Don't Play Whackamole
Once again the Twitter discourse has become bogged down on a very minor topic. This week it seems to be along the lines of “Should young people participate in a degrading grind to get ahead, even though they know the game is rigged?”. At least that’s what I gathered after about a 10min scroll through.
I refuse to install Twitter on my phone. Because I understand how these infinite scroll algorithmically addictive apps work, I won’t keep access to it on my person almost 24/7. I think to do so is to subject your mind to an unholy level of propaganda. While I do catch myself scrolling too much on the computer, it’s a lot easier to avoid.
(Side note— no matter how much you try to install your weird semi-brutalist aesthetic into the English language, I will not call things a series of nor a single consonant. So no, it isn’t “X”.)
I would prefer not to have Twitter at all, but sometimes the discourse is slightly more meaningful than others. There are also some people that I follow who primarily use Twitter even for their longer-form content, and I enjoy reading them. If it were up to me, we’d all use an app like Substack and everything would either be a long-form essay or a DM, but I don’t call the shots I’m afraid. Twitter does remain an excellent propaganda tool for both sides so maybe it’s for the best.
Regardless of the plus/minus sides of it, a lot of the discourse on Twitter is slop. Clap-backs and hot takes are the currency of the app, and most of it ends up being within certain political arenas. I’ve had enough fake accounts in Marxist circles to know that they fell victim to the same cycle in pre-Elon Twitter. It’s the nature of these apps. Instagram, Facebook, TikTok etc. Are all just the even sloppier versions of this cycle. Overfocusing on these is the easiest way to distract yourself from current issues. The MSM isn’t much better. For example:
145 House Democrats voted against a bill to deport illegal migrants convicted of crimes because there is a miniscule risk that a minute portion of the crimes committed would actually be self defense on the part of the poor illegal women being sexually abused. You can read for yourself if you think I’m being hyperbolic. Assuming this is the real reason for the lack of support, these people have more concern for imaginary little illegals than they do American women at risk of harm because of sexual criminals in our country. Insanity.
While all of this is happening, the "TikTok” ban is looming closer. While you and I may both despise the app for its brain rot, the argument behind the ban is that the data from the app is being handed over to the CPP, (all Chinese owned companies are required to do so). Obviously the Chinese are pretty thrilled about subjecting America’s youth to the most mind-numbingly stupid content available while their own version is focused on educational and productive subjects as well as government propaganda.
The problem with this ban is that the vast majority of the user base is going to migrate over to “RedNote”, a very similar app which is named after Mao’s “Little Red Book” and is a sort of combination between Instagram and Pinterest. This app, as one may have guessed by its name, is also owned by a Chinese company and presents the exact same risks as TikTok does.
It is possible that US lawmakers are bright enough that the intention is to spread this ban to all apps owned/operated out of China, but I have my doubts about this. Even if it were the case, such an effort would likely take years in our slow system. Far more likely is that this is a symbolic act of some variety, or perhaps it’s just a result of a geriatric congress that doesn’t understand the nature of the app or how the CCP data collection policies really work.
A non-insignificant factor in passing this ban I believe is the large amount of anti-Israeli sentiment circling around it. The Gaza war has raised a great deal of issues from the usual pro-Palestine suspects, possibly the lowest the popularity of Israel has ever been. I must remind the reader that the Antisemitism Act of 2023 has passed the house and is currently sitting in the senate. Might be wise to develop some new names for them, I enjoy “Screenwriter Americans” but I’m sure there are other clever ones. Maybe leave them in the comments while you can.
Before Gaza was on the radar of TikTok, Osama Bin Laden’s writings were making the rounds. This was obviously disliked by my fellow spooks on the other side of the aisle, so maybe that factored in too. While Osama Bin Laden wasn’t a character I have any interest in aligning myself with, I found it hilarious watching young people discover that the “Global War on Terror” wasn’t the beginning of US actions in the Middle East.
Lastly, the data leak question was serious with regards to US military personnel. I wonder if this isn’t an effort to solve the fact that the order to remove TikTok from personal devices was largely ignored. I can personally attest that I never met a soldier under the age of 20 who didn’t have TikTok when I was in, and I’m sure that number hasn’t gone down with the sorts of recruiting tactics seen recently.
Los Angeles is burning down. First it was caused by climate change.
does a good job of explaining just how absurd this is, (he does a good job explaining how absurd many things are). Thankfully, CBS news has an article dedicated to making sure Trump’s claims about the incident are fact checked! (TLDR, California has been experiencing more than the usual rainfall level for nearly two years.)Los Angeles has been undercutting its fire department funding for years. The nearby water reservoir was left empty when the fires began, ( story locked behind a paywall, worth the $1 to read the blame dodging). As a result of this, the LAFD is unable to get easy access to water. Combine this with a undermanned department, vehicles with mechanical issues and a fire chief who has this phenotype…
..and you’re set for disaster. Maybe Kristin Crowley, (pictured above), is hyper-competent and simply working for a city government that isn’t, but I’ve never seen one of these types that is. There’s also this to consider.
Finally, Joe Biden has commuted the sentence of over 2,000 drug offenders and forgiven $600 million in student loans in what I can only presume is an effort to increase the deficit during Trump’s early days in office. “I have signed more individual Pardons than any other president in history” -Joe Biden. Glad he’ll have something to be remembered for.
The Point
All of these topics are important in some way, sure. The LA fires, for example, have cost millions and taken over 20 lives. TikTok is responsible for a legitimate intelligence threat and data leakage, not to mention its contribution to the drop in the American attention span.
While these individual topics may matter some, most of the content covering them serves roughly the same purpose as porn. This essay has thus far been porn. It probably felt pretty good to read. How many tweets have you scrolled past on your timeline recently that include the word boomer? Is it more than 3? I’ll bet it’s more than 30. The news feed isn’t much better:
Now look, you and I are probably both political porn addicts. It’s a better habit than scrolling YouTube Shorts. Definitely better than true crime. There’s nothing wrong with keeping up with what’s happening, but a lot of people seem to dedicate effort to a sort of ‘whackamole’ effect where they discuss the ins and ours of what is happening right now. This is the wrong approach.
Everything mentioned in this essay has the same underlying cause. A Republican system with an administrative system run by Progressive cultists and an economy run by what can only be described as a collection of oligarchs that is based on fiat currency is at the heart of every issue discussed. Without solving all of this, you’re plugging holes in a leaking dike.
The point of this essay, of course, isn’t to ignore the effects of this system. My point is to say that every time you’re able to solve one problem, another will arise. You have to get to the heart of the problem. Don’t just play whackamole.