Would it be factually incorrect to say that we now have more freedom of speech than at any other time in living memory and beyond? If we now have more freedom than ever, then why is there this apparent ‘concern’ over ‘free speech’ or ‘censorship’ all of a sudden? I have a few theories.
The only major thing that’s changed with regards to free speech over the past 15 years is the proliferation of the internet, which is now the primary medium people use to communicate, broadcast etc. Substack is a good example of this. We can reach an audience of millions (in theory) from our keyboards and webcams, something we couldn’t imagine a couple decades ago. I really can’t see how anyone could conclude that we have less free speech now than 15 years ago.
As for my theories on why the sudden panic about free speech?… it’s a classic misdirection.
If I were one of the billionaire oligarchs who controls the world, I would be worried about people waking up. I would be worried about critical thinking in the age of the internet, that’s the biggest threat to the status quo. So what would I do about it? I’d weaponize it. I’d weaponize people’s legitimate anger about their material conditions and I’d aim it at democratic institutions and the vulnerable. I’d push the narrative that trans people are threatening your way of life and we need a hero who’s going to stand up against them, someone who can Make America Great Again, but who’s really just going to cut taxes and regulations, and maintain the status quo. I’d use pawns like Matt Taibbi to tell us the woke mob are coming for your rights and so “government bad, privatization good”. Corporate power is the only thing these grifters serve, they’ve just gotten very good at populist messaging and grievance politics. I hate to use the ‘f’ word, but it’s straight from the fascist playbook.
Again, that’s not to say that free speech doesn’t need to be protected with vigilance, but I think Taibbi and Elon are extremely disingenuous on this..
Alright, these billionaire oligarchs obviously have some plan they'd love to enact, but it's hard to know if your theory is any more credible than the other billionaire oligarch conspiracy theories out there. There's likely some merit to it.
Over the last couple decades, it's the concept and the guardians of free speech that has changed. It's no longer just our laws that govern free speech. Now it's special interest groups with strange and intolerant ideologies as well. This, coupled with spineless leadership is the main threat to our speech because it causes a chilling effect. And yes, the government is in on it simply because they don't have the balls to stand up against it.
We can talk about ‘guardians’ and a ‘chilling effect’, but that’s all rather vague, isn’t it? The point still stands; we have more free speech now than we’ve ever had, which makes the sudden concern about ‘freedom’ a little strange/suspicious.
It’s not that the powers that be have ‘a plan they’d love to enact’, but rather that they have a modus operandi that has worked well for a long time. There are people and organizations who benefit immensely from the current system, and they’re heavily invested in maintaining the status quo by convincing the population to vote or to act against their own interests (the people’s interests). Whether it’s threatening that Mexicans are coming to r*pe our daughters or that you and I (the least oppressed people on earth) are being oppressed, this is grievance politics, a nonsense distraction from the real issues which we should genuinely be pissed about.
I'm impressed you spend this much time talking with someone who is very obviously suffering from a lack of attention at home. Timothy Snyder made the interesting observation that the printing press appeared decades before widespread literacy, giving rise to all manner of hokum conspiracy theories. These were generated by illiterate "readers" attempting to divine some message from these newly invented tomes. Cabal and a number of other esoteric practices begin to appear and gain prominence at this time. Snyder posits that something very similar is happening with the internet and in particular social media. Combine this with an aging media industry desperately contorting itself go derive revenue from these new digital spaces and you essentially have a recipe for the kind of ideas Ken is trying to push on his blog here.
I’m kind of obsessed with right-wing / conservative / libertarian nonsense, and I think Ken is completely earnest in what he writes. It’s rare to see people from that side of the fence try to articulate themselves, so I see it as a great opportunity to gain insights. We’re certainly not going to convince him of anything, but at least we can learn a bit about how such ideologies can be held by an apparently curious and thoughtful person.
I will look up Timothy Snyder, it sounds fascinating, thank you.
Matt Taibbi and his ‘Twitter files’ reminds me of when a young child shouts ‘hey, watch this’ and then you turn around to give them your full attention, then they do some completely lame and pointless jump or something, but you have to say ‘wow!’ anyway (because they’re a child) Then a minute later they say ‘hey, look at this’, and you go through it again, and then again until you can’t be bothered pretending to be impressed anymore. Lol
When you look at what we learned from the Twitter files, namely about the collusion of government and big tech to censor and silence users, and block legitimate news stories, it boggles my mind that anyone can look at that and call it "a nothingburger".
