We live in interesting times.
That’s okay. We can find common cause with interesting people, and rock the boat in interesting ways.
More on that in a bit.
Editing Your Tweets From Washington DC
Nina Jankowicz, director of the newly-created Disinformation Governance Board, has wasted little time on publicly uttering her ambitions for the “Ministry of Truth.”
In a recent zoom call, Jankowicz stated, “[v]erified people can essentially start to ‘edit’ Twitter [in] the same sort of way that Wikipedia is so they can add context to certain tweets.”
It is already apparent that some animals are equal than others.
Trump-appointed FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr excoriated the Disinformation Governance Board as "unconstitutional," "Orwellian" and "un-American.” Carr went on to question the credibility of Director Jankowicz.
This type of board was always going to be a dumpster fire, but the particular director they chose to run it is just throwing more gas on it.
Carr's five-year term is set to end on June 30. 2023. Originally confirmed by a voice vote, the politics surrounding the agenda to counter “disinformation” may demand a fight, should President Biden appoint a nominee far more eager to complement the newfound powers of the DHS.
Coof Clowns, Coastal Elites, and the Corporate Press
The Corporate Press is rightly seen as a major culprit in manipulating the public and vilifying the art of critical thinking. But it's not merely a term of derision. Their shenanigans are the direct result in granting the corporate form to media actors who operate in concentrated progressive strongholds. Coastal Elites in blue cities within blue states. The Blue-Anon Church rushing to spread the latest pronouncements of our civic religion.
You were told to entrust the Coof Clowns with your health or face scorn from family, friends, and neighbors. You might have even found yourself unemployed and unemployable despite an impeccable track record with the company you spent years working for.
Even as massive cronyism and corruption was acknowledged, you got “principled” lectures to tolerate corporate tyranny in the name of “private company, bro.” This isn’t a corporatist version of identitarianism?
Managerialism is shredding the brain trust of our experts with corrupting influences. Within a span of five minutes, you can find that the basic principles of virology call their claims into question. Fauci is a butt-dial away from lobbyists for the world's most powerful drug companies. We were supposed to pretend this never factored into the equation?
In a recent article, Rebecca Strong offers a revealing account of her experience in ever-increasing consolidated journalism environment.
Not too long before I was hired, BostInno had been acquired by American City Business Journals, the largest publisher of metropolitan business newsweeklies in the U.S. In my early conversations with colleagues, it was apparent they were still adjusting to post-acquisition life.
Sure, there were perks that came with being acquired — but the pressure to hit lofty traffic goals meant writers now had to prioritize certain clickbaity stories over others. Moreover, I distinctly remember a fixation on quantity.
Writers were expected to churn out at least three or four stories a day in an effort to reach as wide an audience as possible, which frustratingly, meant we often didn’t have time to cover complex topics in the depth required. Our experience, as it turns out, is not exactly a unique one.
It may be hard to believe that it was once the norm to have a variety of local news publications available. However, mergers and acquisitions have defined the trend towards a heavily consolidated media environment.
If you examine the history of countless media mergers and acquisitions over the last several decades, you’ll come to an unsettling discovery: local, independent outlets are dying out in droves. The result? The vast majority of the news you digest is tailored to serve the interests of corporations and their leaders, rather than citizens.
Strong points out several instances of the federal government loosening its policies, but does not outright question the absurdity of general incorporation being granted to the news industry. As is often the case, a solid examination of the consequences has been laid out, but the elephant is left in the room.
At the end of the day, the Corporate Press is a managerial construct that serves the powerful by design and weakens the will of those who aren’t.
It is Not Normal:
To walk into a room of strangers and tell them you have a plan for their lives. Or to admire someone who does that to you. They’re strangers. You even struggle with knowing what’s best for yourself and your loved ones. Even if you have the skin in the game, you are an imperfect planner.
To possess shiny and new ideas that the world has never heard before that would actually solve its problems. Yet, this posture is standard among progressives. It's the same tired waste of breath your grandfather was subjected to, and it's only led us deeper into the foxhole.
To seek mediocrity for yourself and your family in the name of equality. Egalitarian rhetoric isn’t convicting once you consider the absurdity in its practical implications. No, you got out of bed, made sacrifices, and got rewarded in return. You have nobody to apologize for it. They’re guilting you because they reject personal responsibility as a virtue.
