The “PC” Monster
By Hal Lindsey
If you’re a regular viewer of The Hal Lindsey Report, you know where I stand on the phenomenon known as “political correctness.” It is more than a passing fad, and it is not about civility or politeness. Just the opposite! Political correctness is about bullying, disenfranchisement, and suppression of dissent. Though PC is being used effectively against all enemies of the liberal left, it is proving to be an especially powerful tool for attacking and silencing Christianity. This is why I believe it important to keep up with its use against all levels of the conservative right. This week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia may have given the PC monster a new weapon.
In 2010, the FCC adopted rules for what is called “network neutrality.” It required Internet service providers (ISPs) to treat all Internet traffic the same, making all sites on the Internet equally accessible. The giant ISPs wanted the ability to auction off priority traffic rights. This would make it easier for customers to access those sites able and willing to pay extra, and give less bandwidth to those who don’t ante up. The big money sites would run smoothly. The sites run by individuals, small businesses – and especially Christian ministries – would be made slower, less efficient, and less useful. With enormous amounts of money at stake, Verizon took the FCC to court. This week, at the Appeals Court level, Verizon won.
The case may end up in the Supreme Court, but there’s a good chance the FCC will lose there, too. The Appeals Court probably ruled correctly. Without getting into mundane details, this is not the sort of thing the FCC should be making up rules on. That should be done by Congress. If regulation is needed, Congress should specifically authorize it, and at the same time, limit the regulation’s scope.
Most business oriented magazines and websites have applauded the court’s ruling. They tend to automatically take the side of business over government. Frankly, I do, too. But this is about more than government regulations. It’s about a powerful national resource being exploited, reshaped, and having the best parts fenced off from all but a few. We can see how the liberals have virtually taken over the so called “main stream media” in a similar manner.
This is not a small, in-house fight. If this ruling passes, it would change the fundamental nature of the Internet itself. Barbara Stripling, president of the American Library Association, said it well. “This ruling, if it stands, will adversely affect the daily lives of Americans and fundamentally change the open nature of the Internet, where uncensored access to information has been a hallmark of the communication medium since its inception.”
For better and worse, the Internet has always been something of a free-for-all. On the positive side, Joe Blow in Idalou, Texas can put up a Jesus-honoring website, and get an even shake with sites owned by titans like General Motors. The Internet’s level playing field has allowed people with great ideas to create new industries. In 2004, Mark Zuckerberg and a few college pals put together a small social networking site known as Facebook. It’s now valued at over a hundred billion dollars. Without network neutrality, that sort of thing will happen far less.
The bottom line here is that we don’t need more barriers to success. Giant corporations already have lots of government protection against small startups with big ideas and little cash. Those protections come in the form of high taxes and expensive regulations, which the established guys can afford, but the new guys can find daunting.
Economic fair play is a big deal, but this is about more than that. If the big ISPs are allowed to favor some websites over others, political correctness will quickly enter the fray. Companies like Verizon will be compelled by the public-opinion-making-machine known as “mainstream media” to favor the politically correct over the politically incorrect. Those websites whose messages are not popular with the media elite may soon find themselves in an Internet backwater. If Joe Blow in Idalou takes a Biblical position on abortion or same-sex marriage, he could become a second-class citizen of the world wide web.
Not many years ago, “Political Correctness” was a mere nuisance, and sometimes just a joke. In those days, the PC movement amounted to a small group of people railing against things they didn’t like in popular culture. Then the movement grew teeth. What started as a hapless group of people railing against other people’s freedoms – now that it has developed teeth – has became a monster able to devour those freedoms.
Discussions of net neutrality usually center on economics, fair play, and free speech. In the long run, limits to free speech are all about thought. Can access to different kinds of thought be restricted? For now, net neutrality is an issue of money. But it will soon be about the kinds of thought to which your computer will be given the most dominant access. It will give one more tool for the soon-coming-Antichrist to control world thought.
Jesus warned that in the last days, there would be increased persecution of Christians. As I’ve said before, political correctness makes a perfect vehicle for bringing it about. Obviously, this week’s court decision does not usher in an era of Christian persecution, but it can give the PC monster one more step of power toward that goal.
Subject: Watchman Warning: 1-18-2014 
Sat Jan 18, 2014 7:04 am
