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Wanted: More Safe Spaces
We need more safe spaces. No, not the sterile little cubbies that the snowflakes need to avoid being “triggered,” to avoid facing an unpleasant idea or a challenging thought; we have enough of those already. We call those spaces “universities,” and the country is littered with them. No, we need more places where normal Americans can hear and say what they believe without fear of being fired, of their children being ostracized, of their grades being ruined, and of their families being torn apart.
I’ve lived in a lot of America: Kansas City, Denver, Albuquerque, Memphis, Sarasota, Cleveland, Austin, Tucson, rural Missouri, and rural New York. I’ve lived in urban high-rise apartments and on rolling farms, owned homes in lush Florida suburbs and dusty New Mexico river valleys. I’ve met a few people who think America is a racist hellhole full of injustice and oppression, but vastly more who go to church and go to work and make sense and raise their kids and maybe believe too much of what they see on the evening news. Americans aren’t by and large a “woke” people. We’re a gloriously apolitical bunch, a nation of sensible and pragmatic and decent citizens busy making ends meet in an often challenging economy.
Most Americans don’t know the nonsense being spread like manure in our schools and universities. The don’t appreciate just how deeply the lies of wokeness have infected our culture: the lie that America is a racist country, the lie that BLM is other than a corrupt racket built on a myth of systemic police racism, the lie that Antifa isn’t in fact the fascism it pretends to oppose; the lie that climate change threatens us with imminent disaster, the lies that men and women are the same, that sex is malleable, that the gender dysphoric aren’t suffering from emotional disorders.
Those Americans who are aware of this cultural sickness are often afraid to speak, because they understand that there are often real consequences to speaking out against the cultural rot. People get fired, students get expelled, lives get ruined: cancel culture is real, and it increasingly targets normal people living normal lives who happen to voice an unapproved opinion.
We need safe spaces, places where people can say and hear opinions that don’t comport with the narrative. Ricochet is such a space, particularly for those who maintain their anonymity here. We should encourage those who are afraid to speak out, who fear the very real potential consequences of speaking against the woke mob, to join us here.
Even more importantly, those of us who feel safe speaking out should do so, often and loudly. There’s safety in numbers, and as more of us counter the narrative others will feel more free to join in. It is incumbent on those of us who can speak without danger to our livelihoods or to the security of those we love to do so every opportunity we get, and on every forum available to us.
Published in Culture
“We’re a gloriously apolitical bunch, a nation of sensible and pragmatic and decent citizens busy making ends meet in an often challenging environment.”
True, but that seems to be working against us so far. Our polar opposites in the media, academia and politics are determined to win it all; they’re not interested in the slightest bit of compromise. And, that probably includes safe spaces that they don’t approve of.
So it’s a fight. Okay.
We have the advantages of truth, common sense, decency, and most of America on our side. There are no guarantees, but that’s a lot working in our favor.
Speak up, here and everywhere.
I’m not so sure that Ricochet is really one of those safe spaces you’re looking for. At least not as much as you might think.
It is. It allows anonymous comments. Pseudonyms. For those who want them.
We don’t need agreement. We just need places where people can talk freely about what they believe. Where we can encourage people to speak up.
It’s best if people use their real names. But I know that not everybody feels that they can. It’s best if people speak on Facebook and MeWe and CloutHub and all the other platforms as well. But not everybody feels comfortable doing that.
But anyone who doesn’t consider an anonymous account on Ricochet to be safe is probably too fearful to be in the fight.
That isn’t what I meant. I meant that Ricochet Management doesn’t seem to be as on-board with free speech etc, as we’d like; and maybe not as much as they claim, either.
It’s been said that when you get a service for free, YOU are the product: you are (your information, etc is) being marketed to others. I would point out that just because Ricochet charges maybe only $4 per month (just to make it a “contract” to abide by the CoC) doesn’t mean that we aren’t still being marketed to others. In a way they actually admit that very thing, regularly. Otherwise they wouldn’t care about advertising, how the Main Feed appears to the outside world, etc.
Also, using a pseudonym might give some protection from that outside world, but unless you’re using an anonymous/untraceable email and payment method, Ricochet still knows who you are, and that could be “cracked” or revealed in other circumstances. For example, if what happens on Ricochet should eventually be defined as some kind of “terrorism” do you think Jon Gabriel would go to jail rather than tell everyone who you are?
