Longtime readers know that this website was defunded in June 2021. While this was incredibly stressful for the team of people that rely on The Organic Prepper as a source of income, in a perverse way, it’s a badge of honor. It means that Daisy has joined the ranks of President Trump, Dr. Robert Malone, and Alex Berenson, formerly of the New York Times. All of these people have been kicked off platforms due to being labeled spreaders of “misinformation.”
While The Organic Prepper has survived, it’s worth noting that censorship, in general, has only been getting more intense in the past year.
How censorship has escalated within the past year…
On January 8, 2021, President Trump was permanently banned from Twitter. The excuse for a company to de-platform a sitting president? He was accused of inciting violence during the January 6 demonstration at the Capitol, despite the fact that in his transcript, he specifically urged everyone to remain peaceful.
In August 2021, Twitter permanently banned former New York Times science reporter Alex Berenson. His crime? Publishing a pharmaceutical company’s own trial data.
Twitter also booted the prominent virologist, Dr. Robert Malone, in December 2021, with no explanation. The ban came after Dr. Malone posted a video critical of the above-referenced pharmaceutical company’s mRNA jabs.
Twitter boasts approximately 400 million users. It can be a great source of income for people with huge followings. Conversely, kicking those popular folks off can really do damage to their financial status.
Trump and Dr. Malone both have a variety of income sources. However, Alex Berenson is a professional writer, and his story is worth following for anyone not only curious about the state of healthcare in the United States but also those of us working in media.
Fleeing to new platforms to escape censorship doesn’t seem to work for long.
Many people permanently banned from Twitter, including Alex Berenson, have moved to Substack. Substack is another platform geared toward writers trying to earn money. There are no advertisers, so you don’t have to worry about not offending them. You simply set up your account. Substack doesn’t ask for payment until you start getting paid subscribers. You can set whatever price you want, and when you start bringing in money, Substack gets 10%.
That’s it. It’s really easy.
And it’s because of this that Substack has become trendy among people considered experts pre-Covid who find themselves disgraced because they argued with the official narrative. Robert Malone, Aaron Kheriarty, Steve Kirsch, and Alex Berenson have all opened Substack accounts that anyone can sign up for. They’re not expensive, and you can usually read a fair amount for free. You don’t have to pay before seeing what you get.
So now, naturally, Substack is in the crosshairs of the Thought Police.
I’ll focus on Berenson’s journey through social media for two reasons. One, I’ve been a paid subscriber to his Substack for about two months now, so I’ve been following him closely. As someone with a background in investigative journalism, I believe his story is most pertinent for those of us in the media.
Alex Berenson’s story and the fate of the average American
Someone sent me a link to Alex Berenson’s interview with Joe Rogan last fall. The interview took place sometime in October. I signed up for his Substack because I found his interview with Rogan fascinating.
I may be a prepper, but I don’t think I’m an alarmist. I believe that being well-informed is essential to making good decisions. I have three children to worry about. I try to gauge which way the wind blows. Mainstream media had slowly lost my trust over the years for a variety of reasons, but Covid killed whatever little trust I had left. I have a degree in ecology, I took a ton of science classes in college – and now? Now, the most powerful doctors in the country are saying things that make me think they couldn’t have passed freshman biology. I wrote about that in detail in my article on natural immunity.
Anyway, I like Berenson because he posts a lot of data from all over the world. For example, earlier this week, Berenson had a post comparing jab failure data from Scotland, Israel, Britain, and Denmark. The charts are fascinating for anyone curious to see how things play out in the almost-fully-jabbed countries. For those of us who don’t mind (or maybe even secretly love) staring at charts and figures, he’s a great resource.
Tens of thousands of other people think so, too. And so on January 27, the Guardian ran a piece in which representatives from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) called for “anti-vaxxers” to be removed from Substack. Washington Post ran an article that was almost exactly the same. Both pieces complain that Substack profits from misinformation. CCDH representatives try to say that freedom of speech is beside the point. People who read Alex Berenson, Dr. Mercola, or Dr. Malone might get hurt, the CCDH claims, and Substack needs to prevent that.
At this point, I think most of our readers know that this kind of condescension and censorship “for our own good” by self-proclaimed authorities has been going on for some time now. But, just to drive home how low the mainstream press has stooped, here’s a link to Berenson’s post about an email he received at a quarter to ten in the evening on January 26, asking him to comment on the various nasty things they were planning to say about him in an article running January 27.
