In the left’s definition of “fascism” Musk is making Twitter fascist by “allowing hate speech.”
The problem, really, is that there is no hate speech. There is only speech. “Hate speech” or “misinformation” are terms used by people who hate free speech.
As you can tell from my post yesterday, I’m very fond of the first amendment which I hope will keep us from having to put the second to the purpose for which it was intended (the prevention of tyranny.)
But there’s other reasons for free speech.
Most importantly, to hear things that hurt.
Look, I don’t like being hurt or in pain any more than the next person, and the next person cries when threatened with being beaten with a wet sock.
And I have an older brother, and am the youngest of a group of cousins, then went into school as a bookish girl whose mother quite literally dressed her funny (there’s an entire series of posts on this. It was well-intentioned, we’ll just say that.) If you think I don’t know that words can hurt, you probably haven’t thought things through.
In my case, words really can hurt. Why? Well, because I have a tendency to take every criticism to heart even when totally crazy. Like you guys know my tendency to not go to the doctor till almost too late? As in, Dan throws me in the back seat of the car when I’m passed out and drives to ER? (At one time without rinsing the soap off me. They didn’t let me get up for two days. It itched. He just wrapped me in a blanket and threw me in the back of a car.)
This is because when I was a kid, faced with my bewildering (even to me) autoimmune, mom just assumed I was making it all up. So I tend to assume I’m making it all up, until I collapse.
And don’t get me started in on how much stupid criticism delayed my development as a writer. Because I believe everything said against me. (For people like me, it makes sense to have at least ten first readers, and take a problem as such only when three people who don’t otherwise know each other independently come u with it.
So yeah, “bad speech” with intent and malice OR NOT can hurt. It can hurt feelings, it can hurt people’s understanding of the world, it an hurt the development of entire countries that go careening down “green energy” illusions, when no such thing is possible and the result is their own people freezing in the dark.
Yeah, there is real disinformation abroad, a lot of it foreign. There’s a reason both Chinese and Russians invest more money in propaganda than in their vaunted (paper tiger) military. Because disinformation particularly when supported by the local satraps (his serene majesty Vice Roy Zhou Bai-Den, emissary of Xi the Pooh is all in on the Russian idea that we should not under any circumstances drill our own oil.) And don’t get me started on the Chinese nonsense with the Covidiocy.
But you know what the remedy for disinformation and hate speech is? More speech.
Because when there’s a big argument, people bring forth the reason they think that, and other people get to see both sides. While when government can run around suppressing “disinformation” it ends up being the idea of some crazy coot who simply told everyone that was the way to think. Like, at one point Fauci had recommended MASKS to stop AIDS, he was just riding his hobby horse, again. And no one even knew this, because the “expert” said to mask. And everyone who went and looked up the history of masks got silenced as “misinformation.”
Is there speech that is objectively bad/calls for bad things? Sure there is. And the best thing for it, unless they are credibly planning harm (and if they’re doing it in the open I question their sanity) is to tell them it’s crazy and explain.
The problem when some speech is considered beyond the pale (Some speech in some places or to some audiences is always beyond the pale. No, you don’t need to read or show porn to young kids, etc. But that’s different.) to all audiences, at all time, is that THAT speech might be what you need as a course correction for seriously bad stuff.
Look, we’re social apes. As such we tend to want to agree to the consensus. We’ll want to be on the side that “everyone agrees with” — which is how you get stuff like deciding cats must be killed because they cause the plague, and thereby unleashing the rats that really cause the plague, or the idea that the best way to counter a respiratory virus is to lock people down in their houses, or the idea that socialism is a great idea and everyone needs a little bit in their economy — but sometimes you need to hear the dissident opinion. The one that says “Yeah? then why do all socialists eventually starve in the dark?” Or “Socialism kills, fast or slow, depending on whether it’s the fast form (communism) or the sow one (“democratic” socialism.)
It hurts to hear that, because well, everyone “agreed”. But when speech is abridged, when saying something on a public forum, something wholly unrelated to your employment, can lose you your job, your house, your kids, your ability to bank, you end up doing truly stupid things as a civilization. Great Leap Forward stupid. Ban the internal combustion engine stupid. Shut down the economy for two years stupid.
And yeah, I know, the first amendment only covers what the government does. However, as we’re finding from the twitter mess, there isn’t as much of a separation between government and big corporations as one would think. Once it became possible for government to give big corporations everything they want, why would they not obey the sugar daddy?
So, yeah, here, on my blog, which I pay for, and where I allow comments simply for the entertainment of myself and my commenters, I do ban commenters, though not nearly as many as I could or perhaps sometimes should. This because RES told me if you let the drunken uncle take over the wedding, you’re ruining it for everyone else.
I do not, however, run around preventing people from writing blogs that disagree with me. Many do. I don’t seek them out, and frankly I don’t much care what they say, unless it’s funny. (The white Mormon male thing never gets old, that’s all.) And I’ve been personally banned on some blogs, including some on the right, because I don’t have any kind of monopoly on communication.
But But But “your words could hurt the vulnerable.” Yes, they could. And if the vulnerable are going to be on the internet, they’ll have to grow a tough skin sooner or later. And if they can’t, their loved ones or friends are going to have to protect them, just like my husband doesn’t let me read bad reviews for my books. Because I’ll believe them.
But you don’t get to declare who is vulnerable and who gets to be protected. Treating someone like a tinpot god who can’t be questioned turns them into tinpot gods.
At some point we all say painful things, or hear painful things, and at some point we’re all vulnerable. It doesn’t matter.
Life is pain, princess. Anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to sell you something. And trying to silence those who tell you that that gold bar is just yellow painted mud.
The truth often hurts, it’s still the truth. Lies are often pretty while being lies. The fact that vice-versa is also true just means you can’t get lazy.
If you can, if you’re not going to lose your job, your home, your bank: TALK. Make a loud noise. Counter what you view as lies.
It’s the only hope the Republic has left.
According To Hoyt 
A certain idiot talks against “words that hurt/cause damage/provoke attacks” but is willing to talk sh*t about Catholics and the Irish Catholic Church.
He never imagines that the sort of laws that he supports could be used against him.
