Spot on Christopher. If it weren’t for Elon Musk buying twitter, we wouldn’t know 90% of what we now know. Although I am an infrequent user of X, I have subscribed to show support for his efforts. I urge everyone to support him as he is standing up for true free speech.
Brasil has a long intimate relationship with dictators. The instruction manual is still around in many old government officials who are only too happy to clear off the dust, add some revisions, update technologies and ♻️ reuse. Give the people Carnival and samba. Bread and circus, minus the bread.
By 2024, we also have countries such as England and Canada with no such history -- in fact, they were built on championing freedom -- which are now under the control of totalitarian politicians.
Fascinated to read this and the info on the book by Hirs-Ali (?) today on why we were never woke. The paradoxical key in all this is the personal economic success progressives have enjoyed whilst engineering an unproductive and inefficient approach to work generally. I believe that has much to do with the media. One could always argue that it ultimately depends on the impoverishment of working class people.
In the USA Biden and Harris have funded these inefficient sectors through Executive Orders giving massive cash injections to pressure groups, therapists, academics and barbaric doctors.
At least a systemic and holistic critique of this hitherto clandestine revolution is beginning to emerge now.
I never saw the movie, but I do remember the actual case of The People vs. Larry Flynt.
I always thought he was a gross pig, and I thought his use of the First Amendment to fight pornography charges was awful, but it really is inspired and crucial (and it’s interesting that the porn industry is alive and well in California, home of so many folks fighting free speech).
As others have said elsewhere, the Framers of The Constitution didn’t guarantee the freedom of proper or approved speech - just the freedom of speech. It drives me nuts when I make a point in a conversation and someone says, “You can’t say that!” I believe that the true spirit of free speech is the freedom to disagree and express your own opinions and world view.
Every totalitarian group, from cults and gangs to certain governments, will try to shut down and punish any questioners or dissenters to their narrative.
This is the way the totalitarian-virus behaves in the human mind. Always.
They take your guns first and then your speech. Our pesky 1st and 2nd amendments stand in their way. All of them would ditch both for more control. Including Obama, Biden, Harris, Walz & most elected Dems.
Troodo in Canada has his draconian Bill C-63 against free speech.
Has everyone begun to get the sense that all of the virulently leftwing tactics are arranged somewhere, and then every leader of a Western country gets the same memo from Globalist Head Office?
Well, it's all about developing the "playbook." If they can get away with X in country Y then it gets added to the playbook for all the libs across all countries to follow. We have no such playbook because we have no such global ambitions for power.
"We have no such playbook because we have no such global ambitions for power."
I think that is a very important point you bring out here, David.
The globalists and their Useful Idiot followers (the WOKE and the power-mongers) are dedicated 24/7 to this power grab and to destruction of the West. Which gives them an advantage.
Whereas the normal thinking citizens of the West live their lives doing things such as working their jobs and raising their families. They think the principles by which their societies are governed were pretty well decided long ago. So they are not sure what has hit them in recent years. They had not seen any reason to dwell upon the trash, until now.
The George Soros Open Society Foundation has long been one of those very shady organizations which were named to appear as the opposite of what they actually are. That tactic is a leftwing Newspeak method of trying to flip minds.
"...which will further restrict the range of opinion under the guise of “fighting disinformation.”
One of the strongest mind-bending tactics is for an authority to insist that they are doing something for your own good. Or for the good of everyone. Remember this was the ploy during COVID Mania?
Then they can finger-wag any dissenters as being supposedly selfish. All the pieces of the tactic are designed to fit together to move the gullible types into a cohesive group in which critical thinking has been sacrificed to the authority figure (who badly wants power).
This is the essence of the Orange Man Bad movement. “Don’t you CARE about democracy? How could you possibly support Orange Man? He’s a demagogue!” No rational argument required.
How true. We are "this" close to being under the control of the elites and their coalition army of "weird and creepy" plus "useful idiot" plus "ambitious" peoole.
Information is the battle space of our lives and it has been for quite a while:
“ World War III is a guerrilla information war with no division between military and civilian participation.”
Marshall McLuhan 1964
I was just speaking to a lady. She’s a rather eminent lawyer, retired and on numerous boards. I floated some of this censorship debate past her. We are in big trouble.
You’ve got to be kidding. She’s a highly successful lawyer and board member who believes free speech is a tremendous threat to her worldview and our democracy . You and I need to be silenced. We need to get with the program. She reviles the working man. She is fully inculcated in the meritocracy Fantasia; She earned it you didn’t go fuck yourself.
Why would I be kidding? You and I can easily list of the top of our heads a dozen well-known people who are now risking "lives, fortunes and sacred honor". Just wanted to check if she was among them, even if currently in stealth.
