I have to say that this is the best article I have read on Common Sense, and it goes without saying: that's a high bar. The clear documentation of Twitter's dishonesty, dating back to its very beginning, is breathtaking - and given Twitter's outsized influence on American culture and politics, the value of exposing an all-pervasive but untrustworthy social platform cannot be overstated. Frankly, I've been a little puzzled by this fascist administration/technocrat/Hollywood cabal's near-complete meltdown over Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter, but thanks to your article I see the important role that it has played in their evil collusion to bring about The Great Reset. The "problem" with Musk is that he is nearly uncontrollable, and worse - bright and popular.
Once again, Substack and Common Sense prove their worth. Thank you both. We have a great opportunity - maybe our last - on this coming Election Day to begin the reversal of this attempted world-wide coup, and to do it without gunfire (although they have already put the gears in motion for mass starvation, itself a form of murder). If there were ever a time that Your Vote Counts, it's now. We must not fail.
Watching phony, deranged liberals flip out over Musk's promise not to censor opinions they don't like is, for actual liberals, both a joy and a terror.
Kirn's essay validates my decision to subscribe to Common Sense. He eloquently states what I have been convinced is true since before the pandemic, and what has been undeniably proven since it began: we are being censored and cancelled for deviating from any narrative preferred by the left. I know personally of friends and family members that have been placed in Twitter or FB jail for simply liking a post that went against the party line. I have received warnings that I was skirting to close to boundaries that may not be crossed, e.g. any criticism of Anthony Fauci or suggestion of doubt about the value of mandated vaccination for Covid. The same goes for critical race theory and its validity, and the rush to insert diversity, equity, and inclusion in every corner of society. In my own organization, the American College of Surgeons, in which I have been a Fellow for thirty years, I was permanently banned from posting on its online forums for questioning the College's adoption of the premise that it (the College) is systemically racist, that surgeons are all racists, and that the surgery as practiced today is racist. All of this is to be accepted without a shred of evidence. To question this is to be gaslighted and muzzled. Kudos to Kirn and to Common Sense for posting.....well....common sense.
"One definition of “paranoia” is suspecting the truth too early, before your therapist reads it in The Times. " What a fantastic line, I plan to steal it.
After watching “news” gradually become more and more a report of what is said on Twitter - and knowing how my own large tree of friendship had been severely pruned during the past four years, I was looking forward to the changes Musk would bring. I joined Twitter the day he bought it so I could see for myself what is said and by whom.
I learned a lot from this article (like I often do from Walter Kirn) and I love the way his mind works. His "turn of phrase" hearkens back to a time when speech was evocative of the emotional underplay. He so often captures what is resonating between my mind and spirit. Thanks Mr. Kirn.
I never went near Twitter…until now. With Musk running things I decided to see what it’s all about. The story I’ve been tracking is the Paul Pelosi incident. I wanted to see what got posted since the media are doing a, not surprisingly, lousy job of figuring out what happened. So many questions, so little curiosity. Such a rush to declare it a right wing attack. So I started posting questions—
We know he lived in Berkeley in some sort of hovel with BLM and LGBTQ posters, had a weird relationship with a woman, had a couple kids, indulged in nudism and drugs…how does this point to right wing? I mean, where are his guns? Next, How did he get to Pelosi’s house? At 2am? Walking? Car? Maybe there’s an accomplice? He had a backpack with zip ties, a hammer and a rope….yet he’s charged with kidnapping? Uh…no car, no gun..a husband who would resist…maybe even live in staff, who knows, but people on Twitter adamantly post that because he said he wanted to kidnap Nancy, he should be charged. Doesn’t matter that she wasn’t there. I think, maybe an insanity plea makes more sense. Next, the security system. Hello? Are we to believe the Pelosis didn’t have one? Video sure would answer a lot of questions. Yet this isn’t discussed? Smells fishy. Next, the whole homosexual thing. Being in their underwear. Please. Men sleep in their underwear at 2am. Depape was a loony nudist. If there is any truth to the underwear thing, jumping to some hook-up explanation is dumb. Lots of that on Twitter. And lots of proclamations of the Pelosi’s victimhood at the hands of evil right wingers who are a threat to democracy. But given the state of SF, can anyone be surprised that a drug addled, homeless, psychotic person broke into a home? Why would anyone assume he has a coherent political thought?
