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Tuesday, March 19, 2024 - 02:00 AM

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

First Published in 1994

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

Editor's Note: Facebook has banned Dean Allen from using the site eight times this year for posting conservative messages, essays or memes. Most recently, he received another 30 day ban just three days ago. The following is a letter he wrote to President Trump in regards to being banned from Facebook.

Dear President Trump,

I am a decorated, honorably discharged, combat veteran (served in Korea and two tours in Vietnam.)

I am writing to request the assistance of the executive branch of the US federal government because I am a victim of discrimination based on my race, gender, sexual orientation, religion and political philosophy.

Statement of facts: Facebook, a public corporation in the United States providing communications services to the public, with an effective monopoly, has denied me the right to continue to use the site.

This denial is based upon an ongoing pattern of such denials directed both at me and at millions of other American citizens who are similarly situated. The latest denial of service occurred on Friday, October 26th, making at least six times I have been denied access to the facebook site.

The latest denial of service, like all the others, has been because they have a bias against my race White; my gender male; my sexual orientation, heterosexual; my religion, Christian; and especially my political philosophy; conservative Republican.

In addition to denying my rights to freedom of speech, free exercise of religion and general pursuit of happiness, this latest denial of access comes ten days before a general election and is designed to deny me the ability to communicate with my 5,000 friends there, my elected representatives and to organize events in support of our mutual beliefs.

These actions are not the result of accident, neglect, misunderstanding, or any illegal activity by me. Rather, these actions are willful, intentional and knowing attempts to violate my rights to free speech, free exercise of religion; and my ability to communicate effectively with my representatives. They have engaged in such discrimination based upon a demonstrable bias against white, male, heterosexual, Christian, Republicans and the denial complained of is part of an organized pattern of interference with the midterm elections in the State of South Carolina.

The specific reason cited by facebook for my latest thirty day banishment is because of a brief post by me which was intended to be humor and political satire, which I am known for.

I wrote “driving to the polls to vote causes air pollution some people believe leads to global warming. If you believe in man-made global warming, please do the environmentally responsible thing and stay home rather than add to pollution by voting.”

I also wrote “some people do not have, or object to being required to show, photo ID in order to vote. I advise all those people to wait till November 7th to vote. The lines will be shorter and I promise nobody will ask to see your photo ID.”

Mr. President, those are clearly remarks intended as entertainment, humor and political satire.

  • I did not advocate any violence against anyone.
  • I did not advocate or condone breaking any laws.
  • I did not use any profanity.
  • I did not use the more offensive word for Negro.
  • I did not use the more vulgar word for fornication.
  • I made no mention of anyone’s race, gender, sexual orientation, gender confusion, national origin, immigration status, or religion; nor did I mention any other group or classification of individuals traditionally concerned with real or imagined discrimination against them.

My facebook post did not advocate for, or against, any specific political party, candidate for office, or issue on the ballot. The sole intention of my post was humor and political satire, which are protected by our first amendment.

The Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of Texas vs. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989)  The majority noted “freedom of speech protects actions that society may find very offensive, but society's outrage alone is not justification for suppressing free speech.” While my regular use of political humor and satire may indeed be offensive to someone with far left political views, it is nowhere near as offensive as the action the Supreme Court protected in Texas vs. Johnson, burning the American flag, which the court classified as symbolic speech. Clearly my humor and satire are also symbolic speech in support of traditional cultural norms.

Harm to me from Facebooks actions:

In addition to denying me the right to freedom of speech, facebook has also interfered with my ability to do my job as the elected secretary of the Anderson County Republican Party. This is because I no longer have access to post and comment on things posted to the Anderson County Republican Party facebook page, as well as numerous pro-Trump groups I am a member of.

They have also denied me the right to communicate with my elected officials at both the state and national level. While there are other means of communications, those are less effective than facebook pages which all members of congress now have and use as the primary method of communicating with constituents. It also denies me the ability to register online for events I choose to attend, as well as denying me the use of facebook to schedule and promote such events.

Repeated pattern of intentional abuse of conservatives: Facebook has demonstrated a regular pattern of imposing such discrimination against me by imposing eight separate banns from service this year alone. They have also imposed similar bans on millions of other similarly situated conservatives all over the United States and the world.

Facebook imposes discriminatory so called community standards: Facebook admits to imposing twenty seven pages of restrictions on users free speech and to hiring 7,500 censors to enforce those so called community standards. Because those standards are interpreted and applied in a manner that violates the rights of White, male, Christians and Republicans and limits our ability to communicate and engage in commerce; therefore those standards impermissibly violate the civil rights of the White, male, Christian, Republicans who are targeted by Facebooks enforcement methods.

Facebook may argue that the written terms and conditions users agree to enable them to enforce those standards, that argument fails on two accounts. First, because it admittedly discriminates on the basis of race, gender, religion and other legally impermissible basis.

Second, facebooks terms and conditions are a hodgepodge of legal gobbeldy gook, which nobody ever reads or understands. They are presented as a take-it or leave-it proposition everyone must click agreement to in order to gain access to the application and site. Therefore because there is no actual meeting of the minds, this is a classical adhesion contract; it is null, void and unenforceable.

I reiterate sir, all these activities are part of an ongoing pattern of willful discrimination against me for legally impermissible reasons; and they are also part of a similar pattern of impermissible discrimination against millions of other Americans who are similarly situated.

I am appealing directly to you because facebook does not provide any opportunity for any sort of appeal of their actions and there is absolutely no due process involved. Therefore, I have exhausted administrative remedies, because in this case there are none provided or permitted.

Plea for relief: Mr. President, for all the foregoing reasons, I respectfully request you to instruct the US Department of Justice to initiate an investigation to determine if the above cited actions of facebook  constitute a criminal violation of our federal civil rights laws.

I further request the Federal Communications Commission to investigate whether these alleged community standards, as currently interpreted and enforced, constitute a violation of anti-discrimination provisions of laws regulated by the FCC.

Please take any other actions you deem appropriate. You also have my permission to discuss this matter on my behalf. I do not want any deep state bureaucrats to be able to stonewall any investigation you may order; or any enforcement action taken to enjoin facebook from such ongoing harassment and discrimination.

Finally Mr. President, I appreciate sincerely all of the actions you are taking to make America great again. May God bless and protect you, your family and the USA!

Respectfully,

Dean Allen

324 Moultrie Square

Anderson, South Carolina 29621

(843) 597-7459

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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