Of course, he “blamed” a British Christian woman for being attacked because her words “provoked” Savages that happen to be Muslims. (She was a former Muslim who was speaking truth about Islam.)
😡
That’s not harm because they deserve it. He wouldn’t say that about someone who didn’t DESERVE it.
:snarles: Yep, some animals are more equal than others.
And some humans are more animal than others.
But remember, don’t be judgmental!
(I suppose that doesn’t apply to all to many people, either).
On the nose
I am very judgmental. I judge myself first, and if there’s any left over I may use it on other people.
Waitaminnit, why wasn’t she a ‘hero’ for ‘speaking truth to power’? Have the rules changed again? I can’t keep up.
———————————
How To Destroy A Dragon Scale
Soak the scale in strong vinegar for two or three days
Dry it out completely — takes three or four more days
Pound it to tiny bits with a large hammer
This procedure is much more difficult if the scale is still on the dragon. 😛
“Speaking Truth To Power” doesn’t apply when the speaker is Christian and/or Non-Lefty.
Oh, that “How to destroy a Dragon’s Scale” is wrong except for the part where the scale is still on the Dragon. 😉
Actually, I would think that vinegar would tend to make dragon scales rubbery, like when you do it to chicken bones. Or whatever the acid was, in the rubbery chicken bone project for kids.
Well, go ahead and try it if you find some dragon scales laying around.
Just don’t try it when the scales are still attached to a dragon. [Very Big Polite Dragon Grin]
Coke is the one I’m familiar with.
Coke has Citric, Phosphoric and Carbonic (caused by Carbon dioxide in the water). They’re weak acids. Vinegar has Acetic acid also a weak acid. You used to be able to get 95% pure Acetic(called glacial because its freezing point is about 65-70F and so slush to solid at room temperature) acid at photography shops as it was used as part of stop bath. If you have need of a stronger acid look for Miuriatic acid at a Hardware or masonry supply, it is used for cleaning up brick work after pointing. It’s effectively dilute Hydrochloric acid.
Muriatic acid can also be found at swimming pool supply outlets. It’s used to counteract the alkalinity of sodium hypochlorite and normalize the Ph of pool water.
A vinegar soak is good at de-calcifying eggshells, which can make for.. interesting.. eggs – but eating such is almost certainly a bad idea.
Par for the course. Every few days there’s another Twitter post linked over at Instapundit showing side by side posts. One will be a Twitter post in which the poster decries a certain kind of activity, and the other will be a Twitter post by the exact same poster in which the individual engages in that exact activity.
Nearly always dated to make it clear that the activity was done after they condemned the practice.
Musk has forced our media aristocracy to expose itself as the pack of hysterical authoritarian hypocrites they are.
It’s beautiful.
I feel like at this point, either Twitter stays open to free speech, or we’ll end up silent and will have to switch from fighting with words to fighting with guns.
God Damn the left are a bunch of vile censorious scum. But we let them talk, if they won’t let us talk, then F them.
It’s easiest to comprehend the left’s behavior if you understand that most follow the above as their ideal mode of argument, and the rest subscribe to Lewis Carroll’s Red Queen: “Sentence first — verdict afterwards.”
A lot of them also have a hard time seeing other people as actual people, instead of objects to manipulate. And that means if they can make us not say it around them, then they think we can’t think it either. Because we don’t exist as separate thinking beings. So as long as all the words are what they agree with, everything is going just fine.
…Until they get coshed from behind, but they don’t think of that.
Which tends to support my thesis that leftism is essentially organized sociopathy. Or narcissism. Or both. In any case, “people aren’t people” and “words control reality, and reality is endlessly negotiable” line right up with it.
Agreed.
Cult. The cult has sociopathic, narcissistic tendencies (A LOT of them). It has a faith system, venerated idols, sacred objects, liturgy, creation myths, a kind of Ragnarok-like myth, a priesthood, and rituals to include banishment and atonement.
It occupies the same psychological niche that faith does, and does faith-like things- but they are all fake. Their idols fall apart easily, they cannot argue their faith honestly (shrieking and screaming are much more likely), and their public works are, well, let’s call them what they are: often destructive, criminal, and at the very least wasteful.
Like most cult members, they deny reality right up until the point they absolutely cannot. Deprogramming leftists works like deprogramming cult members. Often they need a sharp, hard shock to get their brains to actually start questioning the obvious things, like if men can be women and vice versa, how come the female to male never get testicular cancer, and the male to female never get ovarian cancer? Or if darker skinned people were really being hated so much by lighter skinned people that outnumber them by more than four to one, wouldn’t there be more substantive, visible effects? Or if diversity was really as good as they say it was, how come the most diverse places are always the most dysfunctional?
If you haven’t seen the idolatry of the left before, consider how they venerated Obama and Fauci. Even Biden had a bit of that, earlier on. It is a cult. The cult has political ambitions, of course. There are many lobbyist functionaries, too. It has its fingers in education (where they teach the gospel of leftism), the media (where they venerate the idols of leftism and tell you who to hate), big business (where they put leftism in the company handbook- ESG ring any bells?), and more.
It is also a cult in crisis. They’ve had everything they could want, politically, twice now. And twice the economy has fallen- plummeted more like. Twice the world has become more unstable and bad actors emboldened. Twice we’ve seen waves of corruption and scandal at the highest levels. And twice we’ve seen them go after their political opponents to the point now they are openly keeping political prisoners and attempting to legislate their way to permanent power.
But things just keep falling apart for the left. They cannot stimulate the economy while simultaneously looting it dry. They cannot lower the price of gas while pissing off the only ones they will buy gas from and never drilling here. They cannot make the world’s bad actors play nice when their leadership cannot appear strong enough to be a threat. They cannot win honestly at the polls, and they can’t afford to let on that that’s the only way they can stay in power.
The cult is doomed. The only way out for them, the only way for them to survive and recover in the long term is for them to give up on power, at least for a little while, so the country recovers enough that they can loot it again.
But they won’t do that. They are either too old (and don’t care), too young (and too stupid to know better), or just plain too narcissistic to mind if everyone else starves and freezes in the dark so long as they get theirs. They build nothing, fix nothing, and improve nothing. The cult is a parasite upon the country, either not realizing or not caring that if the country dies, they die with it.
