Friends, few have ever accused Donald Trump of ambiguity, and his statements in recent months have made it increasingly clear that he intends to run for president again in 2024. Now there are indications that his announcement could be imminent. This will make the post-election period downright fascinating for political junkies. Trump will be gearing up to run, while Democrats will be (we presume) wringing their hands and wondering whether it's time to send Sleepy Joe packing. New potential Democratic candidates will come out of the woodwork to suggest that only they can save the Democratic Party and America from a fate worse than death: another four years of President Trump. It's going to be a wild ride! That much I can guarantee.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/donald-trump-2024-newsmax/2022/11/04/id/1094899/
As you know, corporate America abhors "misinformation", hate speech, and divisive rhetoric. That's why they have no problem advertising all day long on MSNBC and CNN, where such things are unheard of, but get decidedly queasy when they consider running ads on Fox, or, now that Elon Musk has begun his reign of terror, on Twitter. This was predictable. The Left cannot abide and cannot allow anything like free speech to prevail on Twitter, or in social media in general. Therefore, either Musk will have to be intimidated into backing off on his opposition to censorship, or leftists and their corporate allies will have to boycott Twitter and drive it into the ground financially. It will be intriguing to see how Musk tackles these challenges. There are no easy answers, and he stands an excellent chance of disappointing and alienating both the left and the right, as I've said before. Good luck, Elon!
Ray to Nick
ReplyDeleteNo offense, but those who use Twitter or Facebook deserve what they get. All kinds of social media out there in various forms, and not one of them (left or right) puts up with opinions contrary to whatever their ideological focus is. Many years ago I would post on right and left sites posing as a right-winger on left sites, and a left-winger on right sites, and I would get kicked off permanently every time. No such thing as free speech in this country, if there ever was.
@Ray - I'd love to hear the specifics on this one. Especially the "kicked off" part on "right sites".
ReplyDeleteRay to Richie
DeleteTry "The National Review" for starters. Do your own test of the system, and see where you end up. My point, which you clearly missed, is that Twitter under Elon Musk is not going to be any more free in the long run, than it was under the previous mob who controlled it. The bottom line is that Americans are being jerked around by the right and the left. Think of it as a sort of "good cop/bad copy scenario. We are being played.
@Ray... Twitter has nearly 1,000 times the statistical engagement compared to National Review.
DeleteAre you attempting to suggest that National Review kicks users off their platform for the same type of factual posting that nearly all commonly used social media platforms including Twitter has done to conservative commenters?
Even if they treat their users as you suggest, National Review is open about their political leanings. The major platforms to which you are attempting to compare, present themselves as truth arbiters and balance/fairness advocates.
The good cop/bad cop and pickpocket analogy doesn't hold water. A "Drop in the Bucket" would be a better idiom in this instance.
Ray to Richie
ReplyDeleteCorrection to "good cop/bad cop" scenario. How about "good pickpocket/bad pickpocket"?
Dr.Waddy from Jack: The left certainly cannot countenance free speech in the present settings you cited nor, if they prevail, anywhere, in a future cursed by their by now open and obvious totalitarian intent. No such regime has ever tolerated it because their oppression cannot abide the truth. We MUST take the message abundantly clear in their behavior since 2020 as to how it will be for us if they triumph, NOW! We have our best chance ever to hamstring them this week and perhaps NEVER AGAIN! In Australia in '42 with a Japanese onslaught imminent, the Aussies' clarion call was " the time is NOW! " It must be ours also, this week, because our future is in as much hazard as was theirs.
ReplyDeleteRay to Jack
DeleteBut don't forget that although Australia did escape (narrowly) a direct invasion of their country by Japan, many of them ended up slaving for Japan on the Burma-Thailand Railway, along with the British who underestimated the Japanese, and lost their "impregnable" fortress of Singapore.
And with that analogy in mind, no matter what happens with elections this week. the enemy can still wreak havoc for two more years, just like Japan did to us in The Pacific right up until 1945, in places like Okinawa, and they still did not surrender even after we dropped 2 A bombs on them.
For us conservatives (whatever that means anymore) our clarion call has been sounded many times, and the time was YESTERDAY.
Ray from Jack: The US rode to the rescue of Australia; though its certainly worth noting that alot of Aussies were in North Africa, Italy and eventually France. I think that especially in the last two years leftist presumption has been as blatant as to make it imperative that we take a stand; we may not in the past have received from them such compelling motivation.
ReplyDeleteRay fromJack; But that the left will, under any circumstances, do its best to dissemble after the election, I agree 100%.
ReplyDeleteInteresting discussion, as always! All I can say, Ray, is that, while you have a perfect record of getting kicked off every site you comment on, I have a perfect record of never getting kicked off anything...and I am what most lefties would call a "Trumper" and an "election denier". The truth is, I daresay, more complicated than "conservative speech is suppressed". Yes, SOME conservative speech is suppressed, some of the time, but millions of conservatives, including many conservative leaders, are still part of the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, etc. and have few problems getting their points across. Now, as Ray says, Twitter is NOT going to implement maximum free speech and end all content moderation. However, that doesn't mean that the environment for conservatives on Twitter can't and never will grow more tolerant and accepting. Remember, "election denial" was ALLOWED on Facebook and Twitter until January 6th, when the leftists, who felt empowered and self-righteous, decided to up the ante and purge social media of their enemies. They've been gradually scaling back that purge ever since, and Musk is part of that process of reconsideration. So, at the end of the day, I agree more with Richie than with Ray: the internet is not a bleak hellscape, from the conservative perspective. We can make headway there, and we often do. There's also hope that the censorship monster can be beaten back and caged, at least long enough to give us a fair shot at the White House in '24.
ReplyDeleteHaving said all that, Ray could still be correct that the "hour of decision" was several hours ago, and, since we've lost control of the culture, we can do little now except limp towards our demise. Anyway, I prefer to go down swinging.
The Australians must have been scared out of their wits in 1942!!! Can you imagine what an occupied Australia would have been like? It probably would have happened, too, if the Japanese hadn't been dumb enough to drag the U.S. into the fight...
Dr.Waddy from Jack: We will be an occupied country if we don't show the door to the America hating far left.
ReplyDelete