This probably isn't the red-pilling of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief lizard person. But it might actually be the red-pilling of Mark Zuckerberg. He defended Facebook's position on running political ads, deflecting criticism from "hate speech" type-leftists who can't compete in the arena of ideas, by urging people to think and see for themselves. Yeah, as I read that take, I too nearly herniated a disk. What's better, when Gayle King asked him to clarify (also known as given a second chance to recant and atone for his ways), The Zuckermeyerweiner didn't back down. From CBS News:

"What I believe is that in a democracy, it's really important that people can see for themselves what politicians are saying, so they can make their own judgments. And, you know, I don't think that a private company should be censoring politicians or news," Zuckerberg told "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King in his first network TV interview with his wife, Priscilla Chan.

Well slap me sideways and call me Hank. That almost sounds like a free-market libertarian, not a leftist automaton from a communist factory assembly line. Gayle King couldn't let such freedom ring, so she followed up by asking about Facebook's employees who recently penned a letter bitching about paid speech and free speech not being the same thing. Even though they are the same thing.

"Well, this is a clearly a very complex issue, and a lot of people have-- have a lot of different opinions," Zuckerberg said. "At the end of the day, I just think that in a democracy, people should be able to see for themselves what politicians are saying."

I'm going out on a limb here and will say "that's a complex issue" is code for "that's not a complex issue, but people are morons and hate being countered." At least that's how I choose to interpret it in the setting here. Because, once again, Gayle King couldn't understand how a person could take a position unlike her own.

"Even if the ads are-- contain false information? That's the-- that's the issue," King said.

"I think that people should be able to judge for themselves the character of politicians," Zuckerberg said.

If we're going to worry about false information, we should worry about CNN which sends out bananas dressed as apples. Yet no one is demanding CNN be kicked off the air. Probably because few people are watching CNN to care. We're talking about a line without much of a distinction.

But Zuckerburg is right to defend his company's position to not police what ads go up. To do so would make him a publisher, not a platform.

Also, paid speech is free speech. Political speech is free speech. Nice speech is free speech. Hate speech is free speech. Speech is speech and all should be free. Whenever an asterisk is placed next to the kind of speech, then speech is no longer free. Yes, it actually is that simple, not complex at all.

Keep staring down the haters with your glassy eyes, Zuck. Own that lizard look.

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