Or they can act like a spoiled child, cause WW III, get billions of sacrifices to Ba’al and save the planet from the human “contamination”.
Atonement, aye, it has that. But not redemption.
Self-flagellation is not necessarily atonement.
I think at that point it’s an internal question of what’s in your head or heart, so I’ll say that they have rituals for atonement that they require.
True. Like the whole structure, the atonement process is artificial. It includes ritual shaming and suchlike things. But I’m with Chris on the no redemption thing. There is only continual degradation and humiliation.
Of course, the elect don’t do such things. Their faults are excused, because they hace the right (left) politics. Viz Clintons, Bidens, Kennedys, and so on.
“…start questioning the obvious things, like if men can be women and vice versa, how come the female to male never get testicular cancer, and the male to female never get ovarian cancer?”
You miss the point. They really do believe that physical gender is simply irrelevant; all that matters is what one believes, since belief constrains reality.
The really do seem to need psychiatric help, although it probably wouldn’t be effective (“First, admit you have a problem.”). Electroshock, maybe, the psychiatric equivalent of the 2×4 to get the mule’s attention?
> “Which tends to support my thesis that leftism is essentially organized sociopathy.”
Any of you ever hear of Aydin Paladin? She’s a Youtuber who does longform videos on data-driven psychology (with added memes). For the last couple of months she’s been prepping for a video on how leftists consistently favor hurting the rich even if it makes everyone poorer (and redistributing the lion’s share to themselves whether they’re the poorest or not). She was actually surprised and disturbed by these results and started believing in evil in a way she hadn’t before, so this wasn’t an outcome she expected before looking at the data.
I know about this because she’s been discussing it on Twitter. This crowd won’t be surprised to learn she got a lot of hatred – and even threats, I think – from the left, but she’s sticking to her guns and going forward with the vid anyway.
Hopefully it will be ready in the next few weeks. I’ll link it once it’s up for anyone interested.
please do link.
This one?
That’s the one. I haven’t had the chance to watch it yet, but it just dropped this morning (which is much sooner than I expected).
Better watch (or download) it quick before Ewe Toob bans it! 😮
Elon Musk’s public dumps of Twatter’s dirty laundry contain references to thoughtcrime suppression in other places, as well.
———————————
There is no shortage of people convinced they can create the Perfect World. They just have to eliminate all those imperfect people who don’t fit in it.
Well she gets away with saying things like
“For all the claims that incivility online is a threat to our democracy it may instead be true that democratic discourse in the marketplace of ideas is really only a threat political hegemony and political oligarchy and perhaps that’s exactly what the talking heads really mean when they say such things are a threat to our democracy.
“It’s not a threat to our democracy its a threat to their power. When you agree with the mainstream narrative it’s ‘democracy.’ But when you have the dangerous notion to get any ideas of your own it’s authoritarianism…”
And that one is not banned yet. She’s been quite gratifyingly resilient against the usual lowbrow NPC mobs that show up to hurl verbal feces and repeat their thoughtlessly programmed lines.
What they mean by ‘Our Democracy’ is the Democrat party. Everybody else’s democracy doesn’t count. When a majority of the American people vote the ‘wrong’ way, it’s ‘The End Of Democracy!!’
“Conformity is diversity!”
“Free speech is fascism!”
“Arbeit macht frei!”
Her longform stuff is great, but also not something you can just listen to in the background. Which makes them a bit tough for someone with ADD (like me) to get through, because focusing for an hour on just what she’s saying (I love her voice) is a bit tough. I’ll be sure to save the next vid, though.
I like some of her stuff, but its a little too long and technical for me.
D. Jason Flemming said “leftism is essentially organized sociopathy. Or narcissism.”
Embrace the power of And!
Entirely possible, also.
And since they won’t stop using that philosophy on the non-Left, we’re fools not to take them at their word and deal with them accordingly.
Like the great cartoons about Islamic terrorists. Ya know, when someone says in complete sincerity, “I’m going to kill you and destroy your culture,” it’s only properly respectful to take them seriously, and respond promptly.
And preferable to not attempt to appease them. 😈
Yes Txred, I know that you wouldn’t want to appease them.
I’m just making clear to “those who need to know” what the proper response should be.
The proper response varies. If an individual or a relatively small group, small pieces of metal at high velocity work well. If a nation (note that I say nothing about Iran) providing them with a really cool green-glass parking lot and a large amount of loose building material would be appropriate.
In all seriousness, it is a form of respect, to believe they are telling the truth and that they are not absolutely incompetent.
I agree with this entirely. Lefties do tend to condescend, it’s part of their overwhelming racism that they deny agency to all the unenlightened,
At the end of the day, I think it’s human agency and the notion that they too might be responsible for their actions that terrifies them.
I remember listening to the State Department and pundits explaining away the Quranic references made by the ayatollahs and Iranian president. “Oh, that’s just for domestic propaganda. We know what they really mean,” but not in so many words. Talk about patronizing.
You need to learn how to deal with hurty words at some point. Because there are a lot of people out there that won’t hesitate to use them at any time at all.
What if TPTB knew that rats were the plague carriers and wanted it to spread? Why do the “mistakes” overwhelmingly go in one direction?
I believe that Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death” was a warning to not pull such stunts again. Today’s Bolsheviks wouldn’t understand the message even if they’d read it, and wouldn’t be dissuaded if they did.
NEVER attribute supernatural intelligence and ability to the enemy.
In the case of the plague, agreed. For Covidiocy, “there’s a suspicion” that the virus was the red herring, and that the real bioweapon is the not-Vax. OTOH, there was previous work (SARS mRNA vax) that seems to be a template for the current. Still hard to judge the mix between malice and stupidity.
[Adjusts tinfoil hat, and thanks God for letting me tell the shot-pusher “”No”, then “Hell no”.] “Curiously”, COVID never came up in this visit, though now he’s pushing the latest revision of the pneumonia vax. I declined for now; must do my own research.