Many of the authors I read have convinced themselves that the worm is about to turn. I test that theory against the people I come across. While there is a general sense of “the world is falling apart”, I would say 90% of people are fully with the save our democracy bullshit.
The Canadian intellectual who taught at the university of Toronto and wrote the seminal book “understanding media”. He coined the phrase, the global village and the medium is the message.
Just think where we'd be without the efforts of Elon Musk's opening up of X, Matt Taibbi and Co's Twitter Files, Taibbi's coverage of Fascistic censorship efforts in general, and Mr. Rufo's clear political analysis and advocacy of free speech. (Edit: I forgot to include the consistently reasonable Glen Greenwald.)
I am really glad that this alternative information stream exists in opposition to the dying mainstream/corporate/state sycophant media. Imagine if everyone depended on mercenary creeps like Rachel Maddow, Joe Scarborough, Don Lemon, Brian Seltzer, Whatzisname Stephanopolous, the clowns at Fox, and the rotating roster of ex-intel talking heads blowing foul air and calling it "journalism."
Freedom of speech is really freedom of thought. Everyone in America needs to get behind this. This type of tyranny cuts both ways.
i wonder how many here felt the same about assange and wikileaks?
https://karlof1.substack.com/p/outlaw-us-empires-anti-truth-war
dimitri simes.............. usa is a full on totalitarian state at this point..
Very few US citizens even know who these two are. And, if so, support the persecution to “protect” our country
there is a lot of irony in that, isn't there??? fwiw - i am a canuck so i tend to view things slightly differently...
I didn't at the time but I do now.
You are bang on, Rob! Limiting speech limits thoughts. Which is their ultimate goal.
Which is why it's important that Substack and X get along.
Agreed!
The "elite" universities are also doing their best to censor anything other than progressive ideology.
Yes, and not just the universities—government, media, NGOs are all heavily implicated.
Spot on Christopher. If it weren’t for Elon Musk buying twitter, we wouldn’t know 90% of what we now know. Although I am an infrequent user of X, I have subscribed to show support for his efforts. I urge everyone to support him as he is standing up for true free speech.
Brasil has a long intimate relationship with dictators. The instruction manual is still around in many old government officials who are only too happy to clear off the dust, add some revisions, update technologies and ♻️ reuse. Give the people Carnival and samba. Bread and circus, minus the bread.
By 2024, we also have countries such as England and Canada with no such history -- in fact, they were built on championing freedom -- which are now under the control of totalitarian politicians.
Fascinated to read this and the info on the book by Hirs-Ali (?) today on why we were never woke. The paradoxical key in all this is the personal economic success progressives have enjoyed whilst engineering an unproductive and inefficient approach to work generally. I believe that has much to do with the media. One could always argue that it ultimately depends on the impoverishment of working class people.
In the USA Biden and Harris have funded these inefficient sectors through Executive Orders giving massive cash injections to pressure groups, therapists, academics and barbaric doctors.
At least a systemic and holistic critique of this hitherto clandestine revolution is beginning to emerge now.
I never saw the movie, but I do remember the actual case of The People vs. Larry Flynt.
I always thought he was a gross pig, and I thought his use of the First Amendment to fight pornography charges was awful, but it really is inspired and crucial (and it’s interesting that the porn industry is alive and well in California, home of so many folks fighting free speech).
As others have said elsewhere, the Framers of The Constitution didn’t guarantee the freedom of proper or approved speech - just the freedom of speech. It drives me nuts when I make a point in a conversation and someone says, “You can’t say that!” I believe that the true spirit of free speech is the freedom to disagree and express your own opinions and world view.
"Suppressing dissent is the ultimate goal."
Every totalitarian group, from cults and gangs to certain governments, will try to shut down and punish any questioners or dissenters to their narrative.
This is the way the totalitarian-virus behaves in the human mind. Always.
They take your guns first and then your speech. Our pesky 1st and 2nd amendments stand in their way. All of them would ditch both for more control. Including Obama, Biden, Harris, Walz & most elected Dems.
Those you mention are keener on Communism than on American-style democracy.
Much keener. When Harris and Walz say "our democracy," they really mean communism.
I believe the whole band of crooks running the Democrat Party right now are Communist.
Based on what we have seen from Biden and Harris, et. al., I would say you are most likely right.
Troodo in Canada has his draconian Bill C-63 against free speech.
Has everyone begun to get the sense that all of the virulently leftwing tactics are arranged somewhere, and then every leader of a Western country gets the same memo from Globalist Head Office?
this is the biggest tell that it's not organic in any way. Global totalitarianism.
