Tag: Censorship

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Just a random thought about Twitter.

I’ve noticed that more and more politicians are claiming that Twitter is becoming more bigoted.

I’m looking at you Adam Schiff!

Adam schiff

What I wondered is this;

What would happen if people just randomly sent a tweet to people like Adam Schiff, Maxine Waters, John Fetterman, Katie Hobbs, Nancy Pelosi, and whoever else popped to mind saying, “I Don’t like you.”

Nothing more than that. I realize that my list is all Democrats but hey why not give every politician the same treatment equally?

What would happen on Twitter? It’s not hate speech, it’s not a threat, it’s not a call for violence, or any of the other “banned” interactions. It’s simply telling the person in question unequivocally that you, as a person don’t like them. 

This could be for any reason, you don’t like their politics, you don’t like their stance on gun control, you don’t think they’re doing a good job, whatever the reason, a simple generic, “I don’t like you,” shouldn’t be banned, it’s not bigoted, and it leaves the interpretation of your message open to the recipient.

Given that so many of these people seem to live for the adulation of the press, and attention from the public. I’ve wondered what receiving thousands or millions of generic messages like this would do to their collective psyches.

These people claim to want to protect democracy, how would they react to a completely egalitarian registration of people simply not liking them? What would they do if a preponderance of “I Don’t Like You” messages was all they received via their Twitter feed? I wonder if they’d get the message.

In the case of Adam Schiff who is claiming that he’s getting more bigoted remarks in the wake of Elon Musk taking the helm of Twitter, I think that perhaps Mr. Schiff is missing the point. Perhaps it’s not bigoted, perhaps the negative comments have nothing to do with his religion or appearance, but instead have to do with him personally. 

I find Mr. Schiff to be a thoroughly unlikable person. Every time I’ve seen him giving speeches or appearing on chat shows he simply comes across as a nasty piece of work. So I don’t like him. Politically, he’s milquetoast except in his rabid hatred of all things Trump. To see him whining on CNN about bigotry on Twitter does nothing more than than confirm to me he’s a weak individual struggling to hold onto power.

Most of the rest of the Twitterati, (of which I was one,) have lived under draconian, arbitrary, capriciously enforced “rules”. Twitter users could say, “I wish Trump was dead,” or “All infidels in Synagog X should be killed.” But other Twitter users couldn’t say The Transgender agenda is more far reaching than has been said and I think they’re after our kids. A Twitter user who said something negative about transgenders would be banned instantly.

Now that censorship is not protecting Adam Schiff from real people that don’t like him, his feelings are hurt and he views people speaking their mind as an affront.

I think Adam Schiff should grow a pair, and perhaps should grow some thicker skin too. If he actually believes in what he’s doing and is committed to his position, then it doesn’t matter what people say about him.

That’s what I mean by saying he’s proving to me, with every single appearance where he’s bitching and whining about bad things being said about him or to him on Twitter, that he’s a terribly weak individual with weak commitment to his values. He’s changeable as the wind, last month he liked Twitter, because he was protected from the slings and arrows of the American Public. This month Twitter is bad, for no other reason than he gets to see what people really think.

Politicians getting direct engagement from their constituents could be a good thing. If for no other reason than politicians would have a less filtered and isolated view of what is important to the people they govern.

I suppose this was why I was thinking about a simple concise message, “I don’t like you,” might be useful. It’s up to the politician to reach out and ask why. If they choose not to engage, then the American People would have another valuable data point for the next election.

On the other hand, if a politician chose to ask why 900,000 people sent him or her, “I don’t like you,” on a particular day and found that their position of a particular issue had been misreported. They would have the opportunity to explain themselves and perhaps get a message back from the American People that said, “Okay I get it. Thank you for the clarification.” They may not win everyone over, but at least they’d be in contact with the people and not acting as if they lived in a bubble.

If we’re really all about democracy then let’s be democratic.

It is things like this thought that make me almost ready to engage in Twitter again. I just can’t quite decide if it’s worth my time or effort yet.

