Frank Speaker

Our western world today took another step towards an Orwellian, dystopian future. Like most of us here at Off-Guardian, I’ve previously been moderated, pre-moderated, and once banned from ‘The Guardian Of The Establishment’ (TGOTE) newspaper.

I came back a couple of years ago with a new alias, mainly to read and comment upon football and technology, but that changed today.

Today TGOTE was peddling an opinion piece entitled: “Facts are under siege. Now, more than ever, we need to invest in journalism” by Robert Reich, “a former US secretary of labor…and the author of ‘Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few’ and ‘The Common Good’. He is also a columnist for Guardian US.”

Intrigued, I forced myself to read the piece. I already expected a misrepresentation of the truth, but even given such cynism, my mouth dropped upon reading this line:

…there is also a need for at least some truly independent newspapers and media outlets, like the Guardian, financed not by commercial sponsors or any party with a financial or other interest, but which exist solely to serve the public.”

No need to dissect this nonsense any further, however, I was pleasantly surprised to notice that the BLT comments were open. I scanned through a few and was further surprised to see that some people were as sceptical as I was, and incredibly, their comments were allowed to stand…

In the spirit of “free speech” in our beloved “free press” TGOTE, I thought I’d better take the opportunity to contribute to the debate before it got closed down (FranklySwiss is my replacement alias in TGOTE…

Oh dear. It became immediately apparent that commenting about Julian Assange in the “free press” is strictly forbidden!

Interestingly, comments were allowed about the OPCW scam. All my remaining comments on Assange were very also quickly deleted…

That was the last of it though, my run of luck ended as I was swiftly put on pre-moderation…

I’ll leave you with Robert Reich’s final comments, they inspired me with immense confidence, and relief, that we will finally get the free press that we have been waiting for:

“…outlets, like the Guardian…which exist solely to serve the public…These steps are necessary not only to rebuild public trust but also to restore the media to its rightful place in our democracy and protect the truth as a common good.”

Pass me the sick bucket please…

Frank Speaker is a truth-seeker, a despiser of hypocrisy, a peace-maker, a democratic socialist, a philosopher, a polyglot, a tree hugger, a voracious Swiss-cheese eater. He’s travelled extensively and experienced many cultures. He tries to keep a very open mind, and generally knows when to close the lid to stop PSYOPs, disinfo campaigns and other sewerage pouring in and polluting it.