“A terrifyingly real political thriller!”

–Susan May Warren      This says it all!

The Story Behind the Story 

After tracking the reach of a few hundred of my posts and tweets, it didn’t take anything beyond the common sense of Forrest Gump to realize that much of what I posted on the Internet was being throttled back by the Internet powers that be. Some posts were even censored. A few were blocked because they allegedly violated some ambiguous rules about inappropriate material. One blocked image, an image that sticks in my mind, was simply a smiling mother holding her baby. How egregious!

I began to ask myself a series of questions:

• What if this censorship were widespread? My research said it was.
• What if certain ideas and/or worldviews were targeted? They were, especially the Biblical worldview.
• What if the IT giants were doing this conspiratorially? It appeared they were doing it intentionally, with forethought, and that started my thinking about a novel plot.
• What if their aim was to fundamentally change America by changing people’s political thinkingin order to control elections?

The last question was the starting gun that shot me out of the blocks, sprinting to write and release my novel before others could scoop me. This idea of an IT power grab is anything but far-fetched. And, according to Dr. Epstein, Senior Research Psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology, the power of the search engine is proving more influential than the power of the pen.Dr. Epstein said, “… there’s never been anything like this in human history.”

Google’s recent changes to search engine rules support the conclusion that IT giants will wield this incredible power however they see fit … provided they can get away with it.

The company has hired people to apply quality rating guidelines to web content. Content that is obviously poor quality will not be returned in the query results, justifiably so. But neither will any content deemed harmful. And “harmful” is determined completely by subjective judgment. The ratings of harmful appear to be given to anything that doesn’t cohere with the worldview of the IT giants, a worldview with a decidedly left bent.

It doesn’t matter if the author is a PhD or an MD or if the content has been peer-reviewed by other doctors and scientists. Author expertise is now eclipsed by the rater’s perceived impressions of a website.

Content can be censored by simply rating it as “harmful,” but there are eight or nine other powerful ways search engine query results can be filtered to influence public opinion. Censorship, combined with these more subtle ways of influencing people, gives enough power to the IT giants to swing any halfway close election. Research shows that eighty percent of the undecided voters can be swayed to the desired conclusion simply by the ordering and filtering of Internet search results. That gives the IT industry the power to steal America from its citizens and turn it into what our founding fathers feared, a practical dictatorship, something Orwellian.

Different perspectives are necessary if we are to have healthy debate of important ideas. If that debate is suppressed, America is in mortal danger.

So what are we to do when faced with the raw power of one industry to influence the direction of our republic? Pray? Of course. And pray for another Great Awakening that shakes our nation and brings many to repentance.

The federal government has the Sherman Antitrust Act at its disposal, but will it use it? I can’t answer that question.

Slanted ends with an impassioned plea to America, a speech given by Hunter Jones, the hero of the story. He provides the recipe for the recovery of our republic, and he provides part of that using Jesus’ own words. But you’ll have to read the book if you want to know more about the rending of our nation and thus what’s needed for the restoring of America.

 

About the book: 

Americans are drowning in information with no clue that it will soon steal their nation and their liberty.

Orphaned as an adolescent then cycled through the foster-care system, AJ Scott, believes she’s so badly broken that no one would want her. When she finds an orphaned girl, Sam, hidden in some bushes along the Rogue River, in an instant, a bond is formed. AJ quickly learns that Sam’s and her guardian’s lives are in danger from a team of hired killers. But AJ commits to helping eight-year-old Sam. A competitive athlete, AJ Scott isn’t one to quit, give up, or do anything halfway, not even when she and Sam end up in a road race with killers in pursuit.

When Hunter Jones’s cousin dies, he becomes eight-year-old Samantha Wilson’s guardian and sets aside any pursuit of personal happiness. Sam becomes his lot in life, and he loves her dearly. But Hunter, a big data analyst, will soon release a research report proving that the largest Internet search engine in the world is being used by its owners to influence American political thought with the intent of controlling elections. He hints at his findings in a radio interview and the news goes viral. Within hours, a team of hired killers attacks Hunter and Sam, intending to eliminate them and steal his research findings. Hunter hides Sam and eludes the killers. But when he returns, Sam is gone. Enraged, Hunter Jones will storm the gates of Hades to get her back, and whoever took her will pay a steep price.

Set in Southern Oregon, Seattle, Washington DC, and Eastern Oregon, near PaulinaLake, Slanted is a gritty, high-action, romantic suspense adventure about commitment, sacrifice, love and faith.

 

About the author: 

HL Wegley served as an Air Force Intelligence Analyst and a Weather Officer. In civilian life, he worked as a research scientist at a national lab, publishing in the scientific literature, then developed Boeing computing systems for twenty years before he and his wife retired near Seattle where they enjoy grandchildren, the rugged coast in the Olympic National Park and where he crafts his stories. He is an award-winning author of inspirational thrillers and high-action, romantic-suspense novels.

Author Website: https://www.hlwegley.com

 

 

 

Where to find the book: Amazon