My letter to YouTube and why I have joined Steemit! Hello Steemit Community!

I wrote this this morning to send to YouTube. What do you think?

I am worried about YouTube stifling free speech and restricting access to content based on certain political beliefs held by the majority of people who have a financial interest in the company. I pay for YouTubeRed, because I want to have unfettered access to any content I desire. Reducing add revenue under the thinly veiled excuse of offensive content driving away advertisers is offensive to me. I am also extremely worried about proposed programs to monitor content and flag content deemed offensive. Offensive content can simply not be supported by users, thus letting the market of free ideas and expression decide what is valuable content and opinion. Letting users volunteer to act as content monitors will only lead to ruin. Any person who has the interest and the time to monitor channels, unpaid, is the type of meddling low intelligence person who will abuse the power to further their own social and political beliefs, at the expense of society's interest in exposure to all types of ideas, which may then be rejected or accepted based on their merit, truth, and entertainment/educational value. If YouTube continues to push a political agenda rather than operate as a for profit company, which allows its users and creators to decide what content to view or not view, I will gladly cancel my YouTubeRed membership and take my viewing hours and the add revenue which can be generated from them to other up and coming platforms which champion free speech instead of censorship and lies. I hope that YouTube goes back towards the early days, valuing creativity, diverse thought, and allowing views (the utility of the ideas and content) to decide which content creators flourish and which content creators wither. YouTube has genuinely changed and shaped the world in a majority positive way. I hope that YouTube and Google trust the users to decide for themselves what content to support or not. And if it is under the guise of protecting minors from illicit or adult content, how about some onus on parents and family to monitor content consumed by minors and play a larger role shaping good, hard working, productive citizens rather than hoping society takes on that role as the principle guiding force in the lives of young people. The internet is not there to raise children and develop little people into quality adults. I hope YouTube allows content which is not obscenely graphic (blood, gore, etc...) from all points of the political and social compass, thus allowing consumers to be the judge of whether ideas have merit and are based in logic, rather than the current climate of coddling and safe spaces. I canceled cable and mainly watch YouTube, which I hope to be able to depend upon in the future for any and all opinions expressed on any topic. The First Amendment was put in place to protect hurtful speech, because that is the exact type of speech that must be protected. If an idea, whether a particular individual deems it positive or negative, good or bad, is not allowed to be heard and analyzed, it leads down a slippery slope of who shall be the censors and arbiters of ideas. I for one, would rather have to occasionally endure a topic or view I find repugnant and hurtful, in order to allow the free flow of information and thought, rather than turn over the power to control access to ideas to any individual or group. Trust the individuals of all manner of beliefs and viewpoints, who made YouTube into the juggernaut of entertainment, education, and discourse that it is, to continue to make YouTube an asset for mankind to analyze ideas and choose those which are valued and appreciated. Over all, I must end this by stating I love the platform and the ability it can provide to remove traditional barriers to entry in the media and entertainment industry.

Regards,

Please follow me on my journey, here at Steemit!