My latest in PJ Media:
Twitter — as busy as ever, policing who may or may not have a public platform and what may or may not be said on that platform — permanently banned a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), on Sunday. Greene’s fatal error, as far as Twitter was concerned, was violating its COVID-19 “misinformation policies.” After the ban, Greene took to Gettr to skewer Twitter for its inconsistent and selective application of its own rules: as you might expect, Leftists get a pass.
The New York Times took the social media giant’s side, of course, explaining that “Twitter suspended Ms. Greene’s account after she tweeted on Saturday, falsely, about ‘extremely high amounts of Covid vaccine deaths.’ She included a misleading chart that pulled information from a government database of unverified raw data called the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, a decades-old system that relies on self-reported cases from patients and health care providers.”
The Times didn’t deign to explain why Greene’s chart was “misleading,” but it did claim that “the VAERS database, which is managed by the Food and Drug Administration and the C.D.C., has been cited in many coronavirus falsehoods to push the idea that side effects from the Covid-19 vaccines have been underreported. A spokeswoman for the F.D.A. declined to comment, but pointed to an overview of the VAERS database on the F.D.A.’s website that said VAERS reports ‘generally cannot be used to determine if a vaccine caused or contributed to an adverse event or illness.’”
All right. But there are numerous reports of people getting ill or dying after receiving the vaccine, and the social media giants’ determination to suppress such reports rather than refute them on the basis of evidence only causes more suspicion of the vaccines. Rather than ban Greene, Twitter or its trusted authorities could have taken the trouble to end this “misinformation” once and for all by explaining why she was wrong, and providing data to support their case.
But that’s not how fascists operate. Nor are they consistent in the application of their own rules, since they aren’t really rules at all, but just tools to discredit and destroy their foes. Greene pointed out on Gettr that Twitter had let numerous Leftists violate their terms of service: “When Maxine Waters can go to the streets and threaten violence on Twitter, Kamala and Ilhan can bail out rioters on Twitter, and Chief spokesman for terrorist IRGC can tweet mourning Soleimani but I get suspended for tweeting VAERS statistics, Twitter is an enemy to America and can’t handle the truth. That’s fine, I’ll show America we don’t need them and it’s time to defeat our enemies.”
There is more. Read the rest here.
Infidel says
I was listening to Alex Marlowe – Editor in chief of Breitbart – on Sirius XM Patriot channel. He made a very prescient poiint: people on the right who still put their best work on the likes of Facebook and Twitter are just feeding the enemy. I made the same point 2 days ago about JW having accounts on Facebook and Twitter, when RS mentioned that he expects to be cancelled by them any day. If I were in that situation, I’d jump before I was pushed
Similarly, I follow both MTG and Lauren Boebert on Gab, where they are the only 2 Congresspeople w/ accounts there. I don’t get why they need to have accounts on Facebook and Twitter. Everybody on the right needs to leave those platforms, and let them be Leftist echo chambers. Yeah, maybe Gab/Gettr/Parler are right wing echo chambers, but that’s still preferable to being sabotaged every day
Wellington says
I agree, Infidel. Don’t patronize the Left. This is why I refuse to watch the NFL any longer since a once great professional organization has gone super woke and unpatriotic (N.B., going woke and being unpatriotic invariably go hand in hand).
somehistory says
If there was a store or other business that regularly conducted things in a way that was clearly wrong, I would not wish to support them with my money.
Never been on fb or the twit place. Don’t have any intention of doing so. When something is wrong, it should not be supported. At least by those who care about right and wrong…and Truth (and not meaning “my truth) which so many wish to make universal as long as it’s *their* truth, which can be a pack of lies).
gravenimage says
The problem–as I have noted–is that Robert Spencer and David Wood want to reach as many people as possible for as long as possible–and that means that unfortunately big social media is hard to ignore.
Infidel says
Facebook and Twitter are only big as long as all people on the right are there alongside the people on the left. Once there is a mass exodus of every right-thinking person, their numbers will be 50% of what they are today, if not less. Remember MySpace? The portal where kids used to keep all their info, plot school shootings and so on? Today, it’s a part of People Magazine/Entertainment Weekly
Silicon Valley is littered w/ dead companies – many far, far better than Twitter or Facebook. It’s not inevitable that those 2 will be there forever. In the meantime, there is a good case for patronizing their challengers
gravenimage says
Infidel, I take your point. But as influential as Robert Spencer is, he is not able to singlehandedly change the face of social media.
I think the way to go now is to share a lot of these stories with social media accross the board–then at some point perhaps these (currently) large platforms can be abandoned for those that are less censorious.
James Lincoln says
Infidel,
Dr. Rand Paul just left Facebook in the dust – and maybe this will start a trend.
All of his excellent videos can be found on Rumble.
Infidel says
James
Rand Paul went to Rumble after YouTube took down some of his videos. But it’s good that he has left Facebook, and hopefully leaves Twitter as well. He has a choice of Gab, Gettr and Parler: let’s see which one he chooses. Ideally, public officials should have channels on all 3, so that they can interact w/ whichever voters choose
Kagman says
Twitter… The engine driving the Liberal Crazy Train….
This woman could not be more correct. Twitter is chock full of America-despising vermin.. There is no ill that could befall them that they are not worthy of…
gravenimage says
Marjorie Taylor Greene, Banned From Twitter, Says ‘Twitter Is an Enemy to America’
………………
Having a politically incorrect view of vaccination gets you banned for good from Twitter–but Muslims calling for murder is perfectly fine.
This is utter insanity.
James Lincoln says
About 10 years ago, when millions of people were following Charlie Sheen’s “antics” on twitter, the platform was actually somewhat humorous.
But now…
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is correct:
Today’s twitter it is pure evil.
OLD GUY says
If conservatives would stop using Twitter, FaceBook and Amazon these corporations would change as their CASH flow takes a big hit. And maybe some fairer sites would pick up the slack.
Infidel says
Exactly what I’ve been calling for! As Alex Marlow noted yesterday, there is no good reason why anybody on the right should be on Twitter or Facebook
Gail Gardner says
Greene is not someone who you can not embellish, she has made outrageously stupid statements in the past and seems to be quite uneducated. In my books even if she is right she is wrong. Extremists from the right are not much different than extremists from the left.
gravenimage says
“Embellish”? Is this the word you wanted to use here?
I note also that you provide no examples of these supposedly “outrageously stupid statements”–this is telling.
Then, it seems that you are fine with enemies of America–just so long as they are condemned by people you deem “quite uneducated”. What a distrubing thing to brag about…
Infidel says
Spoken like a true intellect, who thinks that true statements can be false and false statements can be true depending on who says them. And you call her outrageously stupid? Do you have a mirror at home?
gravenimage says
+1