Regressive thinking or Freedom of speech?
One of my hobbies is collecting outdoor survival equipment like fire starters knives or one of those all in one shovels. I came across this youtube channel that is run by a US military veteran.
I know the chances of getting stuck in a foreign country as a private spy with the entire world out to get me is quite low but never zero XD. These sorts of videos became my primary source of entertainment.
However today I came across this video where he was advertising his own media platform and instantly my mind could identify all the problematic themes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8gBHnsshNM 00:45 - 01:50
John Lovell presents in a one-minute ten-second disaster presents an ad for his media platform Warrior Poet Society Network or WPSN (sounds cooler this way).
How does he start?
Not the best start but at least he had my attention.
He then proceeds to mention how he wants "Good, Old fashion values" in his entertainment. What might they be?
What was most interesting to me was the fact that he made woke sound like a very negative term. "Netflix and Amazon have become woke". He says how we should be using his media platform so we can watch "old-fashioned values" in our entertainment.
My first reaction was instant disappointment and disagreement. The world needs more than just God family and country and certainly being woke is not a drawback to media. I saw it as someone trying to protect his values that have been rejected by the world due to how problematic they can be. The media needs to portray real issues such as widespread homophobia, systematic oppression of women etc instead of explosions and the glorifying of war.
He addresses his viewer directly saying "it hates my values, it hates your values" as a very subtle but extremely manipulating technique. Instantly made me think of media as teaching machines
However, it led me to think. Does the disagreement or contrast of values allow me to dismiss this person's beliefs or in fact his media portal? He seems to be providing an alternative instead of proposing to shut the current giants down. Where should one lie on the scale of liberalism here? Should all opinions be freely expressed on personal media platforms or should government agencies shut down such platforms and regulate control?