Listen to a reading of this article: When Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter was first announced this past April I said that the purchase likely wouldn't go through if the empire thought it posed a threat to its information interests. I said that any reduction of censorship protocols which Musk implements on the platform would probably not be of the sort that make any difference to the powerful, but would instead just amplify vapid partisan culture war nonsense.
The fact that Musk put up to a vote whether Trump should get his account back tells me he neither understands free speech nor gives a shit about it. Someone's right to speech should not depend on whether a lot of people agree they should have that right. Remember free speech rights exist to protect unpopular speech, not popular speech. By definition something that is mainstream, popular and establishment approved does not need protection.
See, this is what happens when you live on a society where peoples' right to free speech (among other things) is not really guaranteed but contingent upon the mood, largess and whims of a billionaire parasite that everyone has to tip toe around and whose ass they have to kiss to see if he would pretty please be so kind and generous as to let them freely express themselves on what is essentially the digital version of a public square. That this space would quickly fall under the whims of a narcissistic psychopath drunk with power was not hard to predict. Just look at the way he is treating his employees, like a total tyrant, rude, abusive, entitled to their labor, ordering them around as if they were nothing but insects to be crushed under his feet if they do not agree to his demands and blackmail. That is who Musk is. That is how all billionaires are.
Musk is not interested in upholding free speech in any sense of the word. Just look at how in the first few days he's gone shadow banning or disabling accounts for making fun of him. He is an entitled, self serving, power hungry prick who is bored and who acquired Twitter, which to him is nothing more than an ant farm, to live out his wildest fantasies of control over people. It is obvious that as the psychopath that he is, he takes great pleasure in having that kind of a power at his fingertips and where he can snap a finger and just ban, delete, shadow ban, reinstate, fire and hire and order anyone around at a moment's notice and as the mood strikes him. He reminds me of Q in Star Trek who would always say how much the universe is his backyard. When rights are not guaranteed and upheld by the government, these kinds of damaged and dangerous psychos with a lot of money will fill the void. And lots of people who don't know any better will be grateful for it.
"Humanity to him is a small animal caught in a trap to be tormented. His pleasure is the giving of pain. And from this he feels the same sense of fulfillment most humans get from a kiss or an embrace. He is a caricature. All of them are. Without their masks, they are all caricatures."
The Shadow Banning is a time trap. I don't appreciate having been suspended but in retrospect, while I helped many individuals, I was wasting my time shadow banned on Twitter. Not only were my Tweets limited for view by others, I didn't have as much in my stream from other people. And the speed of info can be party like addictive.
Admitting that shadow banning is the plan is admitting that free speech without censorship is not the plan.
I was suspended over a year ago for posting that the Covid shots don’t work and that they would be mandated. This was “dangerous misinformation.” After Elon took over, I appealed to be reinstated and Twitter responded that I have violated their rules “numerous times” and would not be allowed to return. Posts about Covid vax were the only supposed “violations” I made. Musk has not restored major accounts of doctors and experts who were booted for vaccine related posts. Covid shot dissidents like Steve Kirsch, Naomi Wolfe, Dr. Peter McCullough, Daniel Horowitz, Dr. Robert Malone, and many, many more are still banned not for being wrong, but for being right before the world was ready.
Clearly there is no free speech on Twitter when it comes to those who pointed out the jabs at dangerous and ineffective. Many are still banned for life on Twitter because they didn’t support the pharma narrative. Musk is part of the cabal, he’s just the Republican version. Trump brags about warp speed so he can come back. Jordan Peterson was kicked off for misgenderig a trans movie star. He was allowed back. See the pattern?
*Note - re: ""You have free speech! You can say whatever you want, as long as you say it alone in a soundproof room."" - The room better be a grounded Faraday cage if you are in the US because they can spy on everyone with mini-drones and use it in ways other than a legal court of law to punish you.
"I care that people are still banned from the platform for questioning western allegations of Russian war crimes and voicing unauthorized opinions about the war in Ukraine. I care that people are still banned for questioning vaccines and Covid policies which affect everyone. I care that media from governments the US doesn't like are censored and suppressed while its reporters are made to carry "state-affiliated media" labels that media personnel from US-aligned states don't have. I care that mass purges of accounts are virtually always directed at people from US-targeted nations."
Dang, these are what I was hoping for from Mush, (misspell intended). What a disappointment!
The undeleting of a handful of celebrity accounts amounts to nothing as we all know exactly what their point of view is and the context of what they will post!
In the U.K. legislation is being passed preventing reporting on anything that will ‘embarrass’ the government which is about as wide, ‘carte blanche’ statement you can get with no legal definition. Almost matching Musk’s use of “negative. It is totally open to interpretation and in fact really means ‘you can’t post anything we don’t like. As the government embarrasses itself daily without any help and even constructive feedback can be seen as negative. It paves the way for further control and even greater censorship than we have seen before.