In fairness, I should look into it more before being judgemental. What I was getting at was the way Taibbi’s first big ‘bombshell’ was about the Biden campaign getting Hunter's dick pics removed from the platform slightly faster than they would’ve otherwise been removed under Twitter’s own content rules, and we were all supposed to be outraged about this. If he was trying to tell the world that the Twitter files were a real thing (and not just Elon trolling again) then he really should not have led with that ‘story’.
It’s also very interesting that Taibbi doesn’t seem at all interested in Elon openly allowing the platform to be straight-up censored by fascist-leaning governments across the world, from Modi in India, to Erdogan, and his MBS (the guy who murders and cuts up American journalists and now seems to own Elon Musk). Anyway, what’s in the Twitter files exactly that we should be taking more seriously?
I don't know much about the dick pic story (or care). I would say that that particular story is probably one that we needn't take too seriously. I'm also less concerned about what happens on other continents. Besides, what would you expect from an actual fascist government?
I already said what's in the Twitter Files. Why on earth do you seem to believe that we shouldn't be taking that more seriously?
Nobody cares about the dic pic story, that’s kind of my point. We were told that the Twitter files are going to lay bare the scandalous collusion between the government and big tech, and we waited with baited breath for… Hunter Biden’s penis being censored as per the rules relating to revenge porn. That was the big reveal; Twitter file number 1. I’m saying that’s why Matt isn’t taken seriously about this stuff.
So what? If the collusion of government and big tech to censor and silence users, and block legitimate news stories isn't something that should be taken seriously, then what the heck is?
Yes, I would be concerned about secret collusion between big tech and the government. The thing is, Twitter, as a social media platform, has to moderate its content. There are always going to be decisions made on which content should be promoted by the algorithm, and which content is harder to find, or blocked entirely.
The so-called twitter files didn’t reveal anything particularly nefarious in that regard, and were simply used by Elon to push his narrative that he somehow saved Twitter from the woke mob and made it a ‘free speech’ platform.. We know that to be the opposite of what’s really happened, and Twitter is now a completely private platform where journalists are censored or removed on the whim of a billionaire owner who has absolutely no problem using the platform as a political tool and propaganda weapon for sale to the highest bidder.
Would it be factually incorrect to say that we now have more freedom of speech than at any other time in living memory and beyond? If we now have more freedom than ever, then why is there this apparent ‘concern’ over ‘free speech’ or ‘censorship’ all of a sudden? I have a few theories.
If you had made this comment 15 years ago, I'd likely agree. I don't agree now, but I'd still be interested to hear your theories.
The only major thing that’s changed with regards to free speech over the past 15 years is the proliferation of the internet, which is now the primary medium people use to communicate, broadcast etc. Substack is a good example of this. We can reach an audience of millions (in theory) from our keyboards and webcams, something we couldn’t imagine a couple decades ago. I really can’t see how anyone could conclude that we have less free speech now than 15 years ago.
As for my theories on why the sudden panic about free speech?… it’s a classic misdirection.
If I were one of the billionaire oligarchs who controls the world, I would be worried about people waking up. I would be worried about critical thinking in the age of the internet, that’s the biggest threat to the status quo. So what would I do about it? I’d weaponize it. I’d weaponize people’s legitimate anger about their material conditions and I’d aim it at democratic institutions and the vulnerable. I’d push the narrative that trans people are threatening your way of life and we need a hero who’s going to stand up against them, someone who can Make America Great Again, but who’s really just going to cut taxes and regulations, and maintain the status quo. I’d use pawns like Matt Taibbi to tell us the woke mob are coming for your rights and so “government bad, privatization good”. Corporate power is the only thing these grifters serve, they’ve just gotten very good at populist messaging and grievance politics. I hate to use the ‘f’ word, but it’s straight from the fascist playbook.
Again, that’s not to say that free speech doesn’t need to be protected with vigilance, but I think Taibbi and Elon are extremely disingenuous on this..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a597e6Wv_xg&t=828s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twh4_S7jzF8
Alright, these billionaire oligarchs obviously have some plan they'd love to enact, but it's hard to know if your theory is any more credible than the other billionaire oligarch conspiracy theories out there. There's likely some merit to it.
Over the last couple decades, it's the concept and the guardians of free speech that has changed. It's no longer just our laws that govern free speech. Now it's special interest groups with strange and intolerant ideologies as well. This, coupled with spineless leadership is the main threat to our speech because it causes a chilling effect. And yes, the government is in on it simply because they don't have the balls to stand up against it.
We can talk about ‘guardians’ and a ‘chilling effect’, but that’s all rather vague, isn’t it? The point still stands; we have more free speech now than we’ve ever had, which makes the sudden concern about ‘freedom’ a little strange/suspicious.
