Free Bird

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WSJ Freelink Musk brings free speech to twitter

Liberals implode. Free speech a terrifying prospect.

Content Moderation Board to be intellectually diverse and exclude only unlawful and obscene speech.

This should be fun.

Published by Don Tabor

I am a former Chairman of the Tidewater Libertarian Party and was the 2007 LP candidate for the 14th district VA Senate. Previously, I was the Volunteer State Director for the FairTax. I am married 50 years with two grown children and 5 grandchildren.

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29 thoughts on “Free Bird”

  2. Not as much fun as you think. Musk is a businessman and after spending $44 billion he will want to see returns sooner than later.

    This means he needs to provide a platform that advertisers will feel is not counterproductive to selling their products.

    Few corporations will be thrilled at being on the same page as threats, real or implied, against most anything. If he doesn’t provide a viable ad platform, he will just put Twitter on the same level as GAB, Parker or Truth Social or worse. And we see how well they are doing.

    Twitter is not a big platform compared to FB. But it does need to get profitable quickly or people will just move on to the next shiny object. A lot of Teslas would need to be sold to cover $44 Big Ones.

    IMO, of course.

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      1. The key is civil. Honestly, that word is long lost its luster in social media and politics.

        Wait until deep fakes become really pervasive. You will wax nostalgic for the good old days of social media.

        We are not in Kansas anymore.

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  3. “ “Elon now controls twitter. Unleash the racial slurs. K—S AND N—–S,” said one account, using slurs for Jews and Black people. “I can freely express how much I hate n—–s … now, thank you elon,” another said.”
    “Racial slurs were posted rampantly. One single-word tweet, showing a single racial slur in all capital letters, was retweeted more than 700 times and liked more than 5,000 times. It was tweeted Thursday night and remained online more than 16 hours later.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/10/28/musk-twitter-racist-posts/

    Obviously those comments were by total losers. Fine. So what is the marketplace of ideas supposed to do with them? Do you think they are worthy of debate?

    Musk has a challenge, and I think we will see that the problem of moderation is not just possible bias against your favorite ideas, but hate speech pure and simple. What to do? Lecture them or provide historical context to divisive political theories? Do you think your point of view in response to this trash will be effective?

    And what do you think advertisers will do if those Tweets prevail?

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    1. Do you think racial epithets convince anyone?

      Musk has said he wants people to be able to set their own comfort level, like movie ratings. That sounds like a good idea.

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    3. And how many of these racial slurs were uttered by blacks or other groups just to try to make a liberal narrative against Musk? Blacks have been calling themselves the “N” word for a really long time and don’t try the but, but, but that’s different. Stuff like that will go away unless it’s pushed by narrative seekers like TDS trolls.

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  4. “Do you think racial epithets convince anyone?”

    Racial slurs embolden racists the same way repetitive chants do. Repeating a word or a chant over and over strengthens the idea. “Jews will not replace us!” “Lock her up!” or, when a MAGA feels he’s about to be shamed for his behavior, he’ll chant “U.S.A. U.S.A. U.SA.” as a shield. Words are powerful. Repeated words are like opium to a weak mind.

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    1. Racial epithets also alert others to the character of the speaker.

      It’s the nice ones who plant the seeds of bad ideology in the heads of the uninformed. The obvious racists don’t win over anyone.

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      1. I’m pretty sure their goal isn’t to win over anyone. Their goal is to reinforce their own beliefs and unite with like minds. They don’t want to be liked by “the others.” They want to know who is “one of us.”

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        1. Trump divided the country into “us” and “them.” The “woke” vs the “good people” on the side of the Nazis in Charlottesville.

          To quote a blogger friend of mine: If woke means not being a fascist, I’m not only woke, I’m super woke, magawoke, wokeaholic, Kentucky Fried Woke, McWoke, wokerino, wokity woke woke.

          So, if you are implying there is “irony” in the fact I see myself as different from a MAGAT, all I can say is: “You betcha!”

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          2. Well, color me the flavor that doesn’t chant about Jews replacing “us” and doesn’t trash the Capitol because a whiney-ass man-child lied about losing an election.

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          4. The essentials:

            Ultra-nationalism and dictatorship.

            Those two control about everything a particular fascist regime aspires to with variations on a theme.

            Russia fits this perfectly. It’s “capitalists” must be compliant and generous to the leadership or else.

