Dangerous Opinions: Facebook Disconnects 250K Fans from Bounding Into Comics

The landscape of opinion is a shifting mass of quicksand these days. The Internet, once a bastion of free speech -- and all the ugliness that comes with that -- has undergone a transformation to rein in opinions, protecting the eyes and ears of the many from anything that might be deemed offensive by the few.

It began with politics. When the deplatforming of Alex Jones and his InfoWars site occurred, the 1st Amendment let out an "oof" of having been punched in the stomach. No one heard it over all the cheering, however, and the social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter were emboldened to continue their pogrom against information and opinion.

The idea was to stifle politics with which the social media overseers disagreed. The inherent problem with that is this: everything is political. And so we find ourselves at a point where a comic book review website (not this one, yet) loses its presence on Facebook.

Now, one might think that Critical Blast might enjoy a little schadenfreude moment, basking in the knowledge that a site that is, ostensibly, competition, has been taken down a peg or two. Rather, when Bounding Into Comics lost its Facebook page -- depriving over 250,000 fans of their news feed in the process -- there was a distinct chill in our offices. We're firm believers in the old "First they came for..." adage.

Facebook has not stated what specifically, if indeed anything at all, merited such a heavy-handed reaction. The website has not been shy about criticizing events in comics, gaming, anime, and other pop culture niches, but it also hasn't tried to convince its quarter-million fans to stop getting vaccinations or drink unflouridated water, either.

Critical Blast stands in solidarity with Bounding Into Comics. A surfeit of information and opinion is a good thing, and something worth fighting for. We sincerely hope they are able to see their Facebook page reinstated, with all follower connections restored.