By John Cylc

A Newsmax Article

January 19, 2021

Big Brother was a fictional boogeyman in the fictional book 1984. Current events are now showing that the work may prove to be more prophetic than imagined.

For years, there have been many “conspiracy theories” regarding a Big-Brother-type takeover coming. Who would have thought that those predictions were not as far off base as some accused?

As a kid, I remember being introduced to Big Brother by the famous Apple commercial in 1984. It put the concept of tyrannical control into my head. As the book had been published in 1949, the technology for the content was barely even conceivable at the time. However, with the release of that commercial, for the first time in human history, personal computers were now available.

It was somewhat ironic that the personal computer, being lauded in the advertisement as enabling us to “break free” of tyranny, would actually be a major step in that direction of potential control. Neither the “Big Tech” nor the government could be successful in suppression of beliefs they detest. The two would have to work in unison to silence the opposition.

Think that statement is an exaggeration? Under the guise of safety, shielded with the protection afforded them by the government, Twitter banned the president of the United States. They followed that act by going on a massive strike against conservatives.

Trump supporters know that this was not a first strike either. “Shadow banning,” the process of restricting the ability of people to see your tweets without actually banning your account, has been going on since 2015. It is not just Twitter either. Facebook has been “fact checking” many posts for the last couple years and removing conservative groups. However, their fact checkers and bans seem to only be used against conservative voices or Trump supporters.

“Just use an alternative site” is the reply often used by those, including media, who support the examples above. That was tried, but then the leading alternative, Parler, had their app removed from the app stores of both Google and Apple. Even that was not enough for the leftist control of social media. Parler’s web hosting service, Amazon, removed their platform from their servers!

After discovering the concept of Big Brother 35-plus years ago, I remember giving it considerable thought at various times in my life. The concept seemed improbable to me. It could never happen. We would see them installing microphones and cameras in our house and fight back. We would revolt when they gave us devices to track and monitor us at any time. We would not allow them to know everything that we were reading, researching or watching. The mere cost of all this equipment enabling control would make it unaffordable to the government. Surely, our free press would also stand up for our freedoms.

Now, in the headlines, is a bold example of some media who feel the actions of Twitter, Google, Facebook, Amazon and other tech companies are not enough. Now they want access to some media restricted.

Newsmax must be stopped! Those exact words were not uttered, but that was the sentiment clearly professed by a CNN panel during the networks Sunday media show “Reliable Sources.” This was literally media calling for media censorship. Former Big Tech security officer Alex Stamos even tweeted, “These companies have freedom of speech, but I’m not sure we need Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, and such bringing them into tens of millions of homes.”

We now use social media to freely post where we are going, what we support and what we have done, all while identifying our closest friends and our family. We pay for our own tracking devices: cell phones that have internet service, GPS, camera and microphone. We download our e-books or audio books. We install video doorbells and webcams all through our living spaces. We use internet TV or cable. We are investing in smart cars. We increasingly buy meals, groceries, and other supplies through our apps. Even our appliances are getting “smart.”

Every day, we increasingly enable anyone with the technology, or control of the technology companies, to see, hear or know almost everything in our lives. This same power also enables them to silence us.

That is control. That is Big Brother. It may not be 1984 yet, but we are close enough to see it.

John Cylc is a conservative Christian and eight year U.S. Army veteran who primarily speaks out on the Second Amendment, gun rights issues, and contemporary topics. Born and raised in Philadelphia, he currently resides with his wife and youngest son in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains in beautiful East Tennessee. He is the founder of ThirteenFox.com and a former contributor to LifeZette. Read John Cylc’s Reports — More Here.