Had to get the blood pressure test at the doc yesterday. High on the first test, so for the subsequent one(s!), I envisioned Christmas tree ornaments. Romanian Christmas Tree, preferably Oak with the usual decorations. My BP was quite happy, and I neglected to mention this strategy to the doc.
“…latest revision of the pneumonia vax.”
Be wary; the latest brilliant idea is to combine the pneumonia and covid vax into one shot, to be given supposedly advertised as a simple annual pneumonia shot.
Blink. Funny. When I got my pneumonia shot, it was: “Get it at 60+. One and done.” Same with the Shingles shot. My fear is they combine idiotflu and the annual Flu shot. After all both are prone to regular morphing annual strains. Not getting either.
I am not a vaccine denier. When they start mixing the idiotflu into childhood vaccines, like the MMR, chicken pox, or Pertussis/tetanus, the response is “Oh! Sh*t!” I am well aware of the danger to infants and small children for all of these (chicken pox being on the lower end of the scale, and most recent to fall to vaccine). I’ve had everything (before vaccines available) except tetanus. Son had to deal with chicken pox and Whooping Cough but none of the others (before vaccine on first, despite being vaccinated against the latter). The idiots combine the idiotflu vaccine in with another vaccine, and we had small children? Hard pass.
Mea culpa 😦
You are correct; it was a combined flu and covid shot being discussed, not pneumo. I got the “old farts’ high-dose” pneumo shot a couple-three years ago, and it was indeed a “one and done”.
I can only plead excessive fatigue and very excessive age… 🙂
There have also been reports of that stunt being pulled with the annual flu shot.
Of course, for all any of us would know, they’ll start combining it with Novocaine at the dentist.
I had the first flu shot in 2013 at 61. At that time, it was “repeat in 6 years”.
In March of 2018, I was a) listed as needing a repeat of the -13 variant, and b) was given the -23 variant. The latter seems to have never been documented. OTOH, a few days after that, I was in Medford for a pre-op visit for my last eye procedure. Was feeling sluggish in the morning and in the evening felt like crap. Bought a thermometer and got a reading of 102. Went to the nearest urgent care center and was diagnosed with a spot on my lungs, but negative for flu. Had 10 days of antibiotic.
The Flyover Falls med system had a major cyber attack some years ago, and a bunch of the records needed to be recreated from scratch. I’m going to give them a pass on that one, but my lying eyes said I’ve had two pneumonia shots.
The current doc says “I could have picked up pneumonia at the clinic…”. Yeah, right. I was in damned good health the week beforehand.
I refuse to get flu shots through that main clinic. I used an independent FNP (that the local medical junta tried and failed to shut down) for that stuff. His COVID clot-shot policy is to demand that patients read and sign the multiple page disclosure sheet before he’d give the shot–not a lot of takers, and I suspect his attitude is why the junta tried to eliminate his clinic, which would have clobbered medical coverage to much of the rural area in the county.
There’s too much mRNA experimentation (a test of such a flu shot, as well as flu/COVID combinations). Getting a booster at the same time as a flu shot seemed to have been my late BIL’s last mistake. So nope. Not gonna go for not-vax shots.
Oops, first pneumonia shot in 2013. Followup 3/18, never documented.
There’s a point at which incompetence becomes indistinguishable from malice. (Isn’t there some famous person’s name attached to that axiom?)
Anyway, in people and institutions with that much power, neither scenario is forgivable.
Grey’s Corollary: “Sufficiently advanced stupidity is indistinguishable from malice.”
Army ants don’t have supernatural intelligence, just unthinking determination to kill and eat anything in their path,
No, Steve, but going all the way to the middle ages?
I have no idea what stupidity was happening in the Middle Ages, and don’t propose to worry about it.
The present set of army ants eating its way across the countryside is more than enough to go on with.
Because you don’t see and count any of the mistakes that don’t go in that direction.
Unfortunately true; a variant of “It always rains on my picnics”. You remember the one time you got T-boned driving to work, not the ten thousand times you didn’t.
Or almost T-boned …
As exhilarating as being shot at and missed? 😉
I wouldn’t know. Never been shot at.
The instances of pausing “too long”* at red light just turned green, have person behind me honk, only to have cross traffic plow through their very red light? Too damn often. Never had anyone behind me pull around then get t-boned themselves … Heard rumors though.
(*) I always take a beat when light take green. If cross traffic obviously slowing/stopped, or I can proceed before approaching traffic gets to red light, then fine. But if approaching cross traffic is at at speed, otherwise? Car behind can honk all they want until I am sure. It is rare. But it happens.
Red-running has become a local habit. And not “stale green” either. “One had already turned left when the car zoomed through” type red light running.
It’s an epidemic in the phoenix area. We always wait a couple of seconds when the light changes; if someone behind doesn’t like it they can smooch my nether region.
Some intersections it isn’t just ONE car running the red. I’ve seen 2 cars follow the first one through. Granted generally not going straight through the red light, generally making left turns (was green protected, but only let two cars through, then goes red).
It also happens at RR crossings, with predictable results. Evolution in action.
Locally that hasn’t been a huge problem. The RR arms take care of that. People don’t have a habit of driving the required route to get around them. Now homeless on bikes or foot, especially at night, have been killed by trains. Not frequent. It has happened. I am surprised it doesn’t happen more often. Because we do have the RR arms come down and there are no visible trains (long straight stretch either side so trains are visible a long ways before train gets to intersection). Guarantied it is passenger train coming, and it is not coming slowly (it is amazing how fast that train can get going after leaving the boarding station, and out of the “city” RR speed area). Unlike the freight trains regardless of which way traveling even if not stopping at the nearby train switch yard.
The sheriff and a lot of other people in a neighboring county is still trying to figure out how a jogger got hit by a train. As best anyone can figure, the late individual 1) had music playing waaaaay too loud and 2) thought the train was farther away and trotted around the lowered arm.
“Paging Mr. Darwin, Mr. Darwin, please pick up the white courtesy phone.”
Well, there was the time when the car ahead of me did not move at a green light or in response to honking for a long enough time that I was starting to wonder if I should get out and check if the driver had suffered a heart attack or something. . . .