            When MTG says she is going to investigate corporate disloyalty because some stopped donating to election deniers and 1/6 supporters, that is fascism.

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          5. Fascism is a form of collectivism in which all individuals and organizations are subservient to the collective, personified by an all-powerful State.

            The Soviet Union was fascist, but not nationalist.

            Dictators do tend to gain control of fascist states, but a party or committee would do.

            But the essential element is that individuals must serve the State before their own interests. Think of fascism as the complete opposite of libertarianism in which the State exists only to protect the rights of the individual.

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          6. According to multiple sources:

            “Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation and race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.”

            By any definition you want to use, fascism is “far right” and nowhere near “liberal.”

            So if you color a person as someone who doesn’t chant racist slogans or commit violence to win elections, you have colored that person a non-fascist.

            But, if you are looking for a fascist tinted party, some of this may sound familiar:

            1. Authoritarian – Candidates who bow to Trump’s every demand, including lying about having won the election
              1. Ultranationalist political ideology – “America first” “USA USA USA” “Make American Great Again” (which was stolen from the Nazi slogan “Make Germany Great Again.”)
            2. Dictatorial leader – Trump

            3. Centralized authority – walking in total lock-step, refusing to compromise on anything, no matter how small

            4. Militarism – organized militias, dressing in military fatigues, carrying assault weapons, military formations as they invade the Capitol

            5. forcible suppression of opposition – intimidating voters by “guarding” voter drop boxes

            6. Belief in a natural social hierarchy – Marching with tiki torches chanting about being replaced by Jews

            7. Subordination of individual interests – no autonomy over a woman’s own body

            8. Race – claiming a black man in the White House wasn’t born in America and was a Muslim (neither of which were true)

            9. Strong regimentation of society and the economy – death penalties for abortion; eliminate Social Security but keep oil subsidies.

            I wonder how many conservatives know what fascism is?

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          7. Too many words. You are confusing tactics used by fascists with the actual elements.

            Define “far right”

            Scapegoating is a tactic often used by fascists, but it need not be Jews or other races. Scapegoating of the rich is common in Latin American fascist regimes but that’s really just a tactic, not an element.

            Abortion might well be prohibited by a fascist state if it sought to grow its population, But the fascist Chinese Communist Regime REQUIRED abortions to enforce its one-child policy.

            But what matters there is that the individual must serve the State’s interest.

            But seriously, define far right, and far left if you’re going to use the terms.

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          8. Seriously, I posted an itemized, official definition of far right. You just aren’t willing to understand it. “Too many words.” The things on that list are what the far right does. It’s what makes them fascists.

            Maybe some fascists scapegoat the rich, but MAGATs scapegoat Jews and blacks and immigrants. Abortion may have been required in China but it is currently prohibited under penalty of death in Texas.

            You say, in order to be a fascist government, the individual must serve the State’s interest. But, when the State is controlled by a cabal of billionaire oligarchs, headed by one narcissistic criminal, they are the State. And they do not serve the people. Their goal is to make the people serve them.

            They will give themselves huge tax breaks while using the people’s taxes to pay for subsidies to bail out banks and big oil, and build walls. The people’s taxes will not go to provide healthcare for the masses or to build infrastructure that does not benefit the wealthy.

            If you can’t bring yourself to call it fascism, call it a monarchy. Call it a dictatorship. Call it cottage cheese. Call it whatever you want. It’s far-right. And everything on that list is wrong.

            Liberals want the government to serve the people. Conservatives want the people to serve the oligarchs.

            Conservatives don’t want slavery style servitude. No. Owning slaves is expensive. You have to pay for the slave’s food and clothing and housing and healthcare even when he is too sick or too old to work. No, owning slaves is out. Renting slaves is ever so much better. Keep minimum wages low. Forget safe workplace laws. If a slave gets too sick or too old to work, kick him out and hire a replacement at a lower wage. That’s not fascism. Nobody is serving the state… especially not the slave renter.

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        2. Really!! The hyper left wing TDS cry of Lois IS us or them. I can’t think a more perfect example of Lois’ nemesis than Lois. Yes, Ironic indeed.

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        1. Thank you for not inviting me to the sewer of derangement. At least we agree that I belong on planet earth. You just keep on seething in that TDS, high five….errr, or maybe not…geeesh

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