So I wake up this morning,   

got a cup of builder's tea (with milk and sugar), switched on my laptop and pulled up Zerohedge/BBC/RT/The Guardian/ Reuters/Al Jazeera. This is pretty much my morning routine before I have to work, but even though I live in the coastal desert of Northern Peru. I have the need to sponge up information. There is just something about keeping in the loop, that is quite important to me. 

I am far more interested in macro issues, than that of generally sensationalist or 'click bait' micro level chatter. I also acknowledge that there are quite a few perspectives and perceptions being broadcast. Incorporating the widest range possible, allows me to come to my own informed decisions and identify bigger issues. There are many, which we are all aware from, but there is one that tends to make my blood boil and that is the repression of free speech. This closely followed by the right to assemble with others.

So I settle in with my cup of tea and my morning read. 

 (Come on! Really!? Ron Paul of all people being censored. Source: Zerohedge.com , 7th of August,2018)
 

A coordinated purge of free speech and this is on a whole new level.   

Look. Straight up I am no fan Alex Jones or infowars.  A little too intense for me and sensationalist.  The vast majority of his opinions I completely disagree on, but on some I do and I can be honest about it. I have watched some of his shows years ago, but I was very quickly turned off and I moved on. It was my choice from an educated and informed process. I didn't need anyone telling me that. I am an adult that can make decisions for myself. 

But to have the social media giants decide who and who cannot voice their opinion or thoughts is crossing a line. Now this is coordinated to a whole new level. We don't have to read very far back in our history books to see where this generally leads to.  

Are the current systems so weak, that the only response to open critique is to oppress it?

And how it is done is getting less and less subtle now. Well that is only my observation. This is where I refer to the title of this post 'Growing narcissistic tendencies of two schools of thought: “everything is ok and everything is not ok” '. It is glaring obvious like in politics, society is not really run any more on idealogical differences, but along factional lines and really comes down to resource & wealth distribution. I know it be too simple an answer to today's social woes, but we are not discussing or actually debating anything. The attitude is my way or the highway. Isn't that a narcissistic tendency? Where one or both sides of the argument start refusing to accept each other's realities. Now if both show the same signs, then the consequences can be tremendous.   
 
What is happening here is that not only has there been censorship, but social platforms are just that: social. Where people come to interact virtually and assemble. By pulling these accounts, regardless of what you think of them,  is a dangerous escalation in my mind and what opinion or thought process is next? Remember that.   

Where is the debate, the reflection on real core issues that affects everyone and what our consensual way forward is? 

Oh go have a look at narcissistic tendencies, search it and don't envisage a person, think of it as the groups of “everything is ok!” and “everything is not ok!”. Then you will see that we need to change approaches to the issues, as currently it is slowly failing.     

I leave you with this fitting quote:
 
   "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"   by Evelyn Beatrice Hall. The Friends of Voltaire, p. 199
  

If you would like to read my posts, then find me here @intrepidsurfer