What a long strange trip it’s been.
We’re only one week into 2021 and already it’s outdone its predecessor. Pretty sure there’s no need for a recap, we’ve all been glued to our screens while the Capitol was stormed and breached by a bunch of dumbass Trump supporters.
Chaos
All those who stormed the Capitol and entered it to cause harm, fear and chaos should be prosecuted. Period. Full Stop. While this gathering may have started as a peaceful protest for some, clearly there were those who had intent to do more than protest and wanted to cause harm. Like the riots this summer that burned down my city, this kind of behavior should never be tolerated and those who participated in the lunacy should be held accountable.
Freedom of Speech
Twitter has permanently shut down Trump’s account. It has also limited the actions of others with conservative tendencies. I rarely use my Twitter account – I promote my posts here, but that’s about it. I find Twitter to be just a hair above 4Chan so keep my distance – but I stopped by there this morning and found I was unable to follow anyone with a conservative tone.
Freedom of Access
In addition to banning Trump from Twitter – Google has removed the Parler app from Google Play and Apple is threatening to remove it if the platform doesn’t start moderating the content. Youtube has long been demonetizing right leaning content creators and now just locking them out.
Follow the Money
I don’t have an issue really with Twitter banning Trump from their platform. I think it’s extremely short sighted, petty, and probably more about currying favor with the Democrats in hopes they don’t break up the tech monopolies than it is about any kind of principle – but it’s a private company and they can choose to serve whomever they want. I do have a problem with Apple and Google removing what is widely believed to be a conservative platform from their apps stores – probably for the same reason.
Dumbasses
What is even more disturbing is that those on the left are cheering these actions. Only a handful of my left leaning friends on Facebook see how terrifying this really is.
Not a Safe Space
(spoiler alert – there is no such thing as a Safe Space)
I have a lot of thoughts about all of these recent events and so much more. I leave the politics to those who spend their days learning, thinking, listening and questioning current events and who are masters of the written word like Mitch Berg at Shot in the Dark and Brad Carlson at The Brad Carlson Blog (Dudes, both of you need to get your SSL certificate, hit me up, I can help you both with that), who both happen to have radio shows on AM 1280 The Patriot. I leave the politics to them because they know what they are talking about. I know what I believe, but that’s not the same thing.
I Guess I’m Gonna Start Blogging Again
For the most part I don’t share those beliefs because while I don’t consider them radical in the least – they could certainly offend someone and that’s all it takes to get doxxed, banned or canceled. I was canceled in 8th grade by a bunch of insecure teenage girls, I still don’t know what I did to piss them off – it was godawful then and I suspect it isn’t any different now. Especially since it is the same people doing the canceling – they’ve grown up and organized, but they’re still just as insecure as ever, acting on emotion rather than reason and patting each other on the back for doing something, anything that means nothing.
I try not to act on emotion, I do it anyway, but I try not to. I try to use reason and logic, so I try not to go off half-cocked because it’s only ever gotten me in trouble. I must have achieved some semblance of wisdom as I’ve aged because most people who knew me in my youth would tell you half-cocked was a pretty regular thing for me.
Half-cocked sounds dirty.
Anyway, I’ve held my tongue for a long, long time. I’ve shut up about stupidity that so many seemingly smart people exhibit. I’ll continue to hold my tongue on social media – those are not my properties, but this one is. There will be no trigger warnings.
Stay tuned.
I, too, hold my tongue and try to keep much of the news out of my head. Last year was a total…uh mess, and then 2021 said “hold my beer”. It is just beyond sad how things have gone so very wrong. ‘Nuff said. I look forward to your thoughts.
There’s been this mass hysteria of group wrong think. I can’t even wrap my head around some of the things that pass as actual truth these days. The problem is, if you point out that the emperor has no clothes you get called a racist, TERF, bigot, homophobe, etc. So many have no critical thinking skills and so many – like you and me – are afraid to speak the truth.
And if you point out that life isn’t that bad and our freedom really is still better than anywhere in the world you get called a sheep and naive. I’m not naive. These tech companies are idiots. And there really is a cancel culture. But I am still more free here than anywhere else in the world.