Yes, indeed. Or, that is what the globalists hope.
Well, it's all about developing the "playbook." If they can get away with X in country Y then it gets added to the playbook for all the libs across all countries to follow. We have no such playbook because we have no such global ambitions for power.
"We have no such playbook because we have no such global ambitions for power."
I think that is a very important point you bring out here, David.
The globalists and their Useful Idiot followers (the WOKE and the power-mongers) are dedicated 24/7 to this power grab and to destruction of the West. Which gives them an advantage.
Whereas the normal thinking citizens of the West live their lives doing things such as working their jobs and raising their families. They think the principles by which their societies are governed were pretty well decided long ago. So they are not sure what has hit them in recent years. They had not seen any reason to dwell upon the trash, until now.
The George Soros Open Society Foundation has long been one of those very shady organizations which were named to appear as the opposite of what they actually are. That tactic is a leftwing Newspeak method of trying to flip minds.
"...which will further restrict the range of opinion under the guise of “fighting disinformation.”
One of the strongest mind-bending tactics is for an authority to insist that they are doing something for your own good. Or for the good of everyone. Remember this was the ploy during COVID Mania?
Then they can finger-wag any dissenters as being supposedly selfish. All the pieces of the tactic are designed to fit together to move the gullible types into a cohesive group in which critical thinking has been sacrificed to the authority figure (who badly wants power).
This is the essence of the Orange Man Bad movement. “Don’t you CARE about democracy? How could you possibly support Orange Man? He’s a demagogue!” No rational argument required.
Yes...adding some shame in there too goes a long way 😁. Then you don't dare use your thinking brain!
How true. We are "this" close to being under the control of the elites and their coalition army of "weird and creepy" plus "useful idiot" plus "ambitious" peoole.
Chile in the 1970's was a nice place to live as you kept your mouth shut
Criticism of its leader, Augusto Pinochet, was a one way ticket to a shallow grave in the Chilean hillside.
The left wants to a high tech version of the glory days of Stalin & Mao. Uninterrupted governance
free from crtique.
Censoring of free speech is the first step.
Information is the battle space of our lives and it has been for quite a while:
“ World War III is a guerrilla information war with no division between military and civilian participation.”
Marshall McLuhan 1964
I was just speaking to a lady. She’s a rather eminent lawyer, retired and on numerous boards. I floated some of this censorship debate past her. We are in big trouble.
Great quote.
We had the Cold War doing just that in the 50s/early 60s (though not nearly as badly as the 2020s). McLuhan was calling what he was seeing.
"I floated some of this censorship debate past her. "
... and? At least in general terms. Is she of the same mindset, or not? Does she describe and criticize hidden attitudes/behaviors, or carry them out?
You’ve got to be kidding. She’s a highly successful lawyer and board member who believes free speech is a tremendous threat to her worldview and our democracy . You and I need to be silenced. We need to get with the program. She reviles the working man. She is fully inculcated in the meritocracy Fantasia; She earned it you didn’t go fuck yourself.
Why would I be kidding? You and I can easily list of the top of our heads a dozen well-known people who are now risking "lives, fortunes and sacred honor". Just wanted to check if she was among them, even if currently in stealth.
Yeah, excuse me I was unclear.
Many of the authors I read have convinced themselves that the worm is about to turn. I test that theory against the people I come across. While there is a general sense of “the world is falling apart”, I would say 90% of people are fully with the save our democracy bullshit.
Where do you live?
Toronto
How about you, Alice?
Thanks, good to know
Was that the Marshal McLuhan from “The Sopranos”?
The Canadian intellectual who taught at the university of Toronto and wrote the seminal book “understanding media”. He coined the phrase, the global village and the medium is the message.
Oh—the two-L Marshall! The guy from “Annie Hall.”
Why is no one speaking about the UN Global Digital Compact being signed Sept. 20h at the UN Summit of the Future in NYC?
Just think where we'd be without the efforts of Elon Musk's opening up of X, Matt Taibbi and Co's Twitter Files, Taibbi's coverage of Fascistic censorship efforts in general, and Mr. Rufo's clear political analysis and advocacy of free speech. (Edit: I forgot to include the consistently reasonable Glen Greenwald.)
I am really glad that this alternative information stream exists in opposition to the dying mainstream/corporate/state sycophant media. Imagine if everyone depended on mercenary creeps like Rachel Maddow, Joe Scarborough, Don Lemon, Brian Seltzer, Whatzisname Stephanopolous, the clowns at Fox, and the rotating roster of ex-intel talking heads blowing foul air and calling it "journalism."
YES!!!!!