You Better Watch Out: Free Speech Anxiety

“You better watch out,” Clyde Robert said. “Or, they’ll cancel you.” 

“Cancel me?” I said. At our coffee gathering, I just told Clyde and the boys that I'd written an essay for my web page about Israel’s bombing of Iran. 

Clyde had a conspiracy piece to him about such things as the Deep State. “They're doing it everywhere if you talk ill of them,” he said. “Just watch Tucker.”

Clyde was a nail and hammer guy and had a small contracting business. He did work for the others in our coffee group who were academics, retired, or nearing it.  

His grammar was not polished, which made the credibility of his commentaries, as one of the profs had said in private,“Good ol boy Out There talk.” 

Being a quasi academic I was more aligned with the others professionally. But, I tended to agree more often than not with Clyde Robert, that there is something going on here, But it isn’t exactly clear; espousing the lyrics of the 1967 Buffalo Springfield’s song, For What it’s Worth,

While Clyde wasn’t polished in the nuances of the language, he was direct and when he talked about subjects he had his facts, at least as he saw them.

“Who’s your web provider?” Clyde asked. 

I told him. He got busy scrolling the name on his phone. 

The others, being disinterested in anything I’d written, turned the conversation to the money the university football coach was getting, arguing such big money could be better spent if donors didn’t waste money on some superficial endeavor such as football.

After some moments, Clyde Robert said, “They’re from Tel Aviv…your provider.” He showed me proof, handing over his cell with his search information, with the name of my provider and its location in Tel Aviv, Israel. 

“I googled that, but Google is owned by,” Clyde said, stopping himself, when Prof Charles gave him a hard squint to shut up. 

I wanted to continue the conversation with Clyde Robert. As a former high school government teacher, I’d taught the fundamentals of the Constitution for those 16 year olds who’d listen. Freedom of Speech and Press was guaranteed by our First Amendment.

Clyde Robert caught me on the way outside after our coffee talk. “Don’t want to alarm you Mike, but check it all out. Candice Owens has even been banned from traveling to some countries from what she has said. You know who she is?” 

I said I knew of Candice Owens. “Some UN reporter named Francisca something, an Italian,” Clyde drew the ‘I’ as I… tailian,  “got sanctioned by the US, or UN after she wrote a report about all the deaths from the Israeli bombing of Gaza. She was critical of Israel.”

 “Just check it out,” he said.

I told him I’d take a look at Candice, however, his concerns seem to relate more to YouTube channels. 

Clyde got in his shiny red behemoth Pick Up with the American Flag on its bumper and Vietnam Vet license plate frame. “It’s always the little guy they go after first,” he said. He gave me a thumbs up, slowly driving his truck out of the lot.

I got in my old T-Bird and drove home reflecting on what he said. I’d watched my share of YouTubes, especially in recent weeks and had written the bombing essay as a result of getting information from various broadcasts. 

The intensity and frequency of YouTube commentaries about the deep state had increased since the murder of Charlie Kirk. I knew that.

Some podcast content creators had claimed that Israeli-owned social media companies have taken retaliatory action by cancellations of particular outlets for derogatory comments made against Israel.

But, I was an obscure writer; not a player in the world of high ideas. I was all over the place with my essay content, a generalist, not existing to expound about just one topic.    

The words of the historian, David McCullough, author of many best selling books motivated me to write essays. “I write to learn,” he had said in a talk I’d heard him give before he died. 

I’d done just that. And so, it was with the bombing essay. I’d researched some information and posted it on my page. 

The more I ruminated about what Clyde had said, the more worried I became. I dialed up my publisher who handles the marketing of my books and who maintains my web page. I related my concern to her. “I don’t think you’ll have a problem,” she said. She confirmed that given my web page traffic load, I was not in the category of a threat to the big boys who run the shows. 

My worry about being canceled, likely an illusion of my making, seemed to be a feeling applicable to anyone who writes or has a podcast. Clyde Robert’s comments had serpentined me down a path about how common cancellation of a social media platform is.  

While I don’t have a YouTube channel, according to Statista, which has an undertag of Tik Tok and Google Play, 4.82 million channels were removed from video sharing in the fourth quarter of 2024. Mostly, done for non compliance with guidelines. That’s a lot of channels in non compliance.

When I asked AI about my particular web provider, I learned that my web page provider can not arbitrarily shut down a web site. I was offered guidelines when it does occur. In my reading of that information, I was glad, if, to believe AI, to find my writings were not in the red zone. 

The next time around for coffee I’d share my findings with Clyde Robert. But this worry begs the question: Why the plethora of YouTube cancellations? 

And do the powers-that-be who own these provider services really believe cancellation changes public opinion. 

In the long run, the doubling down with cancellations of YouTube channels, or web sites never works, if done to suppress and shroud facts. Ultimately, it has the opposite effect. 

Author's Note: Some essays are a blend of fact and fiction; the fiction portions of the work mostly related to the change of names within an essay.