Once Nancy is in the minority, maybe she can turn her focus to the city she has represented for decades, as it declined into chaos and human excrement on the streets.
At least my questions on Twitter haven’t been disappeared.
Great, just great. For his next salvo, could Mr. Kirn expose the "fact check" business, in which we are told, time after time after time, what the apparatchiks of the deep state expect us to believe?
Then he could take a whack at the Covid-era headline, "What You Need to Know," which is seen regularly in news media whose members are illiterate in math and science -- and, not infrequently, in basic grammar.
This is a good first look behind the curtain, but I would like to see Bari dig deeper into the disturbing revelation that the social media companies gave the government their own private backdoor for requesting the suppression of information.
Such a level of incest between companies, media, and government is the very hallmark of totalitarianism.
Can anyone name a tolerant open society or country that sought to control the media,communication and thought? Conversely, a totalitarian society that did not?
In my time two books have stood out. The first, The Micro Millenium, was a glimpse into the future of computers and tech, and if I'd paid it heed, I would be a very rich man today.
The second, Killing Time, by the brilliant Caleb Carr, predicted just the sort of chilling manipulation of information that is occurring today with our technocrat overseers and our gangster government. It was chilling then but not so much as now because we weren't wedded to tech when the book was penned in the way we are now.
A third book, the over used but still relevant 1984, caught the mindset correctly but couldn't begin to conceive of the ubiquity of tech and the evil of its masters. Could you imagine the cackles of delight if Stalin and Beria had access to the tech of today? Not much better knowing it's in the hands of Merrick Garland, Zuckerberg and Google. So sad that we had to rely on the fluke of luck that Musk would be a billionaire. A free and independent people would never have stood for censorship like this.
I’ve been watching my liberal friends melt down over the Twitter takeover. One posted a screenshot of his iPhone screen with a gap where the twitter app was. Another posted, in complete seriousness, “you all realize Musk is a Bond villain right”. It amuses me to no end, how worried they are about having to face opposing views. And let’s not forget that yesterday the ACLU tweeted that they were concerned about the government’s role in controlling content on social media. Perhaps the times are changing.
"Emerging from the dimness of Plato’s Cave into the dazzle of daytime may take a while—we grew sleepier than perhaps we even knew. I say let the wild rumpus begin." Applause.
The Founding Fathers knew what they were about when they made Freedom of Speech the First Amendment.
The truth is coming out. It can only be suppressed for so long.
Let us hope the new Congress will investigate the (fascistic) collusion between government and Big Tech and draft legislation to end it. These government agencies that have been shown to be hopelessly corrupt need to be broken up. They have become true enemies of the people. As an example, Homeland Security is aiding and abetting homeland insecurity by attempting to control speech and by encouraging massive waves of illegal migrants into the country. The Dept of Justice is anything but. We know there are now two different standards of justice: one for Trump supporters, and one for Democrats. The FBI has become a horror and a joke.
Exceptional. It's the articles and introduction to authors like this that confirm my decision to subscribe to Common Sense.
This insight alone is critically important:
"...the period when the American establishment sought to control the flow of information in much the same way it once pursued dominion over resources such as land and oil."
Your observations of how the press generates and conforms to "group think" - are also incredibly revealing.
There is (what I think) an under appreciated book "The Wisdom of Crowds" by Surowiecki - when you read it you come away thinking that the "wisdom of crowds" exists when a problem is solved independently by a large number of people - and then the solutions filtered for the best answers. The exact opposite of the 'group think' created by the current version of Twitter.
BTW - when I subscribed to Unbound - the last thing the code did was ask me to Tweet my decision. Yech. (But I'll be a regular reader.)
