A cartoonist was fired from a publishing company in Canada, after posting a cartoon he drew of US President Donald Trump on Twitter.
The cartoon subsequently became viral.
It showed Donald Trump playing golf, in his golf kart, having to pass through the bodies of two migrants – one a child.
Cartoon for June 26, 2019 on #trump #BorderCrisis #BORDER #TrumpCamps #TrumpConcentrationCamps pic.twitter.com/Gui8DHsebl
— Michael de Adder (@deAdder) June 26, 2019
The drawing is based on the drowning of Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and his daughter Valeria died while trying to cross the Rio Grande on June 26th.
HINT: The photograph can be found here. Discretion is advised.
The family had become frustrated and desperate after waiting two months in Mexico, unable to present themselves to U.S. authorities to request asylum, according to reporting by Julia Le Duc, who photographed the death of the father and daughter, for Mexican newspaper La Jornada.
Regardless, after drawing the cartoon, Michael de Adder announced that he was let go from all newspapers operated by Brunswick News Inc. on Twitter.
The highs and lows of cartooning. Today I was just let go from all newspapers in New Brunswick. #editorialcartooning #nbpoli #editorialcartooning
— Michael de Adder (@deAdder) June 28, 2019
He further said that he wasn’t a victim, because he was publishing a book.
He said he published two other Trump cartoons in the previous weeks, two of them went viral, with the third going “supernova,” referring to the one showing the migrants. And he was let go a day later.
But in the past 2 weeks I drew 3 Trump cartoons. 2 went viral and the third went supernova and a day later I was let go. And not only let go, the cartoons they already had in the can were not used. Overnight it was like I never worked for the paper. Make your own conclusions.
— Michael de Adder (@deAdder) July 1, 2019
Cartoons from the past two weeks. #Trump pic.twitter.com/azKPtZFuHD
— Michael de Adder (@deAdder) June 30, 2019
He further explained that in the newspapers he worked for, every Donald Trump cartoon he submitted over the past year “was axed.”
Does it matter if I was fired over one Donald Trump cartoon when every Donald Trump cartoon I submitted in the past year was axed?
— Michael de Adder (@deAdder) July 1, 2019
It got to the point where I didn't submit any Donald Trump cartoons for fear that I might be fired.
— Michael de Adder (@deAdder) July 1, 2019
Brunswick News Inc. suggested that it didn’t fire him over the Trump cartoon, but rather because a fan favorite would return to drawing cartoons on the position de Adder had been occupying for 17 years.
“This is a false narrative which has emerged carelessly and recklessly on social media,” the company said. “In fact, BNI was not even offered this cartoon by Mr. de Adder. The decision to bring back reader favourite Greg Perry was made long before this cartoon, and negotiations had been ongoing for weeks.”
They provided no additional information on blocking de Adder’s other Trump cartoons.
And this isn’t even so different from the norm. In 2017, Philip Giraldi was fired from his job, after an article titled “America’s Jews Are Driving America’s Wars.”
In the linked opinion piece and description, he said that the article was quite popular, even so that former CIA officer Valerie Plame tweeted her approval of it and was viciously and repeatedly attacked, resulting in a string of abject apologies on her part.
Giraldi’s article was banned on Facebook because it contained a “banned word.”
His invitation to be a speaker at a panel discussion was also cancelled:
“I was supposed to speak at a panel discussion critical of Saudi Arabia on October 2nd. The organizer, the Frontiers of Freedom foundation, emailed me to say my services would no longer be required because “the conference will not be a success if we get sidetracked into debating, discussing, or defending the substance of your writings on Israel.””
There is also quite a bit of evidence and testimonies that Twitter is treating conservatives much harsher than liberals. The same goes for Facebook, YouTube, even Pinterest.
Even very recent examples are apparent in how the mainstream narrative is being constructive and those speaking of topics that are not on the “agenda” are silenced.
This can be seen in YouTube’s policies towards right-wing political speakers, such as Steven Crowder.
Or with Google’s plan to avoid a “2020 Trump Situation” by controlling what people see when they search on their platform, or when they watch videos on YouTube.
Google Executive Jen Gennai also responded to Project Veritas’ leak:
“Google has repeatedly been clear that it works to be a trustworthy source of information, without regard to political viewpoint. In fact, Google has no notion of political ideology in its rankings. And everything I have seen backs this up. Our CEO has said ‘We do not bias our products to favor any political agenda.’ He’s somewhat more powerful and authoritative than me,” she wrote.
Google's Gennai made a classic PR blunder of responding immediately to breaking news. She didn't know what Veritas had.
She issued a statement and then a day later was contradicted with evidence from Veritas proving that Google staff recommend censoring based on politics.
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) June 25, 2019
Even more recently the day after Jen Gennai issued her statement, a leaked email from Google showed that Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro and Prager University were “Nazis using the dog whistles you mention.”
BREAKING: LEAKED @Google doc from 'transparency-and-ethics group' calls @benshapiro, @prageru, @jordanbpeterson "nazis using the dogwhistles" and recommends the disabling of the "suggestions" feature. FULL ARTICLE: https://t.co/oIdcykyWTk pic.twitter.com/MyC2cOthue
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) June 25, 2019
A member from the Google Ethics and Transparency team, only called Liam further said in the email:
“I can receive these recommendations regardless of the content of what I’m looking at, and I have recorded thousands of internet users sharing the same experience,” Liam continues. “I don’t think correctly identifying far-right content is beyond our capabilities. But if it is, why not go with Meredith’s suggestion of disabling the suggestions feature? This could be a significant step in terms of user trust.”
Furthermore, PragerU responded:
Dennis Prager is a Jew.
Ben Shapiro is a Jew.
Both have spoken extensively against anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, Hitler, etc.
Yet a Google employee claims they are Nazis in order to justify suppressing conservative content?
Nice try, @Google. 🤡
— PragerU (@prageru) June 25, 2019
Talk show host Dave Rubin, who is Jewish, spoke up for Peterson, a Canadian professor with whom he went on a world speaking tour.
“Almost every night he talked about the horrors of fascism, Nazism,” Rubin tweeted. “Discussed their roots and how to fight their terrible ideology…”
It is become more and more clear, that liberalism and freedom of speech, as well as of expression are simply terms used to propagate the idea of “liberal leadership” forward and serve only that end.
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