Boomeranging Censorship
Boomeranging Censorship
A fallacious attack on Substack gets backlash
For those who may not know it, I am a free-speech advocate; so being it is constitutionally sound speech (no slander, threats of violence, etc.), and children are protected, say what you will.
This means occasionally seeing things with which I do not agree, being exposed to things which I find offensive. That is a price of Liberty, and I pay it gladly… because I have seen the results of the alternative.
One of things I have loved about Substack is its dedication to free speech, and the free-flow of information which arrives with it. It is a platform built on the premise of true interaction; in that vein, those in power here have pushed back on unreasonable demands to censor opinions that others may not embrace, and I applaud them for that.
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Furthermore, thanks to fully immersing myself in Notes over the past few weeks, I have also come to value the overall cultural vibe. This is a place where I do not have to agree with someone on every topic in order to engage them in discourse, with mutual respect and civility being the standards. That is exceedingly rare on the Internet these days, and - a few bad apples notwithstanding - it’s a way-of-life here.
Oh, and speaking of bad apples? The Censorship Brigade - manned and wo-manned by the usual cast of characters - is mobilizing here… and they are bringing the big guns.
Them Marauding Nazis
This latest round of kvetching started with ‘journalist’ Jonathan Katz, who wrote a highly-speculative hit-piece targeting Substack. The article, published by the always trustworthy The Atlantic (please, tell me my sarcasm came through there), has Katz asserting that ‘bad guys’ aplenty are running amok on the platform.
And not just any ‘bad guys,’ either… but the really BAD ‘bad guys;’ apparently, all manner of Nazis (because of course) are rampaging across the Stackistani plains, causing havoc and mayhem. As such, a purge of these phantoms ‘monsters’ must occur, or else the self-appointed Thought-Police may be forced to - wait for it - target Substack for ‘cancelling.’
(To be fair, he didn’t actually say that last part directly; I know how they operate, however - there have been precedents set, after all, thus the ‘Cancelling’ option is certainly open.)
Now, I have never personally seen any of these alleged Nazis, but let's get real; what possible need do we have of actual Nazis, when the accusation alone is enough to trigger the easily triggered? It has worked time and time again, across various platforms, so surely it will work here.
Or… maybe not.
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Delusion Wrapped In An Illusion
Katz has since doubled-down on his assertions, writing a follow-up piece which he posted (not-at-all ironically) on his own Substack; I guess the ‘Nazi’ problem isn’t THAT bad, his principles are not THAT firm, since he is still here… raking in the coin.
Shocking, I know.
That having been noted, a quote from his Substack article is very telling, because it crystalizes just how deeply disconnected Katz is from the regular Substack user…
“Reaction is steadily building to my Atlantic piece.”
It surely IS - just not in the way he imagines, sheltered safely behind his protective paywalls. That is not hyperbole, by the way - his Substack is literally set to only allow comments from paid subscribers. He insulates himself from dissenting opinion, and thus is clearly not seeing the entire picture.
If Katz poked his head out for a moment, he would discover that people are standing up and pushing back; they are tired of being gaslit and manipulated, and having their favorite platforms destroyed by a cadre of victim-grifters for reasons manufactured and specious.
The jig is up; no matter how they choose to spin it, in this case standing up against draconian censorship demands is not anti-Semitic - it is pro-Liberty. And we know it. We know how the game is played now, how the unwarranted guilt is created, and… well, basically we’re done.
We have had it.
The irony in all of this, of course, is that the ground upon which Katz is standing (unsubstantiated claims of promoting bigotry, partially based on perceptions and ‘hate symbols’) is very unstable. Indeed, there is a dormant fault-line beneath him and his cabal of censors, quietly waiting to rumble and quake once again.
The Boomerang Effect
Consider this for a moment (we will use a Jewish icon as the example, since the accusation here is ‘Nazis’): There are literally hundreds of millions of people around the world - predominately, but not exclusively, Muslims - who view the six-pointed star (a.k.a. the ‘Star of David’) as a ‘hate symbol,’ representing a hateful ideology.
It does not matter how you or I may see it - if an allegedly ‘marginalized’ group sees it as hateful, does that not - by today’s standards - automatically make it true?
Those people see it as just as bad - if not worse - than the slightly-rotated Swastika (à la the National Socialist banner, 1930s Germany), or the lesser-known twelve-spoked Sonnenrad; both of these symbols were mentioned by Katz as evidence of Substack’s ‘Nazi’ problem.
Again, I have never seen either of these here, much less prominently displayed, but if we are going to convict an entire platform based on a few of these posted? If we are going to claim that allowing said-symbols to stand is creating a perception of ‘hate?’
Then what do we do about the aforementioned ‘star?’ Is it a symbol of hate when millions see it as such, and how should we respond?
[For the record? This doesn't just effect Jews. Tens of millions of Christians also feature this star, as a show of support for those they believe to be “God’s chosen people.”]
Which brings us to the proverbial elephant in the room: How do you think Katz and his collective of speech-tyrants would react if governments and businesses decided to designate the six-pointed star as a ‘hate symbol?’ If those millions of Muslims demanded it… could the Power ‘Elites’ say no?
And what if, as a result, they used that star as justification for deplatforming those who were engaged in displaying it? What if they used it as an excuse to label someone a ‘Domestic Terrorist,’ or applied it as a reason to destroy someone’s livelihood or social standing?
What is they used it to dictate to business owners how they should run their own enterprises?
Katz and his fellow censors would be horrified if this transpired, of course, and justifiably so. Furthermore, I would be just as vocal in speaking out against such a move as I am being right now, about what the Katz Crew is attempting to do here.
And yet...
It is a very slippery slope, indeed, when you begin to use your ‘power’ - as Katz is doing here - to curtail the fundamental, natural rights of those with whom you disagree; Tri-Con will not be denied, for what one sends out will return to them. Natural Law is absolute, and while it oft moves slowly - even imperceptibly - it does move. And once it finally gets rolling?
You do NOT want to be in its path.
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Notes…
-- Edit [06/08/2024] Updated links / images, added ‘Disclaimer;’ no core text was altered.
-- Unless otherwise credited, all images were created by the author, using Substack’s AI Image Generator.
Your example of what would happen to the Star of David is well placed. Katz once tried to shame me with his Jewishness, and I threw it back in his face.
They know not what they do. Totalitarian measures, when they run out of food, always cannibalize.
As Carl Jung stated, "Psyche is reality". I would further illucidate that to say, "My psyche determines my reality". The problem begins when I attempt to impose my reality upon another, as their psyche determines their reality.
Why this all-consuming, aggressive and probably fear-generated obsession of forcing an individual/group reality upon another?