Why does truth no longer matter to the mainstream media?
Mainstream media does not even pretend to be interested in an honest debate anymore, which is unfortunate because watching opposing sides present arguments is how a lot of us learn things. It never seems to occur to the censors that you can read someone’s article and not do whatever it says. I don’t agree with Alex Berenson on everything, but I wouldn’t say that about my best friend, either, let alone most family members.
If Berenson posts interesting data, I’ll happily read it. If he tells me to stick crayons up my nose, I’ll say, “Sorry Alex, you’ve lost me.” Most adults should be able to listen to most other adults fairly dispassionately. But maybe that isn’t a thing anymore?
Until two years ago, I was never remotely skeptical of any recommended medical treatments. But the lack of discussion has disturbed me. The “just do what you’re told” attitude makes me want to do the exact opposite. I suppose I’ve always been something of a contrarian, even as a child. But if you believe in your product, why wouldn’t you welcome the chance to argue its virtues publicly? When I sold chickens, if people asked why I charged so much, I was more than happy to give them reasons. If they wanted to know why it was worth it, I was happy to explain that too because I believed in my product.
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If a Washington Post writer thinks she can win in an honest debate with another writer, why email him hours before the “debate” is supposed to go public?
And this is only one of many instances. Steve Kirsch, a Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur, has had offers on the table for government representatives to come and publicly debate him and his team regarding the official narrative of Covid. He is offering a million dollars just to show up. They don’t even have to win the debate. A million dollars to show up and answer questions about your own recommended product! No takers. I’m suspicious.
Science and journalism are both about the pursuit of truth. The language may be a little different at times, but the pursuits share the ultimate end goal. Free expression of ideas, sharing of data, and above all, arguments are essential for any kind of progress. Suppression of debate and secrecy do not indicate a healthy society.
So, what are we to do?
I don’t like to complain without offering, if not solutions, ways of coping.
First of all, wherever you get your information, it’s wise to subscribe so that you can directly connect. I’ve searched for old articles I remembered from years ago only to have an error page pop up. If you are on an email list, if someone’s page gets taken down, they may be able to notify their readers where to find them next.
Long gone are the days of living surrounded by the people important to you. Most people are lucky to have family in the same town. Some of us have loved ones scattered all over the globe. If we find people we trust, we need to monitor those connections as closely as possible. Daisy noticed many missing source articles when putting together the USB Archive. (You can grab that here.)
(Also, make sure to check out our free QUICKSTART Guide to emergency evacuations as well.)
Second of all, talk to people in the real world. I am a contrarian, but I’m also curious. My opinions on the current state of American health care are formed not only by people like Alex Berenson, but also the people I know in real life who work in medicine and pharmaceuticals. Many of them toe the party line. Many of them refuse to. But the point is that I’m willing to listen to non-mainstream voices. My experience as a meat producer and my acquaintances with truckers and mechanics inform my opinions regarding the supply chain. You’re probably surrounded by fountains of knowledge and experience every day. It just takes getting to know people in real life.
Third, reread George Orwell’s 1984. I hope you all still have your copies from high school. If not, get them while you can. I really believe a lot of the censorship we see now has to do with protecting the financial interests of our political class. But an unfortunate side effect of intense censorship is that the more you hear “2+2=5”, the more you start to question your own perception. Staying grounded by having solid, real-world relationships can help mitigate that.
Censorship is getting more and more heavy-handed.
Some countries are scrapping their Covid restrictions. I’m concerned that the U.S. is getting ready to double-down. I hope I’m wrong. But again, oppressive censorship makes it more important than ever to nurture our connections. Real-world relationships will help us stay sane in the face of the Thought Police. They will help us cope with whatever comes next.
What are your thoughts? Have you noticed a rise in censorship? How do you deal with it and get to the truth? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Source: The Organic Prepper
Joanna has been homeschooling three children since 2012. In 2014, she moved to the High Plains of Colorado. She and her children began a little homestead, gardening and raising chickens for eggs and meat. One animal led to another, and these days they have livestock guardian dogs, chickens, geese, ducks, alpacas, goats, pigs, and one very spoiled cat.
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