By comparing the ‘reach’ of Twitter to be comparable to that of the rest of the internet shows Musk’s true megalomaniac colours. People search on the Twitter platform for certain topics, mainly current political issues, as say they would for a medical matter on ‘Healthunlocked’ or a similar health related platform. This is just a strategy from preventing independent free thinkers to come together and share uncensored views. As Caitlin said Musk is a billionaire from the American Defence Complex, he will not allow uncensored debate on the proxy war in the Ukraine or anything that might damage profit margins. I believe if you look closely you can just see his ankles sticking out of Trumps arse!
It's funny, the priorities of the owned. They don't miss the arguments against the empire. They get triggered because Trump is back, as if they're somehow forced to follow him. I keep expecting logic to prevail. That's how I'm owned.
Musk does not seem to realize he lives on a planet with a biosphere that he's part of, given the things he does (not to mention last I heard having 8 kids). Behind all great wealth lies a great crime, and it's hard to see this any other way, even if our economy is a house of cards (even before CBDC rolls out). Now Musk is discriminating against the poor or anyone not eager to jump into the Twitter Cesspool at $8 a month.
Yeah, it's true that he isn't the first to say this. I remember Brian Stelter saying the exact same words, and didn't expect Musk to say it even if he wasn't going to, say, unban Scott Ritter. (Not that I'm holding my breath, but hypothetically: if Ritter got unbanned one of these days, or Robert Malone, or anyone else previously censored for criticizing the narrative around Ukraine/Covid/whatever the Current Thing was, would that be something you think Musk would deserve credit for? Even a sliver of credit?)
Anyway, as you once wrote, freedom of speech without the freedom to be heard (or "reach") is about as valuable as the right to shout your opinions into an empty hole in the ground.
(I wrote this comment before finishing the article but after doing a CTRL-F for "hole" and thinking "Okay, it isn't there, she didn't repeat the analogy, which means I can do it without being superfluous." And then I got to the "soundproof room" part. I gotta be more patient and read the whole thing more often... 😔)
When Musk's twitter reinstates @glinner Graham Linehan, I might believe he's serious. Anyone who's labeled gender critical was immediately cancelled by the wokeratti. Unfortunately, no one listened to Graham, and he's turned out to be right.
Someone asked me what the "freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach" concept meant. I take it to mean, "On Twitter, no one can see your tweet." Your celebrity nonsensical rants, yes, but not the intelligent and informed tweets of those who don't follow the imperial US line.
Maybe we should create a list of the most high profile and relevant people that were banned and censored people and track which persons have been reinstated as a litmus test.
Funny if you test the nuts and bolts of free speech you discover almost no one really wants it..they all pretend they are protecting you from "misinformation" or in actually the uncomfortable truths. if it serves their own agenda..even on here if you cross certian "lines" they quickly emotionally knee jerk a fascist response to shut you up and demand you praise the emperors new cloths.
Certain topics are taboo. Even asking questions is taboo. Even playing devil's advocate to leach out some truth you are branded with some scarlet letter.
The emotional investment into the great lies of our times has turned people's minds into mush.
If you have no foundation of integrity as your guide you have no truth or if you don't stand for something you will fall for anything is so very true today.. The lack of personal integrity and the intellectual courage to know why that's important is totaly lost on this Hollywood soaked mind controlled civilisation that's turning more clown world every day basking in convoluted thought and western centric mind control propaganda.. They see it outside themselves only but they think it's coming out of everyone else outside their tribe cult or group bubble , but fail to see it within.
They will pretend to defend against fascism but rush into fascism as soon as they hear a truth they don't like.
Its fascinating to me how quickly the modern nμmpty will turn on you if you don't toe their line.
Carlin was right, now im also cheering on for the asteroid, or a well placed nuke.
Most of these fμcking people are not worth saving. Your lack of integrity as human beings proves it.
How would I know or find out if I've been shadow banned? It seems odd that none of my Tweets have been retweeted for months now, after I've been Tweeting lots of anti-Empire Tweets from all the "bad guys" (Scott Ritter, Max Blumenthal, Aaron Mate, Mutlipolarista, Bob Scheer's site, Consortium News, Chris Hedges, Caitlin, Real News, et al). I also Tweet my own content, which used to generate retweets. I've lost about 20 followers, but used to be retweeted on a regular basis. Now it's just crickets.
Is there some way to know? Like an official "drone kill list" or something?
