Midnight in the Republic, Volume 11

 

I could not not revive this series since we have now arrived at a point in our own demise where this is not so much snark as astute political / social commentary:

“They’re gonna make people wish that the January 6 “insurrection” was real, and that it had succeeded, aren’t they?”

As you read the included tweets, remember that the Professor points out the important, if unsaid, part of the story in all caps:

THEY’RE DOING THIS WITH POLITICAL POSTS, TOO, THEY’RE JUST NOT ADMITTING IT YET

Read carefully:

Follow the Instapundit link to the whole feed. But do focus on this:

There is no circumstance — none — in which it’s acceptable for the White House or any other agency of the government to be providing lists to Facebook of “problematic” content it wants removed, yet’s that exactly what Psaki says they’re doing

If you don’t find it deeply disturbing that the White House is “flagging” internet content that they deem “problematic” to their Facebook allies for removal, then you are definitionally an authoritarian. No other information is needed about you to know that. [Emphasis Added]

Do not think for a moment that…from your elitist “populist” hating neighbor to that condescending ex-pat that you read online…many sympathetic enablers to these authoritarian thrusts are not all around you.

The silence from those closest to our crumbling “freedom of speech” is deafening. (If they only realized the beast is coming for them too.) The greater silence among We the People, especially as this practice grows and expands into tomorrow’s standard operating procedure, is just sad. I return again to my very overused quote:

“[A] significant and growing portion of the American population is losing the virtues required to be functioning members of a free society.” – Charles Murray in Coming Apart (Page 289), 2012

_ _ _ . . . _ _ _

(Photo stolen borrowed from Michael Yon)

P.S. In other news, the U.S. Surgeon General appears dead set on proving that he, too, is a complete moron: “…misinformation poses an imminent and insidious threat…”:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1415841109620654088

What a pathetic tool.

(See also Volume 1, Volume 2Volume 3Volume 4Volume 5Volume 6Volume 7,  Volume 8, Volume 9, and Volume 10.)

(See also Midnight in the Republic, A Dystopian Interlude)

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  1. CACrabtree Coolidge
    CACrabtree
    @CACrabtree

    “This is the union of corporate and state power…”

    Not yet as bad as Hitler and the Krupps but a pretty good imitation.  Greenwald’s observation is spot on.

    • #1
  2. Dbroussa Coolidge
    Dbroussa
    @Dbroussa

    The fact that Substack has become the best source for actual journalism is both cause for joy and sadness. Joy because people like Taibbi, Greenwald, Sullivan, and Weiss were not marginalized and sidelined by the corporatist media companies that were ready, willing, and able to do the bidding of the DNC, and sadness that the vast majority of “journalists” lack the courage to do their jobs. 

    • #2
  3. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Dbroussa (View Comment):

    The fact that Substack has become the best source for actual journalism is both cause for joy and sadness. Joy because people like Taibbi, Greenwald, Sullivan, and Weiss were not marginalized and sidelined by the corporatist media companies that were ready, willing, and able to do the bidding of the DNC, and sadness that the vast majority of “journalists” lack the courage to do their jobs.

    What’s been fascinating to me is that these defenders of our freedoms you mention above are on the left! Or used to be. Just an example of how far the Overton Window has shifted.

     

    • #3
  4. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    Dbroussa (View Comment):

    The fact that Substack has become the best source for actual journalism is both cause for joy and sadness. Joy because people like Taibbi, Greenwald, Sullivan, and Weiss were not marginalized and sidelined by the corporatist media companies that were ready, willing, and able to do the bidding of the DNC, and sadness that the vast majority of “journalists” lack the courage to do their jobs.

    What’s been fascinating to me is that these defenders of our freedoms you mention above are on the left! Or used to be. Just an example of how far the Overton Window has shifted.

    They still are, but that doesn’t mean they can’t speak some truths.   You’re spot on about the Overton Window, but I’m still leery of their new-found status among some on the right, especially Greenwald, who appears to be Tucker Carlson’s new best friend.

    • #4
  5. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    Dbroussa (View Comment):

    The fact that Substack has become the best source for actual journalism is both cause for joy and sadness. Joy because people like Taibbi, Greenwald, Sullivan, and Weiss were not marginalized and sidelined by the corporatist media companies that were ready, willing, and able to do the bidding of the DNC, and sadness that the vast majority of “journalists” lack the courage to do their jobs.

    What’s been fascinating to me is that these defenders of our freedoms you mention above are on the left! Or used to be. Just an example of how far the Overton Window has shifted.

    They still are, but that doesn’t mean they can’t speak some truths. You’re spot on about the Overton Window, but I’m still leery of their new-found status among some on the right, especially Greenwald, who appears to be Tucker Carlson’s new best friend.

    True, but in the current crisis, there are several on the left who I will gladly stand shoulder to shoulder with against the oppressive state.

    After we fix our country, we can go back to quibbling about other less important issues.

    • #5
  6. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    philo: What a pathetic tool.

    Related:

    The must see classic reference:

     

     

    • #6
  7. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    NOTICE: This Member post has been promoted to the Main Feed. Content may have been edited / corrected from the original without attribution by Ricochet.

    (Thanks for the clean-up work…I do see that last Twitter link is honked up and could use some attention.)

    • #7
  8. Rōnin Coolidge
    Rōnin
    @Ronin

    It’s hard to believe that Claire Berlinski once posted here on ricochet.  She appears to have gone, as the British would say, native.  I imagine that she is the token leftist American gadabout, invited into Parisian salons to talk poop about Americans.  