I have to say that this is the best article I have read on Common Sense, and it goes without saying: that's a high bar. The clear documentation of Twitter's dishonesty, dating back to its very beginning, is breathtaking - and given Twitter's outsized influence on American culture and politics, the value of exposing an all-pervasive but untrustworthy social platform cannot be overstated. Frankly, I've been a little puzzled by this fascist administration/technocrat/Hollywood cabal's near-complete meltdown over Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter, but thanks to your article I see the important role that it has played in their evil collusion to bring about The Great Reset. The "problem" with Musk is that he is nearly uncontrollable, and worse - bright and popular.
Once again, Substack and Common Sense prove their worth. Thank you both. We have a great opportunity - maybe our last - on this coming Election Day to begin the reversal of this attempted world-wide coup, and to do it without gunfire (although they have already put the gears in motion for mass starvation, itself a form of murder). If there were ever a time that Your Vote Counts, it's now. We must not fail.
Watching phony, deranged liberals flip out over Musk's promise not to censor opinions they don't like is, for actual liberals, both a joy and a terror.
Kirn's essay validates my decision to subscribe to Common Sense. He eloquently states what I have been convinced is true since before the pandemic, and what has been undeniably proven since it began: we are being censored and cancelled for deviating from any narrative preferred by the left. I know personally of friends and family members that have been placed in Twitter or FB jail for simply liking a post that went against the party line. I have received warnings that I was skirting to close to boundaries that may not be crossed, e.g. any criticism of Anthony Fauci or suggestion of doubt about the value of mandated vaccination for Covid. The same goes for critical race theory and its validity, and the rush to insert diversity, equity, and inclusion in every corner of society. In my own organization, the American College of Surgeons, in which I have been a Fellow for thirty years, I was permanently banned from posting on its online forums for questioning the College's adoption of the premise that it (the College) is systemically racist, that surgeons are all racists, and that the surgery as practiced today is racist. All of this is to be accepted without a shred of evidence. To question this is to be gaslighted and muzzled. Kudos to Kirn and to Common Sense for posting.....well....common sense.
"One definition of “paranoia” is suspecting the truth too early, before your therapist reads it in The Times. " What a fantastic line, I plan to steal it.
After watching “news” gradually become more and more a report of what is said on Twitter - and knowing how my own large tree of friendship had been severely pruned during the past four years, I was looking forward to the changes Musk would bring. I joined Twitter the day he bought it so I could see for myself what is said and by whom.
I learned a lot from this article (like I often do from Walter Kirn) and I love the way his mind works. His "turn of phrase" hearkens back to a time when speech was evocative of the emotional underplay. He so often captures what is resonating between my mind and spirit. Thanks Mr. Kirn.
I never went near Twitter…until now. With Musk running things I decided to see what it’s all about. The story I’ve been tracking is the Paul Pelosi incident. I wanted to see what got posted since the media are doing a, not surprisingly, lousy job of figuring out what happened. So many questions, so little curiosity. Such a rush to declare it a right wing attack. So I started posting questions—
We know he lived in Berkeley in some sort of hovel with BLM and LGBTQ posters, had a weird relationship with a woman, had a couple kids, indulged in nudism and drugs…how does this point to right wing? I mean, where are his guns? Next, How did he get to Pelosi’s house? At 2am? Walking? Car? Maybe there’s an accomplice? He had a backpack with zip ties, a hammer and a rope….yet he’s charged with kidnapping? Uh…no car, no gun..a husband who would resist…maybe even live in staff, who knows, but people on Twitter adamantly post that because he said he wanted to kidnap Nancy, he should be charged. Doesn’t matter that she wasn’t there. I think, maybe an insanity plea makes more sense. Next, the security system. Hello? Are we to believe the Pelosis didn’t have one? Video sure would answer a lot of questions. Yet this isn’t discussed? Smells fishy. Next, the whole homosexual thing. Being in their underwear. Please. Men sleep in their underwear at 2am. Depape was a loony nudist. If there is any truth to the underwear thing, jumping to some hook-up explanation is dumb. Lots of that on Twitter. And lots of proclamations of the Pelosi’s victimhood at the hands of evil right wingers who are a threat to democracy. But given the state of SF, can anyone be surprised that a drug addled, homeless, psychotic person broke into a home? Why would anyone assume he has a coherent political thought?
