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Letter: 'There is no free speech in capitalism'

Expecting a business to deliver your free speech unconditionally when their motive is profit is either uninformed or disingenuous, this letter writer states in reference to the Port Coquitlam billboard.
anti-vaxx billboard
This message went up in Port Coquitlam last month — for a short time.

The Editor:

Re: Billboard censorship (Letter to the Editor, Oct. 14)

People need to step back and understand their words before crying censorship.

What happened with the anti-vaccine advertisement on the digital billboard isn't censorship, it's poor service.

A service was paid for and perhaps not delivered as expected.

I haven't seen the contract so I can't say.

Much like Facebook, the private advertising company controls the message.

You just pay to use their service.

The article doesn't indicate if the customer was reimbursed for the poor service.

Had the advertiser exercised free speech by posting their own billboard, on their own property which had been ordered taken down, that could be considered as censorship.

There is indeed no democracy without free speech.

But expecting a business to deliver your free speech unconditionally when their motive is profit is either uninformed or disingenuous.

Get your terms and value systems straight before spouting off. There is no free speech in capitalism — only democracy in not supporting the capitalist.

- Dean Corda, Coquitlam