      

    • #8
  9. Hoyacon Member
    Hoyacon
    @Hoyacon

    Rōnin (View Comment):

    It’s hard to believe that Claire Berlinski once posted here on ricochet. She appears to have gone, as the British would say, native. I imagine that she is the token leftist American gadabout, invited into Parisian salons to talk poop about Americans.

    For some unknown reason, she is still listed as a contributor to City Journal.

    • #9
  10. Dbroussa Coolidge
    Dbroussa
    @Dbroussa

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    Dbroussa (View Comment):

    The fact that Substack has become the best source for actual journalism is both cause for joy and sadness. Joy because people like Taibbi, Greenwald, Sullivan, and Weiss were not marginalized and sidelined by the corporatist media companies that were ready, willing, and able to do the bidding of the DNC, and sadness that the vast majority of “journalists” lack the courage to do their jobs.

    What’s been fascinating to me is that these defenders of our freedoms you mention above are on the left! Or used to be. Just an example of how far the Overton Window has shifted.

    My wife and I were talking about that on our walk. She is pretty much a liberal these days (she used to be center-right to right), and commented after someone criticized her in a FB discussion that every time she thinks she is a liberal, her friends attack her from the left. I replied that the Left is now the Progressives and the Liberals are now the right wing of the Dems. Her response was that, well our left is still to the right of Europe. To which I replied, that’s because we have never openly embraced communism as a major political party which is a good thing ™. She wasn’t necessarily convinced saying that Capitalism hasn’t worked. I then responded by asking and Socialism has? We then decided that walking the dog and playing Harry Potter Wizard’s Unite was more condusive to a pleasent walk. 

     

    • #10
  11. Dbroussa Coolidge
    Dbroussa
    @Dbroussa

    philo (View Comment):

    philo: What a pathetic tool.

    Related:

    The must see classic reference

    I would also say that he is also a great representation for many journalists who think they are great champions for justice but are actually this guy. 

     

     

     

    • #11
  12. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    (H/T: Powerline) True but still and understatement of the larger issue:

    “One weird thing about our political moment is the lack of consensus about how all of this is screamingly batshit crazy.”

    From Powerline:

    I haven’t found any commentary on Psaki’s announcement that does justice to what is going on with Psaki’s casual announcement and the absurd rationale. 

    As I referenced in the post, the lack of an appropriate response from those who are the front line in the defense of our first liberty (i.e. those closest to our crumbling “freedom of speech”) is shameful. They will get no pity from me when they get what is coming for them (and they will be alone in their surprise that it comes from the Left).

     

    • #12
  13. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    philo (View Comment): …the lack of an appropriate response from those who are the front line in the defense of our first liberty (i.e. those closest to our crumbling “freedom of speech”) is shameful. …

    At least the robots have an excuse:

    post photo preview

    • #13
  14. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    philo (View Comment):

    As I referenced in the post, the lack of an appropriate response from those who are the front line in the defense of our first liberty (i.e. those closest to our crumbling “freedom of speech”) is shameful.

    The GOPe? They are happy to be the controlled opposition.

    • #14
  15. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf (View Comment):

    philo (View Comment):

    As I referenced in the post, the lack of an appropriate response from those who are the front line in the defense of our first liberty (i.e. those closest to our crumbling “freedom of speech”) is shameful.

    The GOPe? They are happy to be the controlled opposition.

    Them too. But I’m really pointing at what few real journalists still exist. Beyond that, authors – particularly real historians (and their publishers) – and anyone who makes a living with the written or spoken word. That any and all seem ok with a government and its hired gun deciding what is “misinformation” and what can be heard / read by the general public is pathetic. God help any of those crap weasels I come across while in the GULAG. 

    • #15
  16. DrewInWisconsin, Oaf Member
    DrewInWisconsin, Oaf
    @DrewInWisconsin

    philo (View Comment):
    Them too. But I’m really pointing at what few real journalists still exist.

    This is true. Too many on the right still look to idiot traitors like Kristol and his ilk. Luckily, we have friends on the left who understand just how monstrous this stuff is.

    “Misinformation” Means Whatever Those With Censorship Power Want It To Mean

    In 2018, when these entities engineered a simultaneous cross-platform purge of Alex Jones, there was an avalanche of media apologia for this hitherto unprecedented act of censorship. Jones had caused unique harm, the journalists cried, and the platforms were merely “Enforcing The Rules.” But of course what they were oblivious to was that “the rules,” such as they exist, are just a function of power. “Misinformation” and other alleged infractions of social media “rules” are determined at the whim of whoever happens to wield censorship and speech-regulation power at that moment. Journalists themselves, chronically oblivious to their own power, were exactly the ones who agitated for the expulsion of Jones, and their agitation succeeded. 

    Here is an article I wrote the day after this cross-platform purge:

    Alex Jones’ lunacy is self-evident and needs no further comment. The only relevant question is whether we want a media landscape in which a tiny cadre of unelected private officials are empowered to decide, in secret and with no mechanisms for accountability, that the time has come to purge this lunatic from the public square.

    Now, just around three years later, we receive a declaration from a spokesperson for the President that the Federal Government is seeking to coerce, mandate, or otherwise bring about routinized cross-platform purges. “You shouldn’t be banned from one platform, and not others, for providing misinformation out there,” press secretary Jen Psaki demanded, creepily calling on the social media giants to create “robust enforcement strategies that bridge their properties.”

    So if you were under any illusion back in 2018 that this would ever stop with Jones — a figure believed to be sufficiently repulsive that any punishment doled out to him would not have broader implications for the average internet user — well, it didn’t take long for proof of just how wrong you were.

    Note: several here at Ricochet, supposedly a conservative site, had no problem with censoring Alex Jones, and in spite of several of us warning exactly what would happen, tut-tutted that it was perfectly acceptable.

     

    • #16
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