The set-up gives MAGA conservatives an easy way to simply dismiss the post-election beliefs of the public at large, the widely accepted reports in mainstream news outlets and the word of experts and even some government officials.I'm speechless. There are people who dismiss beliefs of the public? Who doubt the widely accepted reports of the MSM? . . . the word of experts and even some government officials? Can't these people simply be locked up and shot?
Who's safe now?
More wisdom from our betters at Politico: Suddenly the allure of safe spaces is tarnished. Who would have thought that wrongthinking people might find a safe space to share ideas, without even petitioning the legislature or their college presidents for permission, armed guards at the perimeter, and suitable social annihilation for transgressors, not to mention pillows and plushy stuffed comfort animals? Parler is terrifying the people who cheered on Twitter and Facebook for silencing all the bad voices:
The degree to which they conceive themselves as on the side of "the public at large" is quite astonishing. In their minds, Trump was resoundingly rather than (allegedly) narrowly defeated. Only a fringe really supported him; only madmen, lost in a fog of lies, which their clear and obvious truth must penetrate and correct.
ReplyDeleteThis is the same MSM who was "certain" Trump had colluded with Russia and would be impeached, convicted, and removed from office, right? All on the basis of a trumped up report from a disgraced British operative in the pay of the Clinton campaign, just another fact that was completely ignored by this same MSM. And they wonder why anyone with half a brain doesn't accept their gospel at face value.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Grim entirely here. The idea of the public at large when the majority ( IF valid at all) is less than a two percent difference, AND divided by tiny dense urban enclaves of dependency versus vast, fluid, self-sufficient localities...
ReplyDeleteA poor choice of words, at very best.
There was a FB meme being circulated, asserting that Parler is the on-line equivalent of Jonestown.
ReplyDeleteI would think a better analogy would be with a site where what you do and don't get to read is controlled by what the Leader thinks is appropriate.
Parler is (at least at present) the more open platform that generally declines to censor Users with seemingly arbitrary rulings, nor does it add its own comment and information in an attempt to modify or influence the impact of a given User's commentary.
ReplyDeleteFacebook/Twitter at present does all of those things, and does them consistently along ideological lines. They censor Users and revoke privileges either with suspensions or deletions of accounts, and they label information tweets, even predictions, with authoritarian comments that are derogatory or misleading like 'Untrue' and so forth.
One of these has a full staff acting on these instructions and a cult-like following that demands adherence to ideology, casts disparaging criticism and ad-hominem attacks to complete strangers they happen to disagree with - and the other doesn't. Not much point arguing with a cult.
When a group purports to be speaking for "the people" they seldom are. It is an old communist trick, to name your party something with the word "People" in it. This was nicely skewered by Monty Python in Life of Brian, a countercultural and transgressive group when they were popular but now regarded as part of the Olde Guard that must be destroyed.
ReplyDeleteLinguists and anthropologists note that worldwide, tribes have a name for themselves that means "the people" or "the real people," which is convenient when you want to treat other lives as valueless. "Das Volk" may come to mind.
To keep the point clear: even if their political opponents are 100% wrong they should never be referred to in such terms by decent people.
Wait until they see the Kraken and the Sons of God, Divine avatar descents, then we'll see how "scared" they get.
ReplyDeleteCan't these people simply be locked up and shot?
ReplyDeleteAll in good time.