That’s when the ambulance turned on its siren for the traffic light.
Usually when I see a car sit at a green light, it’s some idiot yakking on their cell phone.
“Yo, dumbass, that’s as green as it’s gonna get!”
Hmmm. Would make a nice alt-history book, with TPTB initiating the spread of the plague, because they wanted to ‘cull’ the ‘useless eaters’.
Only to find that they have ruined themselves, as the reduced number of working age adults has ALSO diminished. So, wages rise, people formerly bound to the land find themselves able to leave for higher wages and better conditions. Once in cities, those former serfs start agitating for inclusion in decision-making.
And the Grand Scheme goes in the septic tank.
That’s not entirely alt-history. England and the Low Countries, parts of what became France, saw that happen in the late 1300s-1400s. As usual, historians are arguing over how great of a role the Black Death played in those changes as compared to an on-going process (especially in coastal Burgundy and Holland), but the pattern is there.
A lot of Sussex towns basically moved away, to parts of Sussex and England with better wages.
Speech is a medium of communication. Part of communication is analyzing your audience, and tailoring your communication to fit the audience. Now the purpose of your communication may be benign, or it may be malicious. Teaching young children that there is a difference between men and women seems pretty benign. Teaching young children sexual techniques, pretty damn malicious.
Should the government be censoring that? Probably not. (Instead, they seem to be trying to promote it.) Since trying to teach young children sexual techniques comes under the category of grooming, it’s considered harm. Frankly, I have no problem with parents deciding to literally tar and feather anyone who tries to do that to their children. That’s not censorship.
Not just sexual techniques, but sexual practices that the mainstream frowns on, and that are in direct opposition to the family, and the conception of children (in some cases, permanently removing that ability before the minor has had a chance to properly understand how he or she is impacting his or her future).
“Frankly, I have no problem with parents deciding to literally tar and feather anyone who tries to do that to their children. That’s not censorship.”
Particularly after they’ve been told not to do it.
Freedom of speech about intellectual and spiritual matters is essential to a successful society, and your society will die without it…New ideas will always be rejected by the Establishment, and especially the mandarins who run Academia, but we can’t progress without them…Pornography, particularly when directed toward children, has no societal value and can do a lot of harm…It was rightly banned until SCOTUS went commie, and now we see why it should have stayed banned…
We are the hope for the Republic as long as we keep fighting for the Republic. Just remember we are not alone, misery does indeed love company. Keep fighting for the way the Republic is supposed to be, that is worth fighting for. The first step needs to be getting rid of Social Studies and once again teaching History.
Maybe if you put history in comic book form?
Yes that last was sarcasm.
I am not averse to history in comic book form – it might get more people curious enough to read the source material.
Worth doing, I think. There’s enough good story material in history to make it work, too.
Why sarcasm? Comic books are perfectly valid methods of information transmission and I for one would read the heck out of a War of Independence comic. George Washington, Nathan Hale, Benedict Arnold.
It’d be really cool to do the French and Indian War/War of the Spanish Succession and leading up to Independence. The Boston Massacre. Include a dramatic scene or two of John Adams defending the British soldiers. The War of 1812–including the burning of Washington.
Ooo, this this this!
Plus the Christmas eve assault!
Look, Sarah… I know what you wrote and all; but thr only thing wrong with you is you didn’t move to my town in Texas so I could invite you and Dan to brunch of a Saturday every now and then.
Sorry to break it to you so bluntly. And I hope this doesn’t spoil your weekend.
How do you know I didn’t? (Waggles eyebrows.)
Well, if you did, it would be a really nice Christmas present for my family and for Texas…
I’m probably not getting out much between now and Christmas because the rest of my team is on vacation; but I’ll be on the lookout.
When dealing with BESPs and Mormon males, being on the lookout is wise…..
Sorry not to be up on the lingo, being a boomer and all that, what is a BESP? Is that a for of NPC LARP/cosplay?
The LDS folks are not usually a problem as I engage them as per 2nd John, except for my relatives and one friend from high school, whom I still try to convert.
BESP (also seen as BbESP) is the abbreviation for “Beautiful but Evil Space Princess”. One of Ms. Hoyt’s many titles, along with “White Mormon Male (with a great rack)”.
Ah! I had forgotten about that. Mostly because Sarah doesn’t behave like any of the LDS folks I ever met; but I’m only 64 years old.
As I’ve never met Sarah in person, I couldn’t say whether she was a space princess or not.
I’ve never met her, but I’m pretty sure “Mormon” is just as wrong as “male”. That dates from the Sad Puppies campaigns, where the SP opponents were stereotyping all of the SP folks as “White Mormon Males” due to Larry Correia having started the project. In other words, typical leftist widget-fitting – all of the group must be made to fit the image no matter how valid it is.
Yep. All of them are wrong.
Except the “great rack” part. Or so I hear.
Yeah. Back problems are starting to hit at 60
I finally got to meet Sarah at this year’s FenCon in Texas. I first signed up after hearing that Larry was going to be GOH. and ‘certain folks’ were huffing about staying away because of that ( Ooohh, boy, BONUS!!) Then I heard our illustrious mistress would be there. I was really hoping Brad would make it, too, but sadly could not happen.
So, while I thought that Sarah was a marvelous young lady ( well, from the point of view of my aged seniority ) and was charmed to encounter her intriguing accent in person, I must refrain from rendering further opinions on any other attributes, that being the proper role of her loyal and blessed spouse!
Sorry, I thought you knew. And TxRed, being far more of a lady and a scholar than I am a gentleman or a scholar, has compiled a glossary. I do note the lack of the phrase “Mormon Male With a Great Rack”, which probably needs to be added to the description of Sarah, as a secret identity. 😎
https://accordingtohoyt.com/ath-faq-and-bbq/#:~:text=She%E2%80%99s%20also%20the%20Evil%20but%20Beautiful%20Space%20Princess%20%E2%84%A2%20in%20the%20Evil%20League%20of%20Evil%20%E2%84%A2%2C%20a%20group%20of%20author/bloggers%20dedicated%20to%20truth%2C%20justice%2C%20great%20writing%2C%20and%20shooting%20VileProg%20fish%20in%20their%20ideological%20barrel.