I pay using a gift card that I didn’t purchase and cannot be traced to me, my protonmail email is anonymous and I used a VPN while creating it and now while I access the site…
The problem is not the disagreement. Or even being removed from a platform. The issue is the doxing. The canceling. The hunting down and destroying ones livelihood or their families livelihood. The blackballing so you lose your job, your clients and not allowed new ones.
But does it matter, if this provides a forum for those who want to speak their minds to do so safely, and to be encouraged?
Sure, I want Ricochet to boldly march out into the world espousing common sense with a go-to-hell attitude. Maybe they will and maybe they won’t. But people who come here and spend their $4 (disclaimer: as a “contributor” I get a free ride) get to speak and hear what they believe, and they can do it under a pseudonym so they feel safe. That’s okay. Maybe they’ll go out and say the same things on Facebook, under their real names. Or at a social gathering. Wherever.
What I’m talking about is the so-called Overton Window. We have to move it back to the right. That means encouraging others.
Exactly. And that’s why those of us who can speak out safely have a obligation to do so. And platforms that allow anyone to speak out safely are valuable. Ricochet is such a platform.
There is a fair amount of “free speech” on this site that gets removed/punished (warnings, suspensions, etc) and I’m sure a good deal more that never gets posted in the first place because of fear of that.
I’m skeptical that that’s true.
There’s a difference between prohibited words and prohibited ideas. I’ve never been censored here. Of course, I tend not to buy into conspiracy theories, and maybe that’s what you’re talking about. (For what it’s worth, I oppose a prohibition against conspiracy theories here.)
Wait, do you want safe spaces, or do you want people to speak up and confront the social cancel culture? Your message is mixed.
I have retreated from social media, where I previously ardently defended and debated conservative views. I retreated because I saw the overwhelming manipulation and propaganda spewed hourly with lies. and those who dared comment with facts were demonized, shut down, banned, outed, fired.
Your dream of safe spaces to debate, is not very realistic. Even here in Ricochetistan, we are able to privately
writewhisper about election deceit and fraud – but only in private, where no one outside can ever see. And that is in our “safe” bubble, where we have really only the smallest representation of opposing views. And G-d forbid you are the last remaining opposing view, which @garyrobbins can attest is a difficult and lonely place here. We are only “slightly more tolerant” of his views than Kate Panthera was of @rushbabe49 blog post.I would very much welcome more rational and thoughtful debate, particularly here in Ricochet. I have been a member for only a short time, but have observed the rapid degradation of argument into ad hominem, insult, and injury. Does my stomach turn when I see another post promoting a NAT candidate… yeah it does. But I still read it, and try to understand what motivates and drives that point of view. The comments on those “other than conservative posts” tend to be mostly unfortunate.
I value the expertise and wisdom exemplified by the members of Rico. I have learned so much. History, the true cause of HV power line failures in California, the failure of solar policies in Australia, the workings of the courts, how Cheese is processed, the interpretation of the bible from both Judaism and Catholicism perspectives, the culture of Cambodian food, Nigerian cattle taxing, and Turkish and Bolivian movie and TV uniqueness. Throw in a few wild west, rodeo, craft, founding father history and 2nd Amendment policies and failures. and this is a GREAT PLACE.
It can be better.
I want to (1) reassure people that they are not alone, and (2) give people the words and the confidence they need to speak out in public. That means that we need both (a) private spaces within which to encourage others, and (b) examples of others speaking out in public so that they feel more safe in expressing what they believe.
So we need places like Ricochet, walled-off areas in which people are free to discuss ideas that are no longer considered socially acceptable. This is a place where we can reassure people that they are not alone, and encourage them to take risks in the broader public sphere.
You’ve experienced the push-back out on social media. You should be encouraged (I believe) to re-engage people there, and to take chances where and when you can do so with reasonable safety.
We’re in a battle, and it isn’t without costs. We all face the danger of being criticized, ostracized, and demonized. I don’t much care: I’m 60, my children are grown and independent, I don’t have a wife, and I don’t care what people think about me. My customers are far away and, in any case, value what I do enough that I don’t think they’d abandon me because of my views. So I can comment as I wish. Not everyone can, and I understand that.
But most of us can do more, and might if we’re encouraged.
Henry, have you followed the way the California Highway Patrol officers showed up at the home of a guy who had been critiquing AOC on twitter?
The guy was offering up political analysis and criticism. He made a big mistake in doing it on twitter.