Once Nancy is in the minority, maybe she can turn her focus to the city she has represented for decades, as it declined into chaos and human excrement on the streets.
At least my questions on Twitter haven’t been disappeared.
Great, just great. For his next salvo, could Mr. Kirn expose the "fact check" business, in which we are told, time after time after time, what the apparatchiks of the deep state expect us to believe?
Then he could take a whack at the Covid-era headline, "What You Need to Know," which is seen regularly in news media whose members are illiterate in math and science -- and, not infrequently, in basic grammar.
This is a good first look behind the curtain, but I would like to see Bari dig deeper into the disturbing revelation that the social media companies gave the government their own private backdoor for requesting the suppression of information.
Such a level of incest between companies, media, and government is the very hallmark of totalitarianism.
‘One definition of “paranoia” is suspecting the truth too early’
Very true. People are often called conspiracy theorists for being right ahead of their time.
You can listen to Rush Limbaugh shows from the 90s, and his observations are relevant and insightful to this day.
I never had a Twitter account and I decided to make one when I heard that Musk bought it. It amazes me that people waste their time with it.
Can anyone name a tolerant open society or country that sought to control the media,communication and thought? Conversely, a totalitarian society that did not?
In my time two books have stood out. The first, The Micro Millenium, was a glimpse into the future of computers and tech, and if I'd paid it heed, I would be a very rich man today.
The second, Killing Time, by the brilliant Caleb Carr, predicted just the sort of chilling manipulation of information that is occurring today with our technocrat overseers and our gangster government. It was chilling then but not so much as now because we weren't wedded to tech when the book was penned in the way we are now.
A third book, the over used but still relevant 1984, caught the mindset correctly but couldn't begin to conceive of the ubiquity of tech and the evil of its masters. Could you imagine the cackles of delight if Stalin and Beria had access to the tech of today? Not much better knowing it's in the hands of Merrick Garland, Zuckerberg and Google. So sad that we had to rely on the fluke of luck that Musk would be a billionaire. A free and independent people would never have stood for censorship like this.
I’ve been watching my liberal friends melt down over the Twitter takeover. One posted a screenshot of his iPhone screen with a gap where the twitter app was. Another posted, in complete seriousness, “you all realize Musk is a Bond villain right”. It amuses me to no end, how worried they are about having to face opposing views. And let’s not forget that yesterday the ACLU tweeted that they were concerned about the government’s role in controlling content on social media. Perhaps the times are changing.
"Emerging from the dimness of Plato’s Cave into the dazzle of daytime may take a while—we grew sleepier than perhaps we even knew. I say let the wild rumpus begin." Applause.
The Founding Fathers knew what they were about when they made Freedom of Speech the First Amendment.
The truth is coming out. It can only be suppressed for so long.
Let us hope the new Congress will investigate the (fascistic) collusion between government and Big Tech and draft legislation to end it. These government agencies that have been shown to be hopelessly corrupt need to be broken up. They have become true enemies of the people. As an example, Homeland Security is aiding and abetting homeland insecurity by attempting to control speech and by encouraging massive waves of illegal migrants into the country. The Dept of Justice is anything but. We know there are now two different standards of justice: one for Trump supporters, and one for Democrats. The FBI has become a horror and a joke.
Exceptional. It's the articles and introduction to authors like this that confirm my decision to subscribe to Common Sense.
This insight alone is critically important:
"...the period when the American establishment sought to control the flow of information in much the same way it once pursued dominion over resources such as land and oil."
Your observations of how the press generates and conforms to "group think" - are also incredibly revealing.
There is (what I think) an under appreciated book "The Wisdom of Crowds" by Surowiecki - when you read it you come away thinking that the "wisdom of crowds" exists when a problem is solved independently by a large number of people - and then the solutions filtered for the best answers. The exact opposite of the 'group think' created by the current version of Twitter.
BTW - when I subscribed to Unbound - the last thing the code did was ask me to Tweet my decision. Yech. (But I'll be a regular reader.)