The fact that Musk put up to a vote whether Trump should get his account back tells me he neither understands free speech nor gives a shit about it. Someone's right to speech should not depend on whether a lot of people agree they should have that right. Remember free speech rights exist to protect unpopular speech, not popular speech. By definition something that is mainstream, popular and establishment approved does not need protection.
See, this is what happens when you live on a society where peoples' right to free speech (among other things) is not really guaranteed but contingent upon the mood, largess and whims of a billionaire parasite that everyone has to tip toe around and whose ass they have to kiss to see if he would pretty please be so kind and generous as to let them freely express themselves on what is essentially the digital version of a public square. That this space would quickly fall under the whims of a narcissistic psychopath drunk with power was not hard to predict. Just look at the way he is treating his employees, like a total tyrant, rude, abusive, entitled to their labor, ordering them around as if they were nothing but insects to be crushed under his feet if they do not agree to his demands and blackmail. That is who Musk is. That is how all billionaires are.
Musk is not interested in upholding free speech in any sense of the word. Just look at how in the first few days he's gone shadow banning or disabling accounts for making fun of him. He is an entitled, self serving, power hungry prick who is bored and who acquired Twitter, which to him is nothing more than an ant farm, to live out his wildest fantasies of control over people. It is obvious that as the psychopath that he is, he takes great pleasure in having that kind of a power at his fingertips and where he can snap a finger and just ban, delete, shadow ban, reinstate, fire and hire and order anyone around at a moment's notice and as the mood strikes him. He reminds me of Q in Star Trek who would always say how much the universe is his backyard. When rights are not guaranteed and upheld by the government, these kinds of damaged and dangerous psychos with a lot of money will fill the void. And lots of people who don't know any better will be grateful for it.
"Humanity to him is a small animal caught in a trap to be tormented. His pleasure is the giving of pain. And from this he feels the same sense of fulfillment most humans get from a kiss or an embrace. He is a caricature. All of them are. Without their masks, they are all caricatures."
Scott Ritter is still not allowed !!!
Scott Ritter at his best – a must see short video: https://youtu.be/iAhdHIOd-9w
Scott Ritter: Talks German (and US) Government Politics – Nov. 19, 2022
The Shadow Banning is a time trap. I don't appreciate having been suspended but in retrospect, while I helped many individuals, I was wasting my time shadow banned on Twitter. Not only were my Tweets limited for view by others, I didn't have as much in my stream from other people. And the speed of info can be party like addictive.
Admitting that shadow banning is the plan is admitting that free speech without censorship is not the plan.
It is psy op trap, it seems.
I was suspended over a year ago for posting that the Covid shots don’t work and that they would be mandated. This was “dangerous misinformation.” After Elon took over, I appealed to be reinstated and Twitter responded that I have violated their rules “numerous times” and would not be allowed to return. Posts about Covid vax were the only supposed “violations” I made. Musk has not restored major accounts of doctors and experts who were booted for vaccine related posts. Covid shot dissidents like Steve Kirsch, Naomi Wolfe, Dr. Peter McCullough, Daniel Horowitz, Dr. Robert Malone, and many, many more are still banned not for being wrong, but for being right before the world was ready.
Clearly there is no free speech on Twitter when it comes to those who pointed out the jabs at dangerous and ineffective. Many are still banned for life on Twitter because they didn’t support the pharma narrative. Musk is part of the cabal, he’s just the Republican version. Trump brags about warp speed so he can come back. Jordan Peterson was kicked off for misgenderig a trans movie star. He was allowed back. See the pattern?
*Note - re: ""You have free speech! You can say whatever you want, as long as you say it alone in a soundproof room."" - The room better be a grounded Faraday cage if you are in the US because they can spy on everyone with mini-drones and use it in ways other than a legal court of law to punish you.
I’d have to agree. It’s positive that he reinstated “some” accounts. But as you correctly point out - that’s not nearly enough.
Adding to that, his policy of “negative” and “hateful” tweets being “demonetized” sounds really concerning.
"I care that people are still banned from the platform for questioning western allegations of Russian war crimes and voicing unauthorized opinions about the war in Ukraine. I care that people are still banned for questioning vaccines and Covid policies which affect everyone. I care that media from governments the US doesn't like are censored and suppressed while its reporters are made to carry "state-affiliated media" labels that media personnel from US-aligned states don't have. I care that mass purges of accounts are virtually always directed at people from US-targeted nations."
Dang, these are what I was hoping for from Mush, (misspell intended). What a disappointment!
The undeleting of a handful of celebrity accounts amounts to nothing as we all know exactly what their point of view is and the context of what they will post!