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I’m still on the fence about Twitter

I was on Twitter for a number of years. I kept the twitter account long after I blew away the Facebook account.

Musk and Twitter 2989334710

I don’t remember when I finally got tired of increasing censorship on Twitter, but at some point (Perhaps in 2019 or 2020?) I closed my account and walked away from social media altogether.

At first I really missed the burning bag of shit delivered to my phone all the time, but after 4 weeks or so I didn’t miss it anymore.

Thinking about it now, I didn’t miss the worry. Every time I thought about responding to a post I worried that I would be put in Twitter Jail or banned outright. 

Those of you who’ve read a number of posts in this blog and who are also on Twitter or Facebook can probably see why that would be. I may be wrong in what I post but it’s wrong in innocence, not out of malice. Twitter wasn’t making that subtle distinction so eventually I simply stopped tweeting at all.

There was no speaking out against things that The Majority agreed with, (Even if it was incorrect on its face). Mis-information seemed to become subjective. When people asked about why something was deemed mis-information often they were ignored. 

Some people like Jordan Peterson had their accounts suspended for speaking a simple truth regarding Ellen/Elliot Page. He was told that if he recanted his statement and apologized for speaking the truth, he would be permitted to return to the platform. Peterson categorically refused. He pick this hill to die on, He publicly said, “I would rather die than apologize for speaking truth.”

While I don’t always agree with Peterson, I respected his stance on this issue. Truth is truth!

Since Elon Musk has assumed control of Twitter, there have been changes. Most publicly, there have been Hollywood Types  bailing on the platform. On balance, the actual number of users of Twitter has increased.

Twitter’s moderation seems to be changing a bit. People are saying things that less than a year ago would have gotten them banned. (I’ve been skimming the Twitter website without an account,) some of what I’ve been reading is much like the dumpster fire that Twitter had become prior to Musk’s takeover. Liberals are still able to say horrific things and suffer no penalties. Conservatives are still being fact checked but they’re not being banned as they were.

For me the question is, “has Twitter changed enough?”

I don’t think the changes are sufficient for me to create a new account. 

Frankly, I don’t really want to allow every village idiot from the entire world to spill their bullshit across my phone screen.

 

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Ya know, It’s time to end PayPal.

I long ago closed my PayPal Account. I’ve avoided them like the plague since. Thinking about it, I must’ve closed that account 10 years or so ago.

I closed it because they sent out a notice telling their account holders that they’d decline to process any purchases that could be related to firearms.

I didn’t own any firearms but them telling me, the customer, that they would have final say on how I spent my money didn’t sit right. They also had some other things they’d decline to process, specifically adult oriented purchases.

To be clear, the PayPal Account I had was not a credit account. This was PayPal getting between me and the cash assets I’d deposited into their financial system.

So I thought about it for a while then pulled my cash out of their system. When the account was closed I never looked back.

PayPal hasn’t crossed my mind until yesterday.

There was an AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) released from PayPal stating that they would take $2500.00 from a user’s account if PayPal determined that the user spread “Misinformation”

There’s an article from MSN Here, and another article from Breitbart Here.

Prohibited activities include:

the sending, posting, or publication of any messages, content, or materials that, in PayPal’s sole discretion, (a) are harmful, obscene, harassing, or objectionable, (b) depict or appear to depict nudity, sexual or other intimate activities, (c) depict or promote illegal drug use, (d) depict or promote violence,  criminal activity, cruelty, or self-harm (e) depict, promote, or incite hatred or discrimination of protected groups or of individuals or groups based on protected characteristics (e.g. race, religion, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation, etc.) (f) present a risk to user safety or wellbeing, (g) are fraudulent, promote misinformation, or are unlawful, (h) infringe the privacy, intellectual property rights, or other proprietary rights of any party, or (i) are otherwise unfit for publication.

That’s a pretty broad brush they’re painting with. Essentially anything that you might say which someone might take offense at could cost you 2500.00 per incident.

