Freeze Peach for 'E' but not for Thee
It appears that Elon Musk’s Free Speech campaign has evolved into a Freeze Peach one, which doesn’t do shit, really, nor make sense at all. Neither is free nor frozen. Old Twitter censored people advocating violence, sex trafficking and the attempted January 6 coup. Musk’s Twitter goes after anyone that annoys Thinskinny Musk on any given day.
But for most Americans, does Musk even matter? Nope.
He rallies fascists, confederates, militias, conspiracy spreaders, rogue cops, authoritarians, homophobes, transphobes, racists and neo-Nazis to his new toy, while suspending mainstream journalists doing mainstream, accurate reporting. He conducts sham polls calling them the voice of the people, to justify some of his personal censorship habits. He even reminds folks that some countries murder journalists so he’s not so bad, by comparison. How gauche!
The right to free speech isn’t endangered unless government is doing the censoring and that’s true for freedom of the press, as well. Musk’s effort to redefine the first right was silly to begin with. How many other immigrants have we granted the power to define what our rights are? When did any majority grant such power to this impudent bundle of arrogance?
Access to utilize a privately owned social media platform isn’t a right. In this case, members of the media have come to rely on the platform as a means of catching breaking news and amplifying news and opinion. In return, Twitter gains considerable traffic from their presence, boosting its ad revenue. If Musk wants to shut that down, he has every right to do so and the press has every right to move to another social media platform.
Let the immigrant impose his neo-apartheid on whoever sticks around, as it’s clearly a hard habit to break. We’ll just continue with our own habits of freedom to speak and write. We don’t have to drive his crashy burny neo-Pintos either. (If you do want a part of Tesla, buy shares at $90 sometime this winter.)
This oughta accelerate the media exodus as Musk drives his new toy into the ground: <squealing tires> Bang! Boom!
He’s promised to step down as CEO as soon as he finds someone else to take the job, likely with his heavyhanded oversight as that’s how narcissism works. The media should quit the site completely and never return….. if they’re gonna act like professional journalists, that is.
My folks cautioned me about the company one keeps, bad influences etc. etc. and the media holds the power in this case but most are too timid to wield it. They report on his antics to ‘gain access’ but I think it’s more accurately called ‘learned helplessness.’
I’ve refrained from the usual acknowledgments to the year-end holiday season simply because of an array of events. A combination of medical issues (for several people) and holiday demands killed my writing time the past 2 weeks.
I haven’t really begun my holiday posts going back to Thanksgiving. However, since Hannukah is 8 days and there’s 12 days of Christmas, plus the Solstice, Kwanzaa and Festivus, I figure I get to do holiday stuff till at least January 6th, so don’t expect to escape the Christmas music horrorfest just yet.
I’m also going to present examples of where I could take this newsletter in the coming year, so feedback is necessary. Enough with your silence!
I went heavy on the humor with Dec 14th’s drag queen editions. At least I thought it funny. Even identified Mike Pence and Jason Momoa as queens. Instead of laughter, I mostly heard crickets. Asking for feedback, comments or shares didn’t produce the interactivity I sought.
So from now on, if you don’t speak up, I’m going to restrict your right to buy toilet paper. You’ve left me no chance, so enjoy your pants.
And speaking of drag queens, out of all the drag queen guys and drag queen gals whose pictures I posted, a few facts:
- None have been charged with or convicted of pedophilia or abuse of children.
- Only one was ever practicing anything criminal and/or rights-defying. That’d be the late J. Edgar Hoover.
So this edition of the newsletter is dedicated to Things That Scare Us Silly That Aren’t Actually Scary. Like men in dresses. When have they ever been scary?
From a Facebook post 7 years ago, here’s a reminder from Australia that people transitioning are rarely scary either.
This album, however, is deeply disturbing.
Here’s Vesta Tilly emerging from a carriage at Ascot, way back in 1904. She was very popular in Europe with her stage shows as the leading drag king of the time. Are you feeling any fear yet?
Look, I understand that change, itself, can make us feel unsettled. I’m mostly annoyed when new acronyms and new words appear that I have to look up. Younger generations have always created a lot of slang and are also prone to be judgy towards their elders. And there’s lots of small town and rural areas that haven’t seen a trans person or someone in drag except on TV. Being unsettled or confused by pronouns isn’t bigotry, though. It’s just learning to deal with change, IF you remember the simplest of adages.
People are people are people.
Treat them as such, all people that aren’t attacking others, just living their lives.
It’s so odd that some remarkably foolish people think the rest of us will:
a) believe their bullshit,
b) get ‘triggered’ by something some stranger on the internet says,
c) change our opinions when they threaten us,
d) tremble in our boots if they indicate they’re willing to lose another civil war,
e) mistake obvious bullshit for facts based on zero evidence and zero effort on their part to present evidence.
f) hate others because they decided to hate them.
Foolish people just don’t understand how people work. It’s pretty arrogant of them but also dumb. When I read some dumb stuff on social media, I usually assume they’re authored by extremely young and unschooled kids, or paid propaganda pushers or loud angry drunks. It saves a lot of wasted effort to ignore, block and forget them, not out of hate but out of self-respect. Our time alive is short and precious. Use it to know people, all kinds of different people except people who treat us like idiots or as targets.
That’s who’s busy trying to ‘groom’ others, serving up platefuls of limburger cheese on moldy Limbaugh rolls fully expecting us to accept their abuses of everything and everyone.
I do have my hates: I mostly hate politics but cover it defensively when too many elective offices are overrun by abusers. I hate disease and death. I hate long lines, too many ads, excessive greed and overt stupidity. And especially, the misery of humans who launch wars.
I also hate my own capacity to ramble on and on in a newsletter.
Here’s an example of someone to fear but you likely won’t have to fear him now unless you share his prison cell.
Or fear the guy that just got sentenced to 16 years in prison for spearheading the effort to kidnap Michigan Governor Whitmer. Hate the haters and destroyers. Most everyone else will never harm you or your family.
And when you feel overwhelmed by the depths of political perfidy and antisocial media, turn to the poets and philosophers, artists, photographers and musicians, teachers and librarians and humorists, gardeners and cooks and healers. The creators. Because that’s what you really deserve to have.
You’ll get it in bunches now.
This reminds me of the days I spent visiting family in the Catskill mountains.
I don’t always read it when you publish it. I like to read it when I’m down because I know there will be funny somewhere. You’re are a great communicator and I’ve enjoyed each and every one and are even saving them. I don’t comment often because I agree with you and have nothing to add.😁 I’m looking forward to the next one.
Loved the birth announcement retraction and the pizza joke. Can't drop Twitter because I never had it in the first place - but if I did, I would!