I learned things this week, pretty basic things that I did not know about abortion. Like the modern countries of Europe [are] way more restrictive than what they (Republicans) are even proposing. If you are pro-choice, you would like it a lot less in Germany, and Italy, and France, and Spain, and Switzerland.
Bill Maher (registered Democrat)
Never in my 67 years have I supported free speech more than today, because of the incivility of pro-choice reactions to abortion becoming a legislative matter, and Biden’s launch of the Disinformation Governance Board. Let’s call it what it is; Democrats opposing the democratization of how things are and how things are going to be.
That (democratization) was the thesis of Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat. Personal computing democratized WHAT everybody knows and HOW everything is made. To wit, a bank in London funds a dirt-floor factory in Laos to ship goods to Laredo; thereby flattening manufacturing towns in Middle America into import-distribution towns in Fly Over America. What Friedman didn’t see was information elites (like himself) losing their Knowledge Is Power monopoly in America. It happened, and they don’t like it.
Sadly, most knowledge elites believe “the best ideas” come from “the most articulate” in the room, and “the best visibility” belongs to “the most educated” bureaucrats, reporters, and teachers. Sadly, they didn’t grasp the Great Awakening that began in 1976 in Los Altos, California, that allowed individuals to bypass institutions. Then, when Apple allowed we the people to stop reading newspapers, they foolishly assumed the dumbing down of America. Wrong!
The import-distribution business model created the Red State Web (my term) when the brawn at the machine became the brain at the PC. High-school grads now easily get their “world news” from faraway vendors. Multiply this by many millions of supply-chain workers involved in the “global economy” in real time every day. No wonder fly-over America doesn’t trust legacy media (hint: it’s a day late).
What the CIA, Harvard Business School, and New York Times know in total is no match for America’s “backwater” grapevine. No wonder Elon Musk chose “digital town square” to describe his vision for Twitter.
I suspect Musk sees what every American CEO (writer included) can see: (1) every worker on a PC, (2) half the workers not having “liberal” views, (3) a cozy alliance between Big Media and the “liberal” party, and (4) fact checkers in Big Tech mostly censoring the “conservative” party. After looking at the mandate of Biden’s new “ministry of truth” and video by its oddball leader (Nina Jankowicz), Musk is right to protect free speech. [note: you gotta click the link]
Republicans need Twitter to fact-check politicians like Eric Swalwell (D-CA) and sites like iwillvote.com that purport to serve the public. Consider the 5-part information exchange below, precipitated by the leak of Justice Alito’s draft opinion:
- Swalwell: “The Republicans won’t stop with banning abortion. They want to ban interracial marriage.”
- Twitterverse: oodles of photos of Justice Thomas and his white wife.
- Wesley Hunt (R-TX): “Hey, Eric, I’m a Republican nominee in a district that’s 70% white. I’m black, in an interracial marriage, and have two biracial daughters. I celebrate diversity while white liberals like yourself race-bait.”
- Swalwell: “Hey Wesley, your problem isn’t with me. Looks like you’re just another Republican who is in denial of what your colleagues say. Party over country, right?”
- Hunt: “Eric, my problem is with you – never been black a day in your life – white Democrat lecturing me on racism and country over party. I served in combat, did you?”
Swalwell has never served in combat (unless getting schooled by a black veteran and Republican nominee counts). If not for Hunt (a lock to be elected to the House in November), Swalwell would never shut up (he did). Silence may be golden, but Twitter can be platinum!