They can’t directly attack the First Amendment, so they’re going to silence you with fines. Imagine, you getting into a Twitter exchange where 50 Trans or Abortion activists were offended.

With this policy in place, the perpetually aggrieved could report you to PayPal and use PayPal to financially ruin you if you had an account.

People like Jordan Peterson, Kanye West, Marjorie Taylor Green, Dave Rubin, or any other conservative voice, could literally be run into bankruptcy in less than 24 hours. Hey, it’s all automatic isn’t it? All it takes is some person in a cubical hitting a “FINE” button based on every complaint lodged against someone, verified or not. Hell it could even be done with an algorithm.

The really evil part of this scheme is that the people complaining don’t get the cash. PayPal keeps it.

There’s no checks or balances.

If a person complaining could get $2500 for their complaint, but stood to loose that money if the complaint was found to be invalid, then at least the complaints might have a chance of being ‘real’. But PayPal was trying to create a completely open ended system where they cashed in with no accountability.

PayPal must be ended! I think everyone should close their accounts immediately. Don’t use PayPal even to process a credit card. Why give them any possible leverage to destroy your financial stability?

This form of manipulation must be stopped. It’s not just PayPal, banks all over the world are starting to engage in social justice instead of doing what they’re paid to do, which is hold client money and process payments.

PayPal is walking this whole thing back today. But it’s only because of the blowback. This was not a mistake, as PayPal is claiming today. This was their intention, they just didn’t anticipate that people would actually read their AUP.

Make no mistake, banks, and payment processors, particularly those in the sphere of technology are rabid social justice warriors, they’re leftists, and this may be part of the so called “Conspiracy” to make every human being subject to ESG scores.

Choose your financial institutions wisely. Don’t comply with this kind of bullshit.

Banks hold money, it is not up to them to be your parents, approving of how you spend your hard earned money.

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What unbelievable Arrogance!

I heard about this and thought it was satire.

UN Undersecretary GlobalComs

It’s not!

U.N. Communications Official Touts Google Search Partnership: ‘We Own the Science’

This is completely insane!

The UN partnering with Google to combat misinformation about COVID and Climate Change.

First and foremost, the UN doesn’t own the science. Science can’t be owned. Science is either a theory, true, or false.

What this person is saying is “We will own the narrative. We will control what you believe is true, and we will block anything contrary to our narrative.”

The UN is making sure that their information is promoted above anything else.

This is nothing more than censorship.

Dr. Robert Malone wrote about this UN officials comments in this piece on the Brownstone Institute site.

As always I ask, is this the kind of world that we really want to live in?

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Alright, I’m late to the party.

I literally stumbled across this video from Jordan Peterson.

For more information on Jordan Peterson, Here is the link to his Website

Unfortunately, I cannot embed the video link directly in this page.

I assume this limitation is due to copyright and most probably the potential misrepresentation that could/would occur should the video end up in some kind of editable format residing on the computer of one of Dr. Peterson’s enemies.

It is unfortunate that the world we live in is such that a Man’s words cannot simply stand on their own merit and be presented in context without the possibility of fabrications being added, or context being removed.

The background is that Jordan Peterson had his Twitter account suspended over a tweet he made describing a fact. Ellen Page did have a mastectomy to become Elliot Page.

This made small headlines several weeks ago. I noticed the waves but thought little of it at the time. Conservative voices are always being censored on Twitter.

Jordan Peterson commented and Twitter chose to suspend his account.

I urge you to go to The Daily Wire and view Jordan Peterson’s video wherein he discusses the matter. When you land on the page click the “Watch Now” button in the banner labeled Twitter Ban

It’s worth your time. Peterson eloquently and succinctly discusses the problems of dealing with the woke mob, arbitrary pronoun usage, and gender issues.

I have spent thousands of words discussing and describing my personal thoughts on this phenomena.

Nothing I have written comes close to Jordan Peterson’s evisceration of the subject.