Not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I was a child of 4chan and the Wild West internet. Shitposting was certainly fun and I think some of the more apocalyptic doomsaying around AI just feels silly and overblown.
On the other hand, much of this apparent embrace of Libertarian policies really seems to come with a huge asterisk attached. It feels like an embrace of extremist political statements, with no protection for other forms of expression. You can call for the extermination of Jews all you want on Twitch but you damn well better keep your VTuber avatars hips covered. You can post all the N-bombs you want, but comprehensive sex education materials require ID verification.
I hope I am wrong and Libertarian actually means Libertarian.
That’s fair. I had the same feeling about this post as you did on the free speech side; making sure it’s truly free is important. I definitely fall on the side of “the last decade has been absurdly censorious”
You are not wrong. The too much censorship and I really hope it's getting better.
I was thinking back to a book I was assigned as part of my High school summer reading program in the early Naughts: People of the Lightning by Kathleen O'Neal-Gear. It left a huge impression on me as a tale of family struggle, prophecy and war. It also featured numerous and graphic sex scenes. For me as a hormonal teenager, it was my first exposure to written erotica and it left a deep impression.
If a teacher had assigned that book today, they would wind up fired or in jail. It's sad how far we have backslid since then.
Excellent post Christine! I think you're bang on about Zuckerberg simply living out the political fantasies he maybe always had. Silicon Valley/Venture capital is culturally I think very Maga, perhaps it just lacked the mode of expression that Trump has now provided to this new wave of tech-trad libertarians.
Also, remembering the 30-50 feral hogs guy has genuinely made my day.
Nice piece Christine. Meta employees getting upset about these changes, now, given everything Meta has done up to this point, reeks of the very hollow liberal progressivism that has exhausted so many Americans. They'll get over it for the very reason they strove so hard to work there in the first place.
And I think Zuck feels he can finally do away with all that by embracing Trump, who is the human embodiment of permission.
To your point about the recent changes/rogan quotes simply reflecting an already-happened vibe shift, I was shocked to see so many people responding in 2020-style outrage! The stuff about “feminine energy” was so obviously longhouse coded to me when I heard it but lots of people took it to be incel divorce vibes and against women in the workplace. Much of America/the internet has already arrived at Zuck’s conclusion, yes, but lots (esp among the media class) really haven’t
Without Transparency, There Can Be No Democracy. Having a say in self-governance cannot exist unless the people are allowed to see the actual problems.
We need a new constitution. One 100% written and controlled by the people, using collective intelligence systems to write it.
Both the extreme right and the extreme left desperately need issues like transgenderism to justify their existence. Identity politics works wonders in motivating people even when the actual prevalence of the issue involves less than one tenth of one percent of the population. Zuckerberg's implementing "Community Notes" as opposed to fact checking is substituting a popularity contest for the pursuit of truth. Humanity has been here before. Christians being fed to the lions in the Roman Coliseum? Witch hunts in the 1600's? Very popular at the time but little or no fact to back up the perceived threat to society. Except the witches of course. Which is the more dangerous witch? Gavin Newsome or Donald Trump. Mr. Trump does claim to be the subject of a witch hunt. It is obvious that Witches are real and practice Black Magic. Just ask anyone on the extremes.
Not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I was a child of 4chan and the Wild West internet. Shitposting was certainly fun and I think some of the more apocalyptic doomsaying around AI just feels silly and overblown.
On the other hand, much of this apparent embrace of Libertarian policies really seems to come with a huge asterisk attached. It feels like an embrace of extremist political statements, with no protection for other forms of expression. You can call for the extermination of Jews all you want on Twitch but you damn well better keep your VTuber avatars hips covered. You can post all the N-bombs you want, but comprehensive sex education materials require ID verification.
I hope I am wrong and Libertarian actually means Libertarian.
That’s fair. I had the same feeling about this post as you did on the free speech side; making sure it’s truly free is important. I definitely fall on the side of “the last decade has been absurdly censorious”
You are not wrong. The too much censorship and I really hope it's getting better.
I was thinking back to a book I was assigned as part of my High school summer reading program in the early Naughts: People of the Lightning by Kathleen O'Neal-Gear. It left a huge impression on me as a tale of family struggle, prophecy and war. It also featured numerous and graphic sex scenes. For me as a hormonal teