Good advice, stupid reasons
Birzer at Imaginative Conservative recommends pulling away from social media and big tech as much as possible without losing function and employment. Unquestionably good and necessary advice. Every minute spent on social media is intended to create fear and depression. Even the writers and aggregators on the "good" side need clicks, and they create clicks by generating fear and panic. It's unavoidable.

Birzer goes badly astray when he tries to analyze the basis of the current tyranny. He properly rejects Orwell's pure state-centered dystopia, then improperly rejects Huxley's corporate dystopia and accepts Bradbury's idea that the tyranny comes from the masses.

Again, what matters so critically in these passages is that the tyranny comes from the demands of the Masses, not from the central government. In Bradbury’s understanding, the government might very well be wicked and evil, but it would always follow the lead of the Masses and become their tool, rather than the other way around.

Throughout his career, Bradbury spoke bravely and openly against “political correctness,” recognizing it for the evil and the tyranny it is. In 1953, it was against Joseph McCarthy. “Whether or not my ideas on censorship via the fire department will be old hat by this time next week, I dare not predict,” he wrote, but “when the wind is right, a faint odor of kerosene is exhaled from Senator McCarthy.”

NO. NO. NO. NO. NO.

Deepstate NEVER follows the masses. Deepstate tells the masses what to do and what to say and where to protest, then "follows" the protests that agree with Deepstate's desires. The "opposite" side of the protests, also generated by Deepstate, gives Deepstate a way to identify and exterminate dissidents and "terrorists".

This is extremely well-known by everyone who has been part of the protests at any time from 1968 to now. It was also true of the "anti-slavery" protesters in 1860.

McCarthy was NOT representing the masses. He was representing Roy Cohn, the deep dark heart of the blackmail branch of Deepstate. Trump was ALSO trained and created by the very same Roy Cohn with the very same flavor and purpose. If Bradbury didn't understand this, he was a fool who isn't worth following. More likely he did understand it and was part of the tyranny. If he had been an actual dissident, he couldn't have been published at all. The fact that he was published and got rich from his books, and his books were taught in schools, tells you ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW.

More subtly, some of Birzer's advice may also be flawed. The "alternative" media, if they're big enough to make a splash, are not alternative. They're just another way for Deepstate to identify "terrorists". They certainly don't do a better job of preserving privacy, as I verified with Parler. It's better to stick with the big names, use them sparingly and carefully, and avoid cellphones entirely. Small fish in big pond is just naturally harder to detect than big fish in small pond.

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Footnote: McCarthy was dangerous, but NOT for the standard reasons. His lists exposed Soviet spies and "unfairly" tarnished "noble liberals". CIA already knew the real spies and knew how to work with them to avoid KGB eruptions, and KGB knew how to work with our real spies to avoid CIA eruptions. Real spies are playing an old and well-ordered game that preserves peace when it works properly. Exposing some of the real spies meant that KGB would have to send new spies who weren't already known, thus costing CIA extra effort. But that wasn't the serious problem. McCarthy was mainly dangerous because those "noble liberals" were Deepstate's FAKE Soviet agents who were obliterating American culture and civilization while blaming the destruction on Russia. That's why he needed to be discredited and Unpersoned.

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Later thought: Generating fear and panic is universal among media on all "sides". The aggregators on the skeptic side often exaggerate the lockdowns, or make it sound like the lockdown is getting stricter when it's actually getting slightly looser. (Lockdowns should not exist AT ALL, but that doesn't justify misstating the changes.) Because the governments are trying to destroy truth and logic, skeptics should feel an obligation to get the facts RIGHT, not overstating or understating reality.

Why doesn't anyone try to get clicks by making you FEEL HAPPY AND CONFIDENT? Other types of business do. Food sells because it tastes good, not because it makes you feel sick. Cars sell because they make you feel masterful while driving, not because they make you feel weak and endangered. American media in previous decades included some fear-makers, but mainly sold empathy and confidence and respect and real education. Where did these motives go? Surely the same method would work now. People haven't changed, and our appetite for empathy is vastly larger now because NOBODY is trying to satisfy it.

Labels: Aberree, From rights to duties, malign misattribution

  ¶ 5:20 AM