Guest Author: Zachary Rehl, J6 defendant
You’ve heard it a lot with respect to “right-wing” news: shadow banning and censorship.
It is a constant battle conservatives face when trying to raise awareness of our causes, or even share what we feel is worthy information the world needs to know about. This is an issue @ElonMusk, after completing the purchase of Twitter, has vowed to end by making Twitter a sort of “Town Square” for debate. But debate for who?
Is it only open for those on the left? Or is it open for those on the right, as long as they play by the rules of the left? Whereas anyone who disagrees is purged from the platform altogether? Or is this where shadow banning comes into play, or what Mr. Musk has referred to as “reach?” As he famously stated, you can have “freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.”
For those that are unaware, every time you make a post on Twitter, it is seen by a random number of people. That random number is generated by computer software, typically referred to as an algorithm, but nonetheless, computer software which is operated by Twitter. There are certain things you can do to get more people to see your post, like conversing with people on the post or getting people to share your post.
So what does it mean when you are shadow banned, or you lose your “freedom of reach?” Well, it means that the random number of people that the computer software generates to show your post decreases dramatically, making it even harder to spread the news or information you’re looking to share.
We’ve seen it a lot with regard to the 2020 election, Covid, and even Jan 6th. One group has dealt with this censorship far longer than most people know while endeavoring to raise awareness about all of those issues, and then some.
Insert the Proud Boys, who have been arguably the biggest victim of internet censorship and shadow banning since the groups’ creation, the year President Donald Trump was elected in 2016.
For years, the left has used the Proud Boys, a diverse, multiracial, multicultural men’s fraternal organization as their Bogeyman, blaming them for every injustice, anything they didn’t like and calling them every name in the book. All while removing their ability to defend themselves from slander by banning or shadowbanning them across all internet platforms. The left accomplished their censorship scheme by usually forcing the company’s hand via threat of boycott, or various other means. Regardless, the only stories you see about the Proud Boys are negative, and that is by design by the left.
Fast forward to January 6th, 2021, which at the time appeared to be the cap on what was an otherwise turbulent past year in the US in regard to politics. While many could agree things got out of hand at times, not many expected the world to still be talking about this event over two and a half years later. The powers that be, the Democratic Party that took control of the Legislative and Executive branches at the time, had different ideas.
Despite the pleadings of Americans, exhausted from all the political drama and hoping to start the healing process, they chose to make a spectacle of arrests and exaggerated numerous stories in the process.
One group, before a single arrest was even made or a single trial occurred, had chief blame set upon them, a group the left has come to hate over the past five years for political reasons, that group being the Proud Boys. You’ve seen the numerous completely biased Jan 6 committee hearings. Unbeknownst to most, the timing of those hearings perfectly coincided with all of the important Proud Boy trial hearing dates, up to and during the jury selection process!
Democrats on the Jan. 6 committee conveniently closed out the Jan 6th committee hearings, which they blasted all over every media outlet that had a pulse, as our jury selection was underway. Wall-to-wall coverage of the committee’s propaganda and lies put the court in the awkward position of having to align faith in our system of justice by hoping the jury would “not read the news.” As if it were that easy. Nonetheless, we pushed forward and prepared for trial, still having faith in our system of justice by hoping the jury would “not read the news.” As if it were that easy. Nonetheless, we pushed forward and prepared for trial, still having faith in our system of government, despite the cards being stacked against us.
After what was essentially a closed-door trial that stretched out almost half of the new year, somehow no one in the general public could tell you anything about what went on during the trial. There was an all-out blackout for five months about anything and everything related to the Proud Boys. Why? For what Democrats deemed the sole reason behind Jan 6th, — why wouldn’t the media be eager to show the public all the “dirty deeds” the Proud Boys allegedly did leading up to the event? Why wouldn’t they want to show the world how they spoiled The Proud Boys’ alleged plans and laugh at how they failed at their supposed plot to keep President Trump in power?
The answer is simple. It’s because it is all a lie. The blackout was to more easily sway public opinion into accepting a questionable guilty verdict, while also thwarting our appeal efforts by making it even more difficult for us to raise legal defense funds online, or to simply spread the word. All by what the left has successfully used against us for years: censorship and shadow banning.
There is a reason President Trump said “stand back and stand by,” it wasn’t because there was some sort of “devious plot”, or some sort of “cryptic order,” despite all the online jokes saying otherwise. The reason was, he simply didn’t want to play into the left’s games by attacking a group he knows to be nothing more than a diverse group of men who simply love America. Just because the left says so, does not make it so. Remember that.
Since the trial, the only thing you heard from the media was about the “conviction of five members” of the Proud Boys of charges related to J6.
What you don’t hear, are clips from President Trump stating that we did not get a fair trial and that he will look into giving us full pardons should he win the Office of President again. That tells you everything you need to know. Anything and everything else that would be deemed helpful or would otherwise potentially defend our side of the story has been censored or shadowbanned.
Every page created on my behalf to raise legal defense funds, as well as updates to followers of our Twitter account, @DefendZach, has been specifically shadow banned after ironically paying to verify the account, an action that is supposed to help increase reach, not reduce it. The page was not verified for months, but once verification brought the page’s existence to light to Twitter staff, the page’s reach dropped so low, it basically rendered the page useless.
Nothing that page has ever posted broke any Twitter rules, nor did it even post anything political, it was shadowbanned simply for trying to help me. If Mumia Abu-Jamal, the man convicted of murdering Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner, is allowed to have a page dedicated to raising legal defense funds and amass 27,000 followers, while professing his innocence without fear of censorship or shadow banning, the Proud Boys and I should be able to as well.
I’m calling on all patriots who believe in the 1st Amendment and all patriots who believe that all Americans deserve a fair shot in our justice system to share our story with @ElonMusk and to #FreeTheProudBoys by ending our shadow ban on Twitter, preventing us from telling our side of the story and preventing us from raising legal defense funds to help prove our innocence in court, like how the left constantly enjoys!
The more people tag @ElonMusk with this story, the more likely he sees this issue and makes moves to correct it! @ElonMusk is a great man, he has seen through some of the lies told about J/6 already, Help him see through this one as well so we can have a fighting chance in court!
Please join the cause and visit www.defendzach.com to donate, or find out more information regarding any future proceedings.
You can also follow along on most social media platforms like Twitter and Truth Social by searching for @DefendZach as well. Even sharing this article on your own page or to a friend’s page could be what makes the difference, so please share far and wide or tag a friend along with @ElonMusk when you do!
My name is Zach Rehl and I’m one of the five Proud Boys charged with seditious conspiracy and ultimately convicted. As a Marine Corps veteran, I’ve lost everything up to and including my military VA benefits due to the sedition charge, everything except the love of my wife and beautiful two daughters. I’ve never gotten to hold my youngest daughter in my arms because she was born after I was arrested. Currently, I’m awaiting sentencing, then I will be immediately appealing my conviction, hopefully with the love and support of God-loving Americans like you. I leave you with this relevant quote by my favorite author,
George R.R. Martin: “When you tear out a man’s tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you’re telling the world that you fear what he may say.”
God Bless you all and God Bless America!
Please support Zachary Rehl here.
The post J6 Political Prisoner Zachary Rehl: Share Our Story With @ElonMusk And #FreeTheProudBoys By Ending Our Shadow Ban appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.