I probably should update it. The Raiding Party needs to be revised, we have new in-jokes (“Posner is a moron,”) and the “Mormon Male (with a great rack)” post dates the last revision.
I forgot about the first joke. I’m glad it kindof disappeared, because it was getting stale and a little obnoxious!
Oh, and Posner is a moron.
Is there a link for the posnerata? I remember nothing…
Sarah id the Beautiful but Evil Space Princess, as well as a White Mormon male (with a great rack!)
I’m just so tired of the left.
Did you ever stop to consider that you may just be tired of the propaganda that the left and yes the right spew ?
When you’re facing down people bound and determined to get you fired for hurting their insane feelings by not answering “how are you doing?” to their satisfaction, propaganda is not what you’re tired of.
I always answer , “Fine; but I’m still fat and can’t tell a joke.”
Or something equally self-deprecating.
We can laugh, we can cry, or we can badly tell silly jokes and make everyone cry.
Reasonable. But not helpful when the reason they got offended was you took a second too long to answer at all.
“Fair to middlin’,” which confuses those too young or urban to know about cotton grading. Or “Fair to partly cloudy,” or “hangin’ in there,” which also wards off karma.
Never, ever say, “the ride is great, lots of smooth air up here today!” or “this will be a no-hitter” or “things are going great!” That’s just asking the Fickle Finger of Fate to go flick.
Ah, but the ever possible answer of positive affirmation, being that “better than I deserve to be,” is a fine way to tweak a few brains a bit. The believers among your listeners will get it, the normal folks will smile and nod, the young people will often be perplexed, and the lefties left befuddled. At least, the ones I’ve seen have been so.
I find that a positive attitude is quite often the most hated thing, though. When one is genuinely happy and content that seems to “trigger” an instant jealous reaction in them.
Perhaps I’m just a combative sort, but I rather enjoy the confrontations that come from that. How dare I be joyful, this season of all seasons? How dare I find reasons to be thankful?
chuckle
There are a good many who use “Fair to middlin’” as they were surrounded by it or heard it, etc. who have no idea where it comes from.
Nod.
I’ve heard of and used “Fair to middlin” but haven’t heard of where the term comes from.
I’m using “hanging in there” now, hopefully I can scrape by with that. As long as I practice.
It’s just that sometimes my social software glitches and bluescreens to Default Mute. And there are a lot more loosely wrapped types out there these days who won’t give you a second to reboot.
“How are you?”
“Mostly Harmless – but only mostly.”
Though I’ve been tempted of late to use “Mostly sane”…
“Still looking at grass from the green side.”
Shorter version: “Eh, not dead.”
Every day this side of the dirt is a good one…
“Any day above ground is a good one.”
“I went to a mining school…”
But you came back, right?
Aye. Lead is quite useful, but I am not one to mine it.
Topologically above ground
My usual response is “Vertical”. About one person in ten pays enough attention to notice.
Hmmm. “Still vertically challenged.”
I mean. Why use one word when 3 will do? 😉
I discovered “Pretty Good” was too ambiguous in describing anything, particularly a meal that $SPOUSE made. (The things we learn; the phrase was common in my family as a kid.) So, now it’s reserved for “It’s good enough, even if not perfect”. And never used for a meal. 🙂
This month, “Hanging in there” is appropriate. I’m not in a situation where I have to worry about offending the overly offended. Retirement is pretty good. 🙂 🙂
…
Yes. It. Is.
This last week we found out that BIL and his wife each went back to work (for a paycheck). Hubby & I “Uh. Um. That’s nice …” (Quickly changes subject.) She 69. He’s 75. They were bored.
My sister’s husband, a while back, got approached to come back to the store manager’s job. The one he was (for all practical purposes) was fired from (after working for the company for 35 years). I’m not sure. But pretty sure he is still laughing … after he replied “not a chance in hell, frozen or not.”
When we moved here in ’03, we were living off profits from the California house and $SPOUSE’s savings (mine, such as they were, had gone into the Cali house). I briefly considered getting a job in Flyover Falls.
The problem was cost. 40 miles one way to a job there, with a 15mpg all-weather commute vehicle. The only stuff available in $TINY_TOWN were ranch hands (not in shape for that) or a few retail or restaurant slots, but none of those businesses had much turnover at that time. Now, the general store/gas station has a lot of turnover, but I really don’t want/need the job.
We looked into craft-fair items (weaving/quilting/sewing for $SPOUSE and custom ceramics for me), but learning curves combined with business licensing costs put the break even point too far out. (Never did get to the point where I was satisfied with my own tile, though I made a few trays for home and gifts. Pretty much the same for $SPOUSE, though the weaving hasn’t continued.
OTOH, we could do a lot of our own work. I built several outbuildings, upgraded the barn to a viable shop, and $SPOUSE did curtains/quilts and other house remodeling/redecorating projects. She’s a better painter than I am…
At our age, it’s a mix of doing our own stuff and seeing if we can find people to hire. I had a guy cut down a problem tree, but he abandoned the job (pay was free firewood) after he a) got the tree to fall the wrong way, making it too tough to get the trunk into pieces, and b) took a single trailer load of firewood, leaving the bigger chunks alone. Sigh. There is a tiny juniper/pine lumber operation local to us. Come spring, I’ll ask them if they’d take the trunk. It’s got a good amount of wood, and there is access to for a rig big enough to get it. It’s 36+” in diameter at the trunk, and possibly a 32′ length if they want it that long. Ponderosa pine, really old. (Legally & tax issues, it’d cause problems if we sold the tree, but giving it away would be doable. I don’t need more firewood. Really.)
…
You sound like an acquaintance we have in Monroe OR. His 3/4 acre came with a lot of oak. A lot of oak that most had to come down. He has firewood piles everywhere.
We ran into similar problems with our Giant Sequoia’s out front. Difference, no one wanted them *commercially; at least locally. Did make a deal with the tree company to reduce the cost of getting them down and Gone, including (at least part) the stumps ground out.
