“Old school digital censorship”? It has been one long continuous trend of ever increasing clamp-downs on free speech. Trump, Musk and any other false heroes have been engaged in exactly the same speech-curtailing activities as every other member of the techno-fascist oligarchy. Covid was the apotheosis of the global censorship and propaganda efforts — demonstrating very clearly that it is not partisan or political: it is about raw power and control.
There are no good guys in this battle: just the population/serfs vs our would-be feudal overlords.
Glad you're covering this Matt. Order your copies of The Information State now, folks, before Renee DiResta is successful — yes, it's her, and she's actually doing this — in convincing publisher Henry Holt to "correct the manuscript."
Mr. Siegel's been on the RCI pod, Doug Lain's pod, and others, and he continues to be one of the most fascinating writers and thinkers on this still-important subject. It's clear that what Mr. Taibbi has been documenting here, and what Mr. Siegel has written about in his book never actually stopped; it's the information state, but newly concealed. Zuckerberg and those guys are going to favor, or disfavor, whoever they think is in their best interest from day to day.
Thanks Matt. Important perspective. You say, "...the awesome information-squashing gadgets available..." I am praying that, in this age of broad independent platform availability, truth finds its way to the pubic. X has helped to this point, but I don't think we can put our trust in Musk. You are certainly doing your part; I'm off to purchase Siegel's "The Information State." I also highly recommend Iain Davis' new book, "The Technocratic Dark State." NOT available on Amazon, a good sign that it hits the mark.
Lots of info on X — you can hook into the stream via author’s Twitter account [ @Jacob_Siegler ] assuming you have an account there. Coverage from other outlets including Substack coming, I would presume…
أحسنت النشر والقول – سلام غزة و القدس عليكم - العزة والنصر حليف محورالمقاومة وحلفاءها والذلة والعار لمحور الشر وجماعة أبستين (امريكا و بريطانيا وفرنسا وتركيا وقطر والامارات و دول الناتو والصهيونية و أسرائيل) وحلفاءه
"Well done, publish and say - Gaza and Jerusalem peace be upon you - pride and victory, an ally of the axis of resistance and its allies, humiliation and shame for the axis of evil and the Epstein group (America, Britain, France, Turkey, Qatar, the UAE, NATO countries, Zionism and Israel) and its allies."
A bit off-topic, but hell yes to "humiliation and shame" for Operation Epstein Fury being carried out by the Zionest Axis, as accurately listed by this commentor.
The translation from Google Translate: Well published and said – peace in Gaza and Jerusalem upon you – pride and victory is the ally of the axis of resistance and its allies, humiliation and shame for the axis of evil and the Epstein group (America, Britain, France, Turkey, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, NATO countries, Zionism and Israel) and its allies. ... I'm not sure if Hassan is for free speech or just spouting off.
Who could have seen this coming?? The entire "the left is worse than the right when it comes to censorship and power" really need to get back to calling balls and strikes. The full on shift to Trump in 2024 should have them all apologizing for helping to get him elected. The credibility of everyone involved in that clown show continues to disappear the further into Trump 2.0 we go.
All power leans towards censorship. Nothing new here. Trump may be marginally better as he fights the censorship in the public sphere rather than just gaslighting freedom and stealing it with government, but all government hates being criticized no matter the source or the truth.
The Richard Greenwald review of the Jacob Siegel book that The Baffler saw fit to try to cancel was 💥loaded with nuance & insight 💥 [ & brought forward some quite valid & constructive criticisms of Siegel’s spectacular accomplishment ].
Opening line of the review was, as the vulgar old MSM expression goes, a ballgrabber:
“EVERY SO OFTEN a political book arrives that reshapes how we understand the ground beneath our feet…”
Here is link to full text, courtesy of Wayback Machine & with an appreciative tip of the old newshound’s fedora to the Streisand Effect:
[ Anyone have a Wayback copy of Jacob’s paywalled writeup in the Free Press on this Renée DiResta blowback? Who could perhaps post the full text as a Reply here? I happily dropped my Free Press paid subscription a few months ago 🤣👍]
If you use social media then you’re subjected to the whims of those private companies owned by oligarchs. Haven’t used any in over a decade and couldn’t care less if they all went by the way of the dodo. I’m not missing any news of the day and not getting it within the second it happens is more than fine with me.
Big Tech is reverting to its old ways in less than two years? When did it actually change?
"If both parties use the tools, the first things to vanish will be criticism of the tools. We’re headed that way." We're here, homie, and we've been here for a while. These tools are only criticized by the party that is currently out of power. Once that party is in power, the criticism stops.
“Old school digital censorship”? It has been one long continuous trend of ever increasing clamp-downs on free speech. Trump, Musk and any other false heroes have been engaged in exactly the same speech-curtailing activities as every other member of the techno-fascist oligarchy. Covid was the apotheosis of the global censorship and propaganda efforts — demonstrating very clearly that it is not partisan or political: it is about raw power and control.
There are no good guys in this battle: just the population/serfs vs our would-be feudal overlords.
They see the winds are changing. Tech guys are like wall street, they are leading indicators.
Glad you're covering this Matt. Order your copies of The Information State now, folks, before Renee DiResta is successful — yes, it's her, and she's actually doing this — in convincing publisher Henry Holt to "correct the manuscript."
Mr. Siegel's been on the RCI pod, Doug Lain's pod, and others, and he continues to be one of the most fascinating writers and thinkers on this still-important subject. It's clear that what Mr. Taibbi has been documenting here, and what Mr. Siegel has written about in his book never actually stopped; it's the information state, but newly concealed. Zuckerberg and those guys are going to favor, or disfavor, whoever they think is in their best interest from day to day.