AMEN!!!! I’m so sick of this crap. I am a conservative. I am not a trumpian. And I am sick about the incident at the capital. I’m sick because my hubs had to defend our state capital with gun drawn from some of those goons. They call themselves patriots. I just think they’re selfish and childish. And I said the exact same thing about the antifa goons last year. They all need to get lives. There is so much more good in the world. 😞
I’m not a fan of Trump either and I am appalled by what happened this week at the Capitol by those dumbasses. I want them prosecuted and I don’t want any politicians or celebrities creating a fund to get them out of jail like they did with the dumbasses this summer. The rules either apply to everyone or they don’t apply to anyone – it’s not that hard to understand.
I only post about politics on a local Facebook activist group I’m in. I’m not an activist, they just seem to have more accurate, timely local info.
I think the Twitter ban is a good thing, but he’s just going to post on someone else’s account and Twitter will be playing Whack-A-Mole chasing down his posts. I don’t comment on Twitter, I just read other’s tweets. I’m not even sure my blog posts to Twitter anymore.
I don’t think Pence will invoke the 25th amendment. I think he just wants to get out and go home to Mother. Would there be enough cabinet members left to vote on it after all these resignations? Pelosi and Schumer are moving too slow. They need to get it done. Even with less than 2 weeks left in office he can still do a lot of damage.
I think 🍊has his “people” so worked up that there will be another event. They chased Lindsay Graham at the D.C. airport yelling, “Traitor”. Who knows what would have happened if they got ahold of him? I think anyone in the political arena who have made public statements…their safety is in danger.
I am afraid something is going to happen before, or at the inauguration. I don’t see 🍊 or his followers just quietly going away. I hope I am wrong.
I was all for the 25th when this first happened, but I stepped back and gave it some thought and a little research – something those on the left seem incapable of doing anymore. I’m not sure impeaching him again is going to help the country – it certainly won’t help bridge the divide – but if they do I’m fine with that. It will keep them busy, hopefully slowing down their roll with sweeping transformation. I don’t like Trump, I think he’s boorish, crude, rude and all kinds of other things, but my way of life was better in the last 4 years than it was for the previous eight. And it wasn’t just me, but those things never got any coverage so you probably don’t know about it. It’s too bad, because those who got a taste of a better economic life will lose it under Biden/Harris.
I don’t understand the peaches. Is that some kind of joke?
[…] Yesterday when I discussed the storming of the Capitol I stated that those who did should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law – and I mean it. Just like those who looted and set fire to so many businesses already struggling during Covid, should have been this summer. […]
A friend asked posed a question on this post on Facebook, my answer was getting too long and I can’t format there so I’m answering it here. Here is the question:
Two questions:
What makes you think free speech is being restricted?
What makes you think conservatives are being targeted by private social media companies more than liberals, and if it is the case, what makes you think that targeting is unfair?
My answer:
Whenever the exchange of ideas is limited for one group and not the other free speech is being restricted. If there is no free exchange of ideas there is no free speech. Admittedly, this has been going on for longer than this past week.
I have no problem with any of the social media sites terminating the accounts of people who make death threats or threaten to harm property or persons. I think that’s a wise idea. My issue is that it is one sided. JK Rowling gets death threats on the regular and those posts aren’t even removed let alone the author of the threatening post banned. If the social justice was meted out fairly and consistently we wouldn’t be here, but that isn’t what happens.
Parler was shut down by Amazon. Parler was apparently where a lot of conservatives and those fed up with Facebook and Twitter went this summer during the campaign and then in droves this past week. While I am sure the lunatic fringe had a presence there, there were likely regular old Republicans, Democrats and conservatives and liberals with accounts who weren’t doing anything except using a platform not owned by Mark Zuckerberg. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater seems short sighted to me. So yes, I think conservatives and moderates have been targeted by big tech to shut them down. They aren’t targeting the bad eggs, they’re shutting everyone down. Can they go elsewhere? Sure, but it looks like when they do that platform will be shut down too.
https://fee.org/articles/facebook-suspends-ron-paul-following-column-criticizing-big-tech-censorship/
What’s wrong with it?
I don’t know, due process? There is no way to challenge their decision. I didn’t vote for Zuckerberg, I didn’t vote for Jeff Bezos or the dude who owns Twitter. I didn’t vote for any of them and yet they are unilaterally shutting down the free exchange of ideas. Again, these are companies that can do what they want. They have a TOS that no one reads, but I am sure it is covered in there. The problem is it is not done equitably across the board. If it were, we would’t be having this discussion.
“Whenever the exchange of ideas is limited for one group and not the other free speech is being restricted. If there is no free exchange of ideas there is no free speech. Admittedly, this has been going on for longer than this past week.”
I totally agree and that is a sad state of affairs. It does not bode well.