I'm writing about this as well, with the added bonus of how the paid-off press like the LA Times will literally submit their questions beforehand -- and the president has a little notecard telling him who to call on.
It really tells you everything you need to know about the state of the media these days. Play along and you get rewarded. Dare speak out, and you're unemployed. (Tucker will be fine, but how many reporters will duck their heads back down because they wouldn't be fine?)
Regarding AOC: if the establishment is good at nothing else, it is very good at determining who can be co-opted, who can be bought off, who is to be neutralized, whom to safely ignore.
Another great piece. My whole life (in my 50s) I've never liked the puritanical pearl clutching of the religious GOP but I also caught the scent very early for the totalitarian leanings of Democrats.
Political correctness was a start of it, the race baiting of Sharpton's Tawana Brawley era in NYC, Jessie Jackson and on and on. Manipulating people for ever increasing power and intrusion into day to day lives by the ever growing government. The obsession with disarming the public...it all spelled tyranny for years. Here we are now, my worst nightmares realized.
Look at the fanatical obsession with the smoking ban, another left mob driven cult expression. The issue was distorted in the extreme so the mob could join in othering a target that they knew was not going to be defended. The pattern repeated and escalated. Everything is always sold as the "greater good" when it means mob rule under a violent and oppressive government that will stop at nothing if you resist.
It's always been clear that conformity and compliance were something fundamental in the "liberal" orthodoxy. I've never known a Democrat in my life that had any respect for individual freedom and liberty.
The disgraceful false racism agenda is probably their most shameful exploit, causing utterly needless division using baseless fear driven nonsense. The censorship is a close second and equally disturbing, however without total information control they cannot ensure the falsehoods will propagate. With an open dialogue, their entire platform, their entire premise, baseless, will disintegrate instantly.
The fact that all of their motions are clearly mapped in Mao's Red Book, and all the Frankfurt School and other historical writings and that people can't even see it is probably the most distressing. They have so decimated education that people are woefully ignorant participants in something they don't even understand.
The Iraq war was the political event that most shaped my childhood. I learned to take anything the government says with a healthy grain of salt, and never trust those who would seek to censor or silence opposition viewpoints. Last year I took a First Amendment class in law school. Probably fifty or so students in the class. I figured there would be at least one other principled civil-libertarian in the class. I mean, after all, we read all the major free speech cases: Pentagon Papers, Times v Sullivan, the Flag-burning and draft-card-burning cases, obscenity doctrine, Skokie march, Wesborough Baptist Church, etc. Somebody had to come around to the obvious position that censorship does not work and it is foolish to trust the government with the power to decide which opinions are on and off limits. I’m 30 now, so I’m was a few years older than most of the other students. Nevertheless, it was pretty depressing to be literally the only student who fit into the old-school ACLU mold. I got the sense that myself and my professor were probably the only two people in the room who had even heard of Ira Glasser. I believe there are very few millennials, let alone gen Z, who value freedom of thought. They believe corporations and the government have a responsibility to protect us from wrong-think and, the most laughable phrase in vogue today, “harmful speech”. It’s bleak, man. I don’t see how this leads to anything besides ever-increasing polarization. I don’t see how this ends well.
I don’t think you were attracted to liberalism per se then, you were attracted to the libertarian aspects of pre-2000s liberalism. Modern liberals are authoritarians, because there is nothing about either liberalism or conservatism that mandates whether they be authoritarian or libertarian, it varies by era. But don’t make the mistake of associating liberalism with tolerance or free speech -- those may be liberal values in some eras, but they are always libertarian values. Because “liberal” and “conservative” change their meaning over time, no one should establish a permanent identification as one or the other. In particular, you have to see if “your side” is using authoritarian means to achieve their goals -- if they are, they are probably the bad guys.
I just texted a couple friends yesterday when I saw that AOC interview and said "I am ashamed I once thought AOC was our political future." Seriously, the Democrats are going to force me to vote Trump in the next election. We've really sunk so far.
What has happened to the anti-war left, and the left in general, is mind blowing to me every single day. The two things that basically attracted me to the political "left" as it were; basically in a nutshell three things in the 1980s: it was still the place where the anti-war movement had traction, especially as it pertained to our actions in Central America and other places. It was definitely, 100% for free speech and free expression (I was a punk rock fan and especially found the Minutemen and other totally anti-war and anti-establishment bands transcendent). Finally, it opposed apartheid in South Africa and we longed for racial harmony in America, AKA the Martin Luther King Jr. variety.