(*) They took 3 self loader loads out. Two of them one log loads (the bases were huge). This doesn’t include the bottom 6′ of each tree they chunked out for possible sale or give to local carvers. Rest of it was chipped. We “got to” keep the chips from stumps grinding. Told the neighbors to come get their share … Please. Enough chips to supply 5 household yards for the year. I do not understand. 🙂 (I do. But …) After all the environmentalists complain all the time about harvesting Giant Sequoia and Redwood groves all the time. We can’t give them away … And, yes, there are some yards where “grove” applies, thanks to the local developer 45 – 50 years ago. We had two. Next door neighbor has 3 (two Giant Sequoias, and one Giant Redwood).
Alive; which beats the alternative, most days.
You are in shape, round is a shape, now when you get to square that might be a problem, earth humor arr arr
That depends upon how you define propaganda.
The political right currently lacks institutional power, major platforms of dissemination, and unity of message.
There’s a ton of propaganda aimed at the Right (including establishment Republican rags like National Review and demoralization efforts by Mobys), but there’s not a whole lot of outgoing fire. Much less coordinated outgoing fire.
Both, both is good.
c4c
C4c
Folks, in general, just need to TTFU. That is all.
The words left marks that I’m working through still, although the rocks, ice-balls, later indoor stuff, and attempted ambush almost did physical harm. [Dude. Even I can tell that if a very large bush growing against a wall is moving when there’s no wind, it’s a Bad Sign and a detour is called for.] it was the combination that caused the longer-term stuff.
I’ve heard/read complaints that teaching actual history causes distress. My thought is that there’s less distress in learning about, oh, the Holodomor, or attempts to erase the past and start all over with Year 0 and the results of that, than there is in living through an updated version of those events. “We’ll get it right this time” are some of the scariest words in English, provided you know real history.
Complete with the unspoken assumption “Because we’re waaaay smarter than everybody that ever tried it before!”
———————————
Does the Left drive those idiots barking mad, or were they drawn to the Left because they were already batshit crazy?
“We should do X to fix the environment!”
“Yeah, that’s what they thought about using kudzu for soil erosion.”
“Oh, but we’ll get it right this time!”
And this in an environmental restoration class, they had no excuse for not knowing the history….
99% of environmental activists do not understand economics, accounting or supply chains. Wind, solar, and electric cars do more damage than most conventional alternatives once you account for the raw materials, energy and disposal costs.
It is not science, it is their religion
They don’t understand basic conservation science, either. Herd management (culling, hunting seasons, etc), the whole carbon cycle, total energy efficiency (all inputs/all functional outputs), and the logistics of it all. It takes math, even.
Well, there ya go — math is RRRAAACISSST!!!
Grassland management. The landscape evolved under grazing pressure, intense episodic grazing pressure. No graze, no burn, no grass. Cactus, mesquite, juniper, and toxic-to-cattle weeds are NOT a grassland. G-R-A-S-S, and yes, sometimes even spelling it out for them doesn’t work. “But domestic grazers are different. They’re worse than no grazing, because Reasons!”
double facepaw
Spelling is RRRAAACISSST!!! too!
Please. You need 5 ‘a’s required to spell RAAAAACIST properly. h/t Robert Stacy McCain. (I’ll pass on the proper number of consonants.)
Ugh. So true. Lithium mines, people, look them up….
I prefer lead-acid. [VBEG]
We all need to grow a tough skin to nurture the person inside that we’re going to become.
We largely got where we are by so many of us being brow-beaten into self-censoring. Just like with Covid, we allowed the “cure” to be more deadly than the disease. It’ll take A LOT of “unacceptable” speech to fix things (remember when parents used to be allowed to spank their children to keep them from hurting themselves and others?)
Thanx for the post, Sarah
The latest revelations from the Twitter Files show that the FBI was involved in taking down parody accounts and that Twitter was full of former FBI. And the “antifascist” Left are perfectly okay with all this. Can you imagine telling some late ’60s, early ’70s leftie that their successors would be fine with the FBI trying to control public discourse? That would really harsh their mellow, man.
Not if they knew they were in charge of it, as we’ve seen.
All of mainstream social media and Big Tech is full of “former” FBI and CIA. It’s a very incestuous relationship similar to the revolving doors in DC and the military brass/defense contractors.
A silly question; but is it still cool to quote our 16th President?
“I have always thought `Dixie’ one of the best tunes I have ever heard. Our adversaries over the way attempted to appropriate it, but I insisted yesterday that we fairly captured it. I presented the question to the Attorney General, and he gave it as his legal opinion that it is our lawful prize. I now request the band to favor me with its performance.’” – Abraham Lincoln
As a Yankee, I always thought it was a great tune to play to try to decrease animosity when surrounded by reasonable people.
Those others, well, some folks won’t take “yes” for an answer anyway.
I keep hearing folks say “That’s not your daddy’s Democrat party” or “It’s not the Democrat party you remember.”
I think it is.
The Democrat party was formed in the 1840’s to promote slavery, in response to the Republican party forming to oppose it. I don’t think they’ve changed a bit in the 180 years since then. They are still the party of slavery, oppression, discrimination, racism and hate, the spiritual and in some cases literal heirs of the Southern slave owners. They’ve never forgiven the Republicans for winning the Civil War (after the Democrats started it) and setting their slaves free.
They dream of a return to their ‘perfect world’ of the 1820’s and their ‘proper’ place in it. That’s why they’re trying to destroy everything that doesn’t fit in their vision of the 1820’s.
———————————
‘Progressives’ suppress free speech because they don’t have the means to suppress free thought.
Yet.
Minor nit on that History.
The Democratic Party existed long before the Republican party.
However, the Democratic Party was strong in the Slave Holding states and the “Money People” were Slave-Owners.
As the anti-slavery movement (before the Republican Party started) grew strong in the North, the Southern Branch of the Democratic Party became more and more Pro-Slavery.
Welll…not exactly. The Democratic-Republican party became increasingly polarized over the issue of slavery until it finally split into the anti-slavery Republicans and pro-slavery Democrats. Most of the Whig party merged with the Republicans, with the pro-slavery remnants joining the Democrats. The Federal party, already in decline, pretty much disappeared. For all practical purposes we’ve had the same two parties ever since, the 800 pound gorillas of American politics.
