The Ministry of Truth at the headquarters of our Technocracy overlords are working double-time, “fact-checking” articles for tone, politically incorrect use of “scare quotes” and negative press about the LGBTQ “community” from right-wing websites like Pulpit & Pen.
We woke up this morning to find out that a third-party fact-checker contracted with Facebook to cast aspersions on conservative sites had fact-checked a Pulpit & Pen article and declared it false, when indeed, the facts were accurate. They also took the time to complain about our opinions. Although they stated opinions couldn’t be fact-checked, they still checked them for tone. Then they warned us that if we persist in giving facts they don’t like, they’ll slow our traffic.
And such is how the freedom of speech dies…not with a bang, but a whimper from somewhere inside Silicon Valley.
The article in question was LGBTQ Demanding to Be Treated FIRST for Coronavirus (Because They’re So Disease-Ridden Already), and it was fact-checked by Facebook’s hired gun, Africa Check.
Our article cited a Reuters article (hardly the bastion of “fake news” from Facebook’s perspective) that quoted gay groups demanding to be shown preference in coronavirus testing and treatment. The facts were clear, and that’s what was reported: LGBTQ advocacy groups demanded, “the LGBTQ community is considered and included in the public health response to COVID-19 based on potential risk factors…” And these risk factors, according to the LGBTQ groups cited, were greatest in the LGBTQ “community” because they are already riddled with immune-compromising diseases like HIV.
The Reuter’s article says, “Compromised immune systems linked to HIV and cancer put gay and trans people at risk, and the groups said the more than 3 million LGBT older people in the United States also may be less likely than their straight peers to seek medical care for fear of discrimination.” It continues to call the LGBTQ “the most vulnerable among us.”
And yet, the “fact-checkers” took exception with, well…the facts.
What the “fact-checkers” first took exception with were not facts at all, but our tone, our opinions, and our use of “scare quotes” in reference to “transgenderism” (because of a fact: no human being has ever transitioned their gender).
Their trifling opinion-oriented complaint started by saying, “The Pulpit and Pen article is a mix of objective claims and opinion (which can’t be fact-checked). It uses emotive language, calling LGBTQ people “disease-ridden”, and using quote marks around the word “transgender”.
FACT: LGBTQ people are by-and-large “disease-ridden.” That’s the entire point of the Reuter’s article! That’s the point of the LGBTQ groups petitioning the health organizations! The point is, to quote them, “the most vulnerable among us” because of “HIV in gay and trans people.”
We did not use “emotive language.” We relayed facts. But why is a fact-checker beginning with a complaint regarding tone, opinions, or scare quotes? This betrays the reason for their biasedness.
The fact-checkers then complained that LGBTQ people in the United States are not more prone to be disease-ridden, because most people with these behavior-caused diseases are in Africa. This is a strange thing to fact-check, considering that was never eluded to or mentioned in our article at all.
The fact-checkers stated that the article has been shared widely in Nigeria, which apparently is why “Fact Check Africa” responded to it. But our article made no reference to Nigeria or Africa at all. It simply “fact-checked” our article completely irrespective of facts presented in the article!
Make no mistake about it. This is censorship. This is bias. This is fascism. And this is wrong.