But even so, who would imagine that such remarks would end up having the DC Capital police calling and instructing the California police to come to his house and query him because the Capital police were insisting he was a danger to Ms AOC?
This is true only because large swaths of America are old. Once the generational center of gravity shifts from the Boomers and Generation X to the Millennials and younger, Armageddon will really begin. I’d estimate that 75 percent of females below the age of 30 are woke to one degree or another. That number is probably 50 percent for males. These are people who casually accept all the claptrap about systemic racism and transgenderism and whatnot, and they really do think that “hate speech” is the greatest of all evils. Many of them are conflict-averse, so they’re made uncomfortable by the more radical element, but they don’t reject the substance of the radicals’ claims — only the tactics.
Other than that, I’d agree with your post. Conservatives need places where they’re free to live normal, untainted lives. Too bad it’s impossible to find those places. And too bad the institutions are all lost, because it’s only through institutions that conservatives can develop a functional society amid the wreckage.
Hey, where did you live in Cleveland? That’s our domicile.
This was my thought as well. Working in education means I need to be careful about my public persona and therefore chose a nom de plume. At this point in the year we are looking at about a 25% failure rate for our seniors in my high school. That will not be allowed to stand. Our district administration, in order to boost numbers, will pressure teachers to ‘level the playing field’ or ‘provide equitable outcomes’ for minority students. This means, as I have seen throughout this school year, that some students will still pass their classes with as little as 10% of passing work being done. They will be rewarded with a diploma they did not earn. Some of the most enthusiastic proponents of this system are the newer, younger teachers who have been indoctrinated in the teachers colleges. They have graduated and joined the workforce in order to right the world and rid our institutions of (the myth of) systemic racism. The few, if any, who may have conservative leanings keep their heads down and their politics well hidden. While those of us who are older may be able to survive the cancellations and loss of jobs, the ones just starting out do not have that luxury. I am afraid for my adult children, their children, and my country. Ricochet may be safe, but it is merely a drop in the ocean.
Part of encouraging people is remaining hopeful, even expressing optimism on occasion. None of us knows how it’s going to work out, where the nation will be in 20 years. If we want to engage in the battle for the culture, we have to get more people speaking up on our side. And that means encouraging, not discouraging, people.
You encourage the troops by holding out the prospect of victory — even when victory seems like a long shot.
And the truth of “Victory is possible” may depend on whether we believe it.
This insight comes courtesy of William James.
I ❤️ this post.
Thank you, Henry Racette.
Ricochet is so often like sunlight and fresh air let into a formerly closed up room.
”It is incumbent on those of us who can speak without danger to our livelihoods or to the security of those we love to do so every opportunity we get, and on every forum available to us.”
That’s how I see it. There’s no excuse for not doing the least we can do to spare braver and better people some of the risks and losses they’ll have to take for the sake of the truth later.
Well put. My hope is that once the normals all realize that they cannot get by with their instinctive politeness and live-and-let-live attitude and that the abnormal want truths extinguished along with their adherents, we will have no choice but to fight back as one. The next Trump/Reagan/Limbaugh phenom is going to be awesome.
Also…Kansas City, Denver, Albuquerque, Memphis, Sarasota, Cleveland, Austin, Tucson, rural Missouri, and rural New York? …. I wonder if we should ask for some dates to rule out serial killer patterns…
Gary Robbins isn’t going to produce a good dissenting argument. All he has is feelings and he is impervious to facts. If you want to try for a good debate, feel free to engage, but the rest of us have been there, done that. We should ignore him, but I guess he’s a fun punching bag.
He isn’t prolific, but if you want to hear opposition follow @Zafar. He is a dissenting voice who, if you get into comment threads where he comments, provides oppositional views, but with an incredible amount of tolerance and respect.
Robbins is an example of the toxic left. Zafar is an example of what much of the Republican leadership still thinks the Democrat party is.
The rest of the debate here is insular to the direction the R party should take. Unfortunately, a great many of the dissenters made it all about Trump, completely unaware they had been losing ground in the Republican Party for years. They left because good debate can’t revolve around how much they hate Trump.
I think people conflate “not promoting posts to the main feed,” with censorship and suppression of free speech. I think they must, otherwise the laughably small number of redacted comments, or parts of comments, the infinitesimal number of deleted posts, the vanishingly small number of suspensions, and the tiny handful who’ve departed on the voyage of the banned, would barely register on anyone’s meter.