The Democrats claim that ‘the parties switched places’ in the 1960s but — how, exactly? Did all the Republicans wake up one day and suddenly decide to abandon either their party or their principles? The Democrat party was still full of racist assholes, that’s for sure. Johnson, Wallace, Byrd and a whole lot more neither changed their ways nor were taken to task for them.
———————————
If you tried to run a business the way they run the government, you would be in jail or the poor-house within six months.
From what I remember, the Whigs came much before the Republican Party started.
Now the Federalist Party completely died out long before the Whigs started.
After the Federalist Party died, the Democratic Party split with one part claiming the Name “Democratic Party”. The Whigs may have originally been one of the Parts of the Democratic Party.
Now, some of the Whigs did join the new Republican Party which IRRC had nothing to do with the Democratic Party.
As for the “switching”, that’s a load of nonsense that the Left wants to believe so that they can ignore the still existing Racism of the Democratic Party.
IE “Those Poor Little Colored People can’t succeed without Whitey’s Help”.
I suspect we’re both talking about the same party by different names. I’ve always seen it called the Democratic-Republican party, which for many years was dominant in U.S. politics until it split up over the slavery issue, into the (mostly Northern) Republicans and (mostly Southern) Democrats.
Funny thing, the political parties are not part of the government and have no more legal authority than any other private club. They have managed to convince most people that they are somehow above the government simply by acting like they are. They both need to be taken out behind the woodshed for a good horsewhipping. Teach ’em some humility.
———————————
If you give politicians money to pay the government’s debts, they will spend it all and demand more.
Did some research, there was an earlier anti-Jackson part called the “National Republican Party” which later became the Whigs. Apparently there’s no relationship between the modern Republican Party and the “National Republican Party.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Republican_Party
Here’s a link for the Whigs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whig_Party_(United_States)
And here’s a link for the GOP.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States)
They are not part of the government, but have controlled the writing of laws since at least the closing days of John Adams’ term.
All those laws about how to get on the ballot, how to fund a campaign, and etc. are systematically set up to benefit establishment political parties, and to eliminate the rise of potential rival powerbases.
The “evidence” of the supposed party switch was that Sen. Strom Thurmond switched to the Republican Party. The fact that no one else did – including Sen. Byrd – is quietly ignored. And of course there’s even less evidence of the supposed “Southern Strategy” which has been thoroughly debunked by now.
Nixon’s only ‘Southern Strategy’ was not being a racist Democrat. 😛
It was also not being a commie.
By 1968, was there a difference?
And they still keep politicians, entertainers and media on the Marxist/Leftist/Democratic Plantation. Watch what happens to those that stray. Look at the price of taking the ticket to stardom. Chains of gold and blackmail.
Two Heinlein quotes are brought to mind. I cannot remember both verbatim, but here they are as best I can recall. First: “Freedom consists of the ability to tell Mrs. Grundy to go fly a kite.” Second: “‘Do as you will.’ is the full extent of the law. But do make sure to not be seen by the cop on the corner.”
A lifetime of propaganda and conditioning has warped reality for even successful and intelligent people to the point they will argue against their own long term survival.
You can see this on sites like Hacker News arguing at length eruditely against the Bill of Rights and facts: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34020654
Not the mention some of the folks that will go to Trump Rallies still support professional sports ball and Hollywood movies whose owners and creators hate them.
“Look, I don’t like being hurt or in pain any more than the next person, and the next person cries when threatened with being beaten with a wet sock.”
If that wet sock has a bar of soap in it, and it’s swung hard enough, it will hurt. But I get ya. ;p
As for the words hurting thing… Well, writers make their living with words. Often, if they’re any good, those words will give rise to emotion in the minds of the readers. Sometimes there is pain, as when a beloved character dies. Sometimes joy, sadness, laughter, suspense, and so on.
Of course words can cause pain. That wasn’t the point, though. Hate speech, like hate crimes, are artificial constructs. You don’t hurt any more from a broken jaw just because your skin tans real good. You don’t hurt any more after someone calls you an illiterate hack if you can’t ever get a sunburn.
Suffering is a human universal. Life is pain. Anyone who tells you different is selling something. Instead of creating new ways to feel pain unnecessarily, a more laudable goal would be to find ways to reduce unnecessary suffering.
That takes work, though. And that’s one four letter word that the rank and file left hates. Enduring meaningful suffering now to reach a goal later is not something they are familiar with. They were never taught to sacrifice for worthwhile goals. They want the candy now, not after they do their chores. They want their basic income for free, and for other people to pay for it.
They talk a lot about things like tolerance, caring, and such things. They also talk about wanting folks like you and me in camps. That may be “hate” speech of a sort, but I’d rather them say it out loud than behind closed doors, in secret, where I can’t hear what they are planning.
First Amendment all the way.
Point of order–folks who can tan or have permanent tans can in fact get sunburns and in fact are often more likely to specifically because they think they can’t and thus don’t take proper precautions.
Yes, this is true. My statement was more on the order of hyperbole. I’ve gotten sunburned, I think, twice in my lifetime. Once roofing in triple digit heat, 90+% humidity. Once working the fields in high summer from before daylight till after dark.
But both times were rather unusual circumstances and exceptionally long periods of clear weather. Twice in over forty years ain’t so bad, considering. Pasty folk tend to burn quite a bit more, and I imagine that’s no fun at all.
No fun at all, I can assure you. Especially those of us who blister easily. The last time that happened, fortunately it was only the backs of my hands, not my shoulders or the top of my head. (Avgas removes sunscreen. Didn’t think about that. Oops.) It looked as if I had a skin disease, then my hands peeled. And yes, it hurt like the blazes, and there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
And people wonder why I’m never seen in short sleeves, shorts, or without a hat . . .
Contrasting some comments here with some made on a prior thread was …. amusing.
People are seldom as tolerant, or as open minded, as they want to be seen.
To quote the great Shel Silverstein:
It’s not only folks on the left that views things this way. That just happens to be where they’re concentrated at this moment in time.
Disagreeing with threabare arguments that would have us repeat FDRs mistakes IS free speech.
c4c