In the U.K. legislation is being passed preventing reporting on anything that will ‘embarrass’ the government which is about as wide, ‘carte blanche’ statement you can get with no legal definition. Almost matching Musk’s use of “negative. It is totally open to interpretation and in fact really means ‘you can’t post anything we don’t like. As the government embarrasses itself daily without any help and even constructive feedback can be seen as negative. It paves the way for further control and even greater censorship than we have seen before.
By comparing the ‘reach’ of Twitter to be comparable to that of the rest of the internet shows Musk’s true megalomaniac colours. People search on the Twitter platform for certain topics, mainly current political issues, as say they would for a medical matter on ‘Healthunlocked’ or a similar health related platform. This is just a strategy from preventing independent free thinkers to come together and share uncensored views. As Caitlin said Musk is a billionaire from the American Defence Complex, he will not allow uncensored debate on the proxy war in the Ukraine or anything that might damage profit margins. I believe if you look closely you can just see his ankles sticking out of Trumps arse!
It's funny, the priorities of the owned. They don't miss the arguments against the empire. They get triggered because Trump is back, as if they're somehow forced to follow him. I keep expecting logic to prevail. That's how I'm owned.
Musk does not seem to realize he lives on a planet with a biosphere that he's part of, given the things he does (not to mention last I heard having 8 kids). Behind all great wealth lies a great crime, and it's hard to see this any other way, even if our economy is a house of cards (even before CBDC rolls out). Now Musk is discriminating against the poor or anyone not eager to jump into the Twitter Cesspool at $8 a month.
"Freedom of speech but not freedom of reach"
Yeah, it's true that he isn't the first to say this. I remember Brian Stelter saying the exact same words, and didn't expect Musk to say it even if he wasn't going to, say, unban Scott Ritter. (Not that I'm holding my breath, but hypothetically: if Ritter got unbanned one of these days, or Robert Malone, or anyone else previously censored for criticizing the narrative around Ukraine/Covid/whatever the Current Thing was, would that be something you think Musk would deserve credit for? Even a sliver of credit?)
Anyway, as you once wrote, freedom of speech without the freedom to be heard (or "reach") is about as valuable as the right to shout your opinions into an empty hole in the ground.
(I wrote this comment before finishing the article but after doing a CTRL-F for "hole" and thinking "Okay, it isn't there, she didn't repeat the analogy, which means I can do it without being superfluous." And then I got to the "soundproof room" part. I gotta be more patient and read the whole thing more often... 😔)
When Musk's twitter reinstates @glinner Graham Linehan, I might believe he's serious. Anyone who's labeled gender critical was immediately cancelled by the wokeratti. Unfortunately, no one listened to Graham, and he's turned out to be right.
Someone asked me what the "freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach" concept meant. I take it to mean, "On Twitter, no one can see your tweet." Your celebrity nonsensical rants, yes, but not the intelligent and informed tweets of those who don't follow the imperial US line.
Maybe we should create a list of the most high profile and relevant people that were banned and censored people and track which persons have been reinstated as a litmus test.
Funny if you test the nuts and bolts of free speech you discover almost no one really wants it..they all pretend they are protecting you from "misinformation" or in actually the uncomfortable truths. if it serves their own agenda..even on here if you cross certian "lines" they quickly emotionally knee jerk a fascist response to shut you up and demand you praise the emperors new cloths.
Certain topics are taboo. Even asking questions is taboo. Even playing devil's advocate to leach out some truth you are branded with some scarlet letter.
The emotional investment into the great lies of our times has turned people's minds into mush.
If you have no foundation of integrity as your guide you have no truth or if you don't stand for something you will fall for anything is so very true today.. The lack of personal integrity and the intellectual courage to know why that's important is totaly lost on this Hollywood soaked mind controlled civilisation that's turning more clown world every day basking in convoluted thought and western centric mind control propaganda.. They see it outside themselves only but they think it's coming out of everyone else outside their tribe cult or group bubble , but fail to see it within.
They will pretend to defend against fascism but rush into fascism as soon as they hear a truth they don't like.
Its fascinating to me how quickly the modern nμmpty will turn on you if you don't toe their line.
Carlin was right, now im also cheering on for the asteroid, or a well placed nuke.
Most of these fμcking people are not worth saving. Your lack of integrity as human beings proves it.
How would I know or find out if I've been shadow banned? It seems odd that none of my Tweets have been retweeted for months now, after I've been Tweeting lots of anti-Empire Tweets from all the "bad guys" (Scott Ritter, Max Blumenthal, Aaron Mate, Mutlipolarista, Bob Scheer's site, Consortium News, Chris Hedges, Caitlin, Real News, et al). I also Tweet my own content, which used to generate retweets. I've lost about 20 followers, but used to be retweeted on a regular basis. Now it's just crickets.
Is there some way to know? Like an official "drone kill list" or something?