Yet, this is the behavior we are conditioned to accept, excuse, and embrace when the political class asserts its interests over its subjects.
An American Care Troll
In 2008, spoof film director David Zucker released An American Carol, an obvious sideswipe at Michael Moore with a jingoistic neoconservative flare. Zucker had made media appearances in which he embraced the work of Charles Krauthammer. This was supposedly a defiant former left-liberal who saw the light and earned the praise of conservative talk show hosts, such as Mark Levin.
Meanwhile, the credibility of the neoconservative Republicans had finally hit a wall after the claims leading up to the war in Iraq were proven dubious. The jingoistic ferver had died down by the 2006 midterm elections, when the Democratic Party took control of both Houses of Congress, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was pressured to resign.
The film was ultimately a disappointment in spite of Zucker's all-star line up of spoof films from the Naked Gun series to BASEketball. Hardly defiant, it was the same war drum the entire world grew tired of.
In my recent Roundtable episode, I performed on-the-spot impressions of Dave Smith, Alex Jones, and other parallel media personalities. Drawn from slightly exaggerating Smith's confrontational debating style and Jones’ aggressive delivery (and seemingly wild speculations), it was easy to step into the personas and spout whatever nonsense that followed.
Alex Jones isn’t a threat to the establishment because he says crazy things. It's because even the most casual listener is left wondering, “what if he’s actually on to something?” If a tin foil hat can foil a tin pot dictator, I'm not necessarily against it. If Jones were half as certifiably insane as my Roundtable impression, would you not watch him all the time? The puppet-masters would just leave him on the air as a go-to epitome figure when it's time to attack their opposition.
Perhaps the most exaggerated impression was that of Ray McGovern. The persona grew out of a false memory based on his investigative delivery. After hearing some of his actual interviews over time, I realized that the caricature of his delivery living rent-free in my head hardly resembled the man. Oh well, it's still funny.
Our own sensibilities are represented in our humor. This can reveal its own distance from the “entertainment” we’re offered.
This is why Woke Hollywood doesn’t serve us. Nor do the demagogues on Fox News and MSNBC. The “clapter comedians” have given up humor itself and replaced it with low-IQ platitudes in hopes of getting applause from a sheepish audience. They aren’t comedians any more than Brian Stelter is a reporter.
That’s why CNN+ is already in the urn. That’s why Jon Stewart is worth pennies on the dollar next to who he once was. That’s why Trevor Noah can’t pull off a line about holding the powerful accountable without making a fool out of himself. And why Meghan McCain struggles to sell more than 300 copies of her book.
They can hold the beer now because they’ve held the levers of power for long enough. They knew all the right people, but they still put us to sleep. Under every utterance was a pathetic kowtow to appease a major network executive who insisted they play by the rules.
No longer.
Your Potential to Rock the Boat
The remedy begins with you and me.
This is an era where you and I can start with almost nothing and get our thoughts out. If you like to write, you can start a Substack. If you enjoy talking, you can start a podcast through Anchor or other such distribution platforms. You can cover all kinds of turf in any way that fits the glove.
The era of confinement to three channels on television is dead forever. You now have the potential to reckon with the establishment. Online communities allow us to find one another, and iron sharpens iron.
Though we can be officially independent, we can still elevate one another. Suppose you, like myself, aren’t the type who likes to knock on doors and face rejection all day. What if your message reaches someone who does?
Shout-Outs and Recommended Content
If you enjoy this material, I recommend this content as well.
While I was preoccupied with John Solomon's plumber music, Mr. Jeffersonian created a series of Southern music analysis as it relates to culture and family ties. He has extensive knowledge on Early American history and offers a revival of the Jeffersonian perspective. He has appeared on this podcast (see here and here) as well as a print interview.
Our friend Crystal Methodist publishes a Substack about leaving behind city and suburban surroundings and embracing the simplicity of farming life.
Ragnar Forseti offers timely coverage of current events that expose pharmaceutical giants, politicians, and media malpractice.
Aviel Oppenheim publishes a Substack devoted to libertarian theory and ethics with new entries published weekly.
External Resources:
Nina Jankowicz says verified Twitter users should ‘edit’ others’ tweets by Ariel Zilber
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said the Disinformation Governance Board is "unconstitutional," "Orwellian" and "un-American" by Ragnar Forseti
6 Companies Control 90% of What You Read, Watch and Hear. Here’s Why You Should Care. by Rebecca Strong
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