I might disagree with the reasoning of TPTB on a few things, but they have the right to promote (or not) whatever they like. I have no disagreement with removing comments, or posts, or with suspensions or bannings that result from, personal attacks on other members. As have some others, I’ve been attacked and called names in extremely insulting and embarrassing terms by more than one person here over the years, and I appreciate that the site policed that up. (I’m not talking about a disagreement of ideas. Far from it.) That more than one of those people subsequently landed on more than one other website and has/had with varying degrees of intermittency, carried on the vendetta says far more about them than about me or Ricochet, and it speaks to the good sense of the site in removing them for cause. I miss many who self-deported, from all sides of the political spectrum, and I think, in many cases, their reasons were mistaken. I’m always glad to see them come back, as many of them do. I wish they’d write more about their reasons for returning.
Yet, here we still are. Freer to speak conflicting ideas and to disagree and hash out opposing points of view than on any other site I belong to or follow.
I don’t see it as a “they must.” It’s more like an “it is.” The fact that management has the “right” to decide on promotion doesn’t really change the fact that there is a degree of censorship involved in that the wider dissemination of an idea is prevented.
I think that’s true. I also have my quibbles with what I believe to be the promotion policies — if policies is the right word. (It may be less directed than that, more a matter of individual tastes and attitudes. Ricochet, as much as I love it, continues to have a bit of a frustratingly black box quality when it comes to management.)
But I know what it’s like to post on a censorship-friendly forum. I’m on Facebook as well, and I’m aware, with every post, that some random snowflake may choose to silence me because I call gender dysphoria a psychological disorder, or say there’s nothing actually “normal” about two men raising a child together. Etc.
I agree that Ricochet is a solid free-speech space, and will add that it’s the broadest and smartest such space of which I’m aware.
Or perhaps, most accurately in the context of my comment, “they do.”
As stated, I sometimes disagree with their decisions myself. But I don’t dispute their right to make them as they see fit, just as I don’t dispute my, or anyone else’s, right to disagree with them, if we can do that without becoming terribly disagreeable ourselves.
But I’ve noticed that, on occasion, a well-written piece espousing a POV that isn’t, in the minds of TPTB, all that palatable, does get promoted. Somehow.
I approve this message.
I should have been less oblique. Seriously. But, if people conflate non-promotion with censorship, it’s likely because that’s what it is. Management’s “right” to do so is, in all but the most extreme instances, a truth, but irrelevant to the question of censorship.
“A solid free-speech space” is a pretty good way to sum up Ricochet. I came here over a year ago because I was sick and tired (beyond belief) at the MSM’s (including the local newspapers) crushing of any opinions outside of liberal groupthink. Facebook and Twitter were nonstarters (I refuse to give Zuckerberg or Dorsey one penny) so Ricochet has been a good fit.
I agree that, in our case, victory is a long shot. The comments from @Kephalithos and @juliana are sobering…and true. As I’ve written in my last few posts, the situation in our military is especially disheartening.
Equally disheartening are some of the politicians that we’ve supported who have turned out to be spineless charlatans. (When I see interviews of John Boehner trying to peddle his book, I’m especially offended.)
Perhaps some day people will look back at Ricochet and say, “Maybe they had the right idea(s)”.
I wonder why most Americans don’t seem to know these things. They all seem quite obvious to me. Are they simply disengaged? Ideologically possessed? Not very bright? Cynically supporting false ideas that they think will advance their preferred political agenda?
I know that different people see things differently. Do our conclusions depend on what, in the first instance, we choose to value?
I don’t find Boehner surprising or disheartening. First, RINOs have no impact on events. By definition, they go wherever the wind blows them. They are “conservatives” when someone like Reagan is popular, they are “mavericks” and “principled non-partisans” when GOP presidents are under attack or making tough decisions. They will be back whenever it becomes clear the GOP is winning and will betray the GOP when the going gets tough.
The hard left is now so committed to blindingly stupid ideas they will likely wear out their fake majority sooner than I expected. I strongly suspect that white normals will increasingly feel the need to vote GOP joined by middle-class (and aspiring middle class) minorities who are starting to get that Wokeness is not helping.
@oldbathos As an Ohioan, I take Boehner’s treachery as a personal affront. Not only did he prove to be an ineffective Congressman, he parlayed his position into a money-making scheme as a lobbyist for China and Big Marijuana.
Now, he has the cojones to criticize Conservatives?