It’s not that the powers that be have ‘a plan they’d love to enact’, but rather that they have a modus operandi that has worked well for a long time. There are people and organizations who benefit immensely from the current system, and they’re heavily invested in maintaining the status quo by convincing the population to vote or to act against their own interests (the people’s interests). Whether it’s threatening that Mexicans are coming to r*pe our daughters or that you and I (the least oppressed people on earth) are being oppressed, this is grievance politics, a nonsense distraction from the real issues which we should genuinely be pissed about.
I'm impressed you spend this much time talking with someone who is very obviously suffering from a lack of attention at home. Timothy Snyder made the interesting observation that the printing press appeared decades before widespread literacy, giving rise to all manner of hokum conspiracy theories. These were generated by illiterate "readers" attempting to divine some message from these newly invented tomes. Cabal and a number of other esoteric practices begin to appear and gain prominence at this time. Snyder posits that something very similar is happening with the internet and in particular social media. Combine this with an aging media industry desperately contorting itself go derive revenue from these new digital spaces and you essentially have a recipe for the kind of ideas Ken is trying to push on his blog here.
Let’s be kind.
I’m kind of obsessed with right-wing / conservative / libertarian nonsense, and I think Ken is completely earnest in what he writes. It’s rare to see people from that side of the fence try to articulate themselves, so I see it as a great opportunity to gain insights. We’re certainly not going to convince him of anything, but at least we can learn a bit about how such ideologies can be held by an apparently curious and thoughtful person.
I will look up Timothy Snyder, it sounds fascinating, thank you.
Matt Taibbi and his ‘Twitter files’ reminds me of when a young child shouts ‘hey, watch this’ and then you turn around to give them your full attention, then they do some completely lame and pointless jump or something, but you have to say ‘wow!’ anyway (because they’re a child) Then a minute later they say ‘hey, look at this’, and you go through it again, and then again until you can’t be bothered pretending to be impressed anymore. Lol
When you look at what we learned from the Twitter files, namely about the collusion of government and big tech to censor and silence users, and block legitimate news stories, it boggles my mind that anyone can look at that and call it "a nothingburger".
Do you think government and big tech are also colluding to silence child pornographers? Or do you draw a fairly arbitrary line in the sand there?
I don't really know about that. The only reason I know about the rest of us thanks to the Twitter Files, and that seems legit, don't you think?
In fairness, I should look into it more before being judgemental. What I was getting at was the way Taibbi’s first big ‘bombshell’ was about the Biden campaign getting Hunter's dick pics removed from the platform slightly faster than they would’ve otherwise been removed under Twitter’s own content rules, and we were all supposed to be outraged about this. If he was trying to tell the world that the Twitter files were a real thing (and not just Elon trolling again) then he really should not have led with that ‘story’.
It’s also very interesting that Taibbi doesn’t seem at all interested in Elon openly allowing the platform to be straight-up censored by fascist-leaning governments across the world, from Modi in India, to Erdogan, and his MBS (the guy who murders and cuts up American journalists and now seems to own Elon Musk). Anyway, what’s in the Twitter files exactly that we should be taking more seriously?
I don't know much about the dick pic story (or care). I would say that that particular story is probably one that we needn't take too seriously. I'm also less concerned about what happens on other continents. Besides, what would you expect from an actual fascist government?
I already said what's in the Twitter Files. Why on earth do you seem to believe that we shouldn't be taking that more seriously?
Nobody cares about the dic pic story, that’s kind of my point. We were told that the Twitter files are going to lay bare the scandalous collusion between the government and big tech, and we waited with baited breath for… Hunter Biden’s penis being censored as per the rules relating to revenge porn. That was the big reveal; Twitter file number 1. I’m saying that’s why Matt isn’t taken seriously about this stuff.
So what? If the collusion of government and big tech to censor and silence users, and block legitimate news stories isn't something that should be taken seriously, then what the heck is?
Yes, I would be concerned about secret collusion between big tech and the government. The thing is, Twitter, as a social media platform, has to moderate its content. There are always going to be decisions made on which content should be promoted by the algorithm, and which content is harder to find, or blocked entirely.
The so-called twitter files didn’t reveal anything particularly nefarious in that regard, and were simply used by Elon to push his narrative that he somehow saved Twitter from the woke mob and made it a ‘free speech’ platform.. We know that to be the opposite of what’s really happened, and Twitter is now a completely private platform where journalists are censored or removed on the whim of a billionaire owner who has absolutely no problem using the platform as a political tool and propaganda weapon for sale to the highest bidder.