Mainstream media is dominated by individuals with a liberal worldview. They defend their control of the media by using censorship. There are many kinds of censorship. Google and Facebook used shadow banning to control the voices of conservatives who disagreed with the Biden administration. There is also ghosting. That is when organizations deny publication to those they disagree with. There is another form of censorship called cybersquatting, which is being used to attack this blog.
This isn’t the first time I have experienced censorship from liberals. I experienced ghosting during the Covid pandemic when my local newspaper stopped publishing my articles and letters to the editor. Their ghosting of a conservative writer with whom they disagreed led to the creation of this blog – Seward’s Folly – which now has a larger readership than my local paper. I guess there is a silver lining to every cloud.
Evidently, ghosting me wasn’t enough for liberal partisans. Now they are trying to stifle this conservative blog by creating an online news site with a very similar-sounding name: Seward Folly. Note the lack of an “s” following Seward. This is a deceptive practice intended to confuse potential readers.
They will say that this is simply an accident. Claiming it is a case of individuals creating a new media website and accidentally using nearly the same name as one already in existence. I am calling BS on that argument and suggesting that there was more to it. One of the individuals listed as a contributor on the new media site was involved in my ghosting by my local paper, a very well-known writer here in Homer. The creators of the new site must have known of the existence of the Seward’s Folly blog when they created a similar online news site named The Seward Folly.
Additionally, the editor of the new website is an individual named Bob Barnwell, who is a registered member of the Alaska Democratic Party. This website will likely have a liberal editorial policy favorable to Democrats, further diluting the impact of this blog
This form of censorship could be an example of fraudulent behavior known as cybersquatting. This is the practice of registering a domain name similar to an existing legitimate website, often with a minor spelling variation, with the intention of tricking users who make small typing errors into visiting a fake website. People who do this intend to steal business by diverting traffic from the real site, often for fraudulent behavior. In this case, the creators of the new website could be intending to steal readers attempting to visit the Sewards Folly blog or at least create enough confusion to discourage the attempt. I am not accusing them of illegal activity, but what they are doing is deceptive, intentional or not.
This all comes back to how the left wants to be gatekeepers on the news. The creation of a competitive news site with an almost identical name might be a coincidence, but gatekeeping by the liberal left is a real thing. They try to control the news to favor liberal outcomes in society. This can be done stealthily by having a news site with an editorial policy favorable to Democrats, such as the liberal Anchorage Daily News. Censorship can be done by eliminating content that is harmful to the Democratic Party, such as the actions of Google and Facebook during the Covid pandemic. They suppressed voices like Robert Kennedy Jr. and other medical professionals who disagreed with the Biden Administration’s policies on Covid-19. Censorship can occur when liberals attempt to cybersquat on the voice of a conservative writer in a small town in Alaska.
Never have those who censored been on the right side of history. Not the Nazi’s, not the Biden administration, and not this new website trying to co-opt my blog. Think about that when you get your online news. Do not support the censors.
The views expressed here are those of Greg Sarber. Read more Sarber posts at his Seward’s Folly substack.
5 Comments
The Seward Folly title actually came via Bev Dunham, the former owner and editor of the long-running Seward Phoenix Log. She is 93 years old and lives in Seward, Alaska. Seward’s Folly was the name of the Seward High School newspaper that she also wrote and edited as a student. Here’s an article I wrote after the curator for the Seward Museum helped me research the previous newspaper titles here in Seward. Greg, you have drawn an incorrect conclusion. The Seward Folly is a small non-biased newspaper that reports on local news in Seward, Alaska. We have no intentions of “gatekeeping” or confusing your readers. It just makes sense that a newspaper located in Seward would use “Seward” in the title.
FYI – Bob Barnwell’s brother-in-law is Frank Gibson, who worked with you on the Slope. I think we’ve met before via Frank.
Hi MaryLynn, I don’t recall meeting you, but I have great memories of working with Frank Gibson in Prudhoe Bay. He was a hard worker and a great guy. I hold him in high regard. Please tell him hello from me next time you talk to him. Respectfully – Greg Sarber
Sarber is a narcissist with Main Character Syndrome and also Newsom Derangement Syndrome.
As one of his subscribers, I am glad to see this cybersquating exposed. It is dishonest and usually meant to do exactly what its developers intended, to utterly destroy the opposition. It mirrors what was done in California to destroy the opposition with Proposition 50. Any excuse will do to rid themselves of opposition. Democrats want a one party state billions of dollars in debt like California. Alaska, don’t let it happen.
In this piece, Mr. Sarber writes “I experienced ghosting during the Covid pandemic when my local newspaper stopped publishing my articles and letters to the editor” and “One of the individuals listed as a contributor on the new media site was involved in my ghosting by my local paper, a very well-known writer here in Homer.” I’m guessing he refers to me and when I was editor of the Homer News from 2017-2022. I’d like to make a clarification.
First, the Homer News never published “articles” by Mr. Sarber and would not have published them. An article is a news or feature piece written by staff or by a contributor under contract with the paper. Mr. Sarber was not a paid contributor to the Homer News.
During my tenure, Mr. Sarber submitted thoughtful, competently written letters to the editor — opinion pieces — that met our guidelines. I frequently published them and cannot recall rejecting his letters. Several readers criticized me for publishing what they saw as him stating misinformation on Covid and the pandemic. My reply was “Write a letter in response.” I tried to respond cordially to Mr. Sarber’s letters, acknowledging their receipt and letting him know if there would be a delay in publishing them. I do see that at the end of my career at the Homer News Mr. Sarber did have a letter published (https://www.homernews.com/letters/letters-to-the-editor-246/).
I don’t know what editors did with Mr. Sarber’s letters after I retired in late 2022.
Mr. Sarber offered a conservative voice to the opinion page, and since I saw as part of my job to be inclusive of all voices on the opinion page, I did not suppress his work. I am sorry if he thinks otherwise.