TikTok’s Solution
It all begins with an idea.
As I sit here thinking about the recent TikTok ban all that keeps coming to mind is, “how did we get here?”. You too are likely seeing outrage by your friends, neighbors, co-workers, the list goes on... On January 19th, 2025, the ‘free’ country of the United States of America is seething because government officials have decided it is in the national security interest of the country, and its citizenry, to forcefully remove a mechanism of free speech within our country, and this is my hot take.
The United States of America is, in many aspects, the culmination of a world-wide evolution from tyrannical based Kingship and serfdom to individual Liberty and a Laissez-Faire capitalistic society. It is for this reason that I view the tragedy of the TikTok ban as a prolonged failure of the citizenry to exhume itself from the bog of instant gratification that technology provides, and to mount the most American response of all:
To hold its elected leaders accountable and innovate in the market.
Since the beginning of time there has been a status quo regarding the introduction of products and systems that serve humanity. What is this status quo? That change is imminent.
Instead of bemoaning the loss of a Chinese service that negatively perpetuates technological addiction, beneficially serves as spring board for small businesses, and provides a foreign entity with incredible amounts of data on our populous why is there not a call for a red-blooded American to pioneer a version Of, For, and By the Red, White, and Blue that also does the same?
Wait… am i forgetting something about the X-files? No, it was the Twitter files… Sorry, Elon.
To say that our country, both leadership and citizenry, have missed the mark on this issue is the understatement of the year, and we’re 19 days in.
Stop crying about big brother, partake in your civic duties, spend time with your children so maybe they enjoy that more than a collection of silicon & cobalt, and right this ship one person at a time.