring speech by developing new platforms for expression of free speech.
Because of the heavy-handed censorship at YouTube, Mike Adams, the Health Ranger at Natural News, developed Real.video as a competitor to the rapidly anti-constitutional YouTube. With Facebook and Twitter joining YouTube, an opportunity exists for someone to develop new platforms of social networking geared toward the support of free speech without censorship. Facebook ousted MySpace; a new platform can oust Facebook. Many individuals have found Steemit to host their content. Some have gone to Gab, but some instances of censorship are beginning to rise there. American ingenuity knows no bounds. Anyone having the desire, talent and knowledge can accomplish virtually anything when coupling it with imagination. The opportunity is there. It just has to be grasped.
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