Opening line of book review that was ‘cancelled’ was:
“EVERY SO OFTEN a political book arrives that reshapes how we understand the ground beneath our feet…”
Here is link to full text, courtesy of Wayback Machine
https://web.archive.org/web/20260324181826/https://thebaffler.com/latest/digital-leviathan-greenwald
(More detailed comment below in this comments stream)
I read the archived review. It's good, and isn't without criticisms. It's beyond bewildering that the Baffler felt like it needed to be fully removed.
Thanks Matt. Important perspective. You say, "...the awesome information-squashing gadgets available..." I am praying that, in this age of broad independent platform availability, truth finds its way to the pubic. X has helped to this point, but I don't think we can put our trust in Musk. You are certainly doing your part; I'm off to purchase Siegel's "The Information State." I also highly recommend Iain Davis' new book, "The Technocratic Dark State." NOT available on Amazon, a good sign that it hits the mark.
The Baffler review removal is ... baffling, to say the least. Tell us more.
Lots of info on X — you can hook into the stream via author’s Twitter account [ @Jacob_Siegler ] assuming you have an account there. Coverage from other outlets including Substack coming, I would presume…
Meanwhile:
https://web.archive.org/web/20260324181826/https://thebaffler.com/latest/digital-leviathan-greenwald
I like Brendan Carr's ham-handed threats against the propaganda monopolists; they are entirely consistent with free speech.
أحسنت النشر والقول – سلام غزة و القدس عليكم - العزة والنصر حليف محورالمقاومة وحلفاءها والذلة والعار لمحور الشر وجماعة أبستين (امريكا و بريطانيا وفرنسا وتركيا وقطر والامارات و دول الناتو والصهيونية و أسرائيل) وحلفاءه
Google's translation:
"Well done, publish and say - Gaza and Jerusalem peace be upon you - pride and victory, an ally of the axis of resistance and its allies, humiliation and shame for the axis of evil and the Epstein group (America, Britain, France, Turkey, Qatar, the UAE, NATO countries, Zionism and Israel) and its allies."
A bit off-topic, but hell yes to "humiliation and shame" for Operation Epstein Fury being carried out by the Zionest Axis, as accurately listed by this commentor.
(I'm an atheist, but hey, Inshallah baby!)
Psychotic.
The translation from Google Translate: Well published and said – peace in Gaza and Jerusalem upon you – pride and victory is the ally of the axis of resistance and its allies, humiliation and shame for the axis of evil and the Epstein group (America, Britain, France, Turkey, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, NATO countries, Zionism and Israel) and its allies. ... I'm not sure if Hassan is for free speech or just spouting off.
I didn't realize Robt B had already done this. Nevermind.
Who could have seen this coming?? The entire "the left is worse than the right when it comes to censorship and power" really need to get back to calling balls and strikes. The full on shift to Trump in 2024 should have them all apologizing for helping to get him elected. The credibility of everyone involved in that clown show continues to disappear the further into Trump 2.0 we go.
All power leans towards censorship. Nothing new here. Trump may be marginally better as he fights the censorship in the public sphere rather than just gaslighting freedom and stealing it with government, but all government hates being criticized no matter the source or the truth.
They are all full of it. They will use censorship when it is convenient for them. No moral compass. No real convictions other than to make more money.
Have you heard of Doomberg?
They are market analysts and they ran an experiment when the Iran war kicked off.
They had a new iPad with only X. They trained the algorithm to only provide content from a pro-Iranian perspective.
By Sunday, they could no longer see content from Iran, or only on a limited basis.
Surprise, surprise, surprise…it was like a switch was flipped and they were cut off from content except pro-American.
The next war they decided they are doing a factory resent and training the algorithm again.
Censorship is alive and well in the good ol’ USA.
The Richard Greenwald review of the Jacob Siegel book that The Baffler saw fit to try to cancel was 💥loaded with nuance & insight 💥 [ & brought forward some quite valid & constructive criticisms of Siegel’s spectacular accomplishment ].
Opening line of the review was, as the vulgar old MSM expression goes, a ballgrabber:
“EVERY SO OFTEN a political book arrives that reshapes how we understand the ground beneath our feet…”
Here is link to full text, courtesy of Wayback Machine & with an appreciative tip of the old newshound’s fedora to the Streisand Effect:
https://web.archive.org/web/20260324181826/https://thebaffler.com/latest/digital-leviathan-greenwald
Enjoy❣️ Knowledge = Power ✔️👍
[ Anyone have a Wayback copy of Jacob’s paywalled writeup in the Free Press on this Renée DiResta blowback? Who could perhaps post the full text as a Reply here? I happily dropped my Free Press paid subscription a few months ago 🤣👍]
If you use social media then you’re subjected to the whims of those private companies owned by oligarchs. Haven’t used any in over a decade and couldn’t care less if they all went by the way of the dodo. I’m not missing any news of the day and not getting it within the second it happens is more than fine with me.
Big Tech is reverting to its old ways in less than two years? When did it actually change?
"If both parties use the tools, the first things to vanish will be criticism of the tools. We’re headed that way." We're here, homie, and we've been here for a while. These tools are only criticized by the party that is currently out of power. Once that party is in power, the criticism stops.
What a naive article.
Rather than naive, I see it more as pointing out to those who think their side is infallible, that their side ALSO does it.
(Uh, "quashing" not "squashing" FWIW. Words matter.)
Yes, the Hydra rears its ugly heads. This will be an eternal battle, and AI will only make it more difficult to fight.
It’s over, amigo. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fight, but I fear we’re already well-done toast.