These are all gone from the left now. The last professional conference I attended there was a "BIPOC Affinity Room" that white people were not allowed to enter, and the elites and liberal professional class scream at the residents of the most poverty stricken counties in America in Kentucky, which are mostly white, that they have "white privilege." The left is, in some ways, even more warmongering than the hated neocons of the 1990s and 2000s. But what really blows my mind is how much they want to literally censor everything.
I've never been more politically homeless in my life.
It's very bad that there is uniform silencing of all those who vary from the Establishment narrative.
It's even worse that those granted the megaphone by our betters are so dull and stupid. When's the last time you watched a CNN or MSNBC and said "Wow, I never thought about that, I need to evaluate my underlying assumptions and thought process."
We were dumbfounded that uoung people rolled over and just accepted being locked down and not being able to go to graduation, play sports, see live music, go to bars, etc. Our generation NEVER would have accepted that!! We were, in our late 50's, few of the rebellious folks that went to the grocery store, were out the first night of restaurants re-opening, and out anywhere that it was "allowed" during the lockdowns. But the narrative "you'll kill granny" worked on the youth! Why should we be surprised? Today's youth believe they only have 12 years left, thanks to AOC and others!
One of our few voices was Tucker. It appears even our only one conservative network rolled over. Thank God there are still courageous voices like yours, Matt.
The real test of whether someone is truly anti-authoritarian and pro free-speech is whether they still believe either of those things when they are in charge.
"What we have instead is an increasingly pissed-off population that needs to look about eighty results down in every Google search to find its point of view represented. Who thinks that situation is going to hold? "
Who thinks that is going to hold? That's easy. Google, Facebook and their enablers in the administration think it is going to hold as long as they control access to opinions.
Remember, kids, authoritarianism is something that ever always only happens in other countries!
I'm writing about this as well, with the added bonus of how the paid-off press like the LA Times will literally submit their questions beforehand -- and the president has a little notecard telling him who to call on.
It really tells you everything you need to know about the state of the media these days. Play along and you get rewarded. Dare speak out, and you're unemployed. (Tucker will be fine, but how many reporters will duck their heads back down because they wouldn't be fine?)
Edit: Article is out https://simulationcommander.substack.com/p/tucker-unleashed
Regarding AOC: if the establishment is good at nothing else, it is very good at determining who can be co-opted, who can be bought off, who is to be neutralized, whom to safely ignore.
After Tuckers firing, she went on to brag “de-platforming works”.
And then she calls others fascists.
God, I miss old school liberals who were all about freedom.
Another great piece. My whole life (in my 50s) I've never liked the puritanical pearl clutching of the religious GOP but I also caught the scent very early for the totalitarian leanings of Democrats.
Political correctness was a start of it, the race baiting of Sharpton's Tawana Brawley era in NYC, Jessie Jackson and on and on. Manipulating people for ever increasing power and intrusion into day to day lives by the ever growing government. The obsession with disarming the public...it all spelled tyranny for years. Here we are now, my worst nightmares realized.
Look at the fanatical obsession with the smoking ban, another left mob driven cult expression. The issue was distorted in the extreme so the mob could join in othering a target that they knew was not going to be defended. The pattern repeated and escalated. Everything is always sold as the "greater good" when it means mob rule under a violent and oppressive government that will stop at nothing if you resist.
It's always been clear that conformity and compliance were something fundamental in the "liberal" orthodoxy. I've never known a Democrat in my life that had any respect for individual freedom and liberty.
The disgraceful false racism agenda is probably their most shameful exploit, causing utterly needless division using baseless fear driven nonsense. The censorship is a close second and equally disturbing, however without total information control they cannot ensure the falsehoods will propagate. With an open dialogue, their entire platform, their entire premise, baseless, will disintegrate instantly.
The fact that all of their motions are clearly mapped in Mao's Red Book, and all the Frankfurt School and other historical writings and that people can't even see it is probably the most distressing. They have so decimated education that people are woefully ignorant participants in something they don't even understand.
Keep going.
