The Podcast is here. Let’s start off with what would be a Blogline of the Day:
QUESTION ASKED: As social media thrives, why is Twitter falling behind?
Maybe because under CEO Jack Dorsey, Twitter has gone from being social media to social justice media.
So why bother with a company that hates the Right as it is demonstrably against those of us on the Right? Anyways, here’s the tweet that got Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit Twitter account suspended:
And this sums it up well:
of all people @instapundit has been suspended. Twitter wants to get rid of all conservative voices, it seems
— Rani ~ Last of the Red hot Boomers???? (@MilitaryRosary) September 22, 2016
Here, Glenn talks about getting shut down; a couple of snippets (emphasis mine):
Can’t imagine why they’d do that, except that it seems to be happening to a lot of people for no obvious reason. It’s as if, despite assurances to the contrary, Twitter is out to silence voices it disagrees with or something.
UPDATE: Ah, it was about this tweet.
Sorry, blocking the interstate is dangerous, and trapping people in their cars and surrounding them is a threat. Driving on is self-preservation, especially when we’ve had mobs destroying property and injuring and killing people. But if Twitter doesn’t like me, I’m happy to stop providing them with free content.
The media calls them “protestors” – these are rioters and why is the media hiding the difference? Oh yeah, Social Justice Warriors and their Progressive / Socialist ideology. Silly us for wanting to dissent from it. He continues:
I’ve always been a supporter of free speech and peaceful protest. I fully support people protesting police actions, and I’ve been writing in support of greater accountability for police for years.
But riots aren’t peaceful protest. And blocking interstates and trapping people in their cars is not peaceful protest — it’s threatening and dangerous, especially against the background of people rioting, cops being injured, civilian-on-civilian shootings, and so on. I wouldn’t actually aim for people blocking the road, but I wouldn’t stop because I’d fear for my safety, as I think any reasonable person would.
I’ve said that to TMEW before – if they want to hurt ME, if they want to hurt my FAMILY, I have no intention, as I said in the podcast, in turning into a lily-livered spineless liberal and just sit there and take what they want to give me. If that’s “toxic masculinity” or social injustice, well, I have no intention of sacrificing my all for their violence.
“Run them down” perhaps didn’t capture this fully, but it’s Twitter, where character limits stand in the way of nuance.
Meanwhile, regarding Twitter: I don’t even know that this is why I was suspended, as I’ve heard nothing from Twitter at all. They tell users and investors that they don’t censor, but they seem awfully quick to suspend people on one side of the debate and, as people over at Twitchy note, awfully tolerant of outright threats on the other.
Twitter can do without me, as I can certainly do without Twitter.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Erik Wemple of the Washington Post emails that “Keep driving” would have been a better formulation of what I was trying to say. It would have been, and in only two words instead of three. But I’ve had over 580,000 tweets, and they can’t all be perfect.
But the SJWs were not done – they went after his USA Today column and it suspended his twice-weekly column even after his groveling:
Wednesday night one of my 580,000 tweets blew up. I didn’t live up to my own standards, and I didn’t meet USA TODAY’s standards. For that I apologize, to USA TODAY readers and to my followers on social media.
Go read the entire thing. And then, true to form, they are going after his job and the University of Tennessee Law school is “investigating” him (aka, a Star Chamber). You see, the Left cannot allow dissent and will do what is necessary to silence anyone that goes against them (yes, it has been tried here multiple times). In part, the Dean’s words:
The university is committed to academic freedom, freedom of speech, and diverse viewpoints, all of which are important for an institution of higher education and the free exchange of ideas. My colleagues and I in the university’s leadership support peaceful civil disobedience and all forms of free speech, but we do not support violence or language that encourages violence.
Professor Reynolds has built a significant platform to discuss his viewpoints, but his remarks on Twitter are an irresponsible use of his platform.
Oh really – an irresponsible use? Who is the Dean to say that? Or is it irresponsible because it is against their “global citizen” outlook and given the craziness on our campuses, going against the Political Correctness fog cannot be tolerated by these people who decry “intolerance”. RedState said it well on behalf of Reynolds:
…What Reynolds said wasn’t nasty, or hateful. It wasn’t even remotely racist, though many would like to play it off as if it was.
No, what Reynolds said was pure common sense. First off, it’s important to note that these are not “protests,” these are riots, and the media would do well to learn the difference. Throughout these riots you often see, or even hear rioters encouraging others to drag people out of their cars, beat them bloody, then steal from them. Streiff pointed to the L.A. Riots when Reginald Denny was dragged out of his truck and beaten to near death. Recently, during the Milwaukee riots, you can see people attempting the same, with the camera man egging them on.
…These rioters aren’t out to speak peacefully on the struggles of the black community, and how they can better improve relations with police. They are out to harm, destroy, and as demonstrated in Charlotte and L.A., kill. Under no circumstances should you throw your car into park, lock your doors, and hope for the best. The only thing to do is throw it into first, punch the gas, and get out of there as fast as possible. Your well being, and the well being of those with you is reliant on you doing this.
The nasty result here is that doing this may mean that your attackers will go under your wheel. Flooring it may result in your truck or car mounting a face or two. Thing is, you can’t be held responsible for that. These people are trying to hurt you and yours. If they end up as roadkill, that’s their fault.
Getting killed would be a really bad hair day, IMHO. Worse for my family. Good advice, the above. If you make the decision to do the above, you need to bear the consequence when someone else defends against it. And The Liberty Zone had a great line:
Meanwhile, at least one British newspaper is evacuating its bowels because a man drove through the rioters brandishing a gun, and *GASP!* he was WHITE!