The Iraq war was the political event that most shaped my childhood. I learned to take anything the government says with a healthy grain of salt, and never trust those who would seek to censor or silence opposition viewpoints. Last year I took a First Amendment class in law school. Probably fifty or so students in the class. I figured there would be at least one other principled civil-libertarian in the class. I mean, after all, we read all the major free speech cases: Pentagon Papers, Times v Sullivan, the Flag-burning and draft-card-burning cases, obscenity doctrine, Skokie march, Wesborough Baptist Church, etc. Somebody had to come around to the obvious position that censorship does not work and it is foolish to trust the government with the power to decide which opinions are on and off limits. I’m 30 now, so I’m was a few years older than most of the other students. Nevertheless, it was pretty depressing to be literally the only student who fit into the old-school ACLU mold. I got the sense that myself and my professor were probably the only two people in the room who had even heard of Ira Glasser. I believe there are very few millennials, let alone gen Z, who value freedom of thought. They believe corporations and the government have a responsibility to protect us from wrong-think and, the most laughable phrase in vogue today, “harmful speech”. It’s bleak, man. I don’t see how this leads to anything besides ever-increasing polarization. I don’t see how this ends well.
I don’t think you were attracted to liberalism per se then, you were attracted to the libertarian aspects of pre-2000s liberalism. Modern liberals are authoritarians, because there is nothing about either liberalism or conservatism that mandates whether they be authoritarian or libertarian, it varies by era. But don’t make the mistake of associating liberalism with tolerance or free speech -- those may be liberal values in some eras, but they are always libertarian values. Because “liberal” and “conservative” change their meaning over time, no one should establish a permanent identification as one or the other. In particular, you have to see if “your side” is using authoritarian means to achieve their goals -- if they are, they are probably the bad guys.
I just texted a couple friends yesterday when I saw that AOC interview and said "I am ashamed I once thought AOC was our political future." Seriously, the Democrats are going to force me to vote Trump in the next election. We've really sunk so far.
What has happened to the anti-war left, and the left in general, is mind blowing to me every single day. The two things that basically attracted me to the political "left" as it were; basically in a nutshell three things in the 1980s: it was still the place where the anti-war movement had traction, especially as it pertained to our actions in Central America and other places. It was definitely, 100% for free speech and free expression (I was a punk rock fan and especially found the Minutemen and other totally anti-war and anti-establishment bands transcendent). Finally, it opposed apartheid in South Africa and we longed for racial harmony in America, AKA the Martin Luther King Jr. variety.
These are all gone from the left now. The last professional conference I attended there was a "BIPOC Affinity Room" that white people were not allowed to enter, and the elites and liberal professional class scream at the residents of the most poverty stricken counties in America in Kentucky, which are mostly white, that they have "white privilege." The left is, in some ways, even more warmongering than the hated neocons of the 1990s and 2000s. But what really blows my mind is how much they want to literally censor everything.
I've never been more politically homeless in my life.
My god she is simply awful. That is all.
The "tax the rich" gown wearer at the Met Gala. That was when I knew she had jumped the shark and could not see she was now just a meme.
It's very bad that there is uniform silencing of all those who vary from the Establishment narrative.
It's even worse that those granted the megaphone by our betters are so dull and stupid. When's the last time you watched a CNN or MSNBC and said "Wow, I never thought about that, I need to evaluate my underlying assumptions and thought process."
“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” -Marcus Aurelius
We were dumbfounded that uoung people rolled over and just accepted being locked down and not being able to go to graduation, play sports, see live music, go to bars, etc. Our generation NEVER would have accepted that!! We were, in our late 50's, few of the rebellious folks that went to the grocery store, were out the first night of restaurants re-opening, and out anywhere that it was "allowed" during the lockdowns. But the narrative "you'll kill granny" worked on the youth! Why should we be surprised? Today's youth believe they only have 12 years left, thanks to AOC and others!
One of our few voices was Tucker. It appears even our only one conservative network rolled over. Thank God there are still courageous voices like yours, Matt.
The real test of whether someone is truly anti-authoritarian and pro free-speech is whether they still believe either of those things when they are in charge.
"What we have instead is an increasingly pissed-off population that needs to look about eighty results down in every Google search to find its point of view represented. Who thinks that situation is going to hold? "
Who thinks that is going to hold? That's easy. Google, Facebook and their enablers in the administration think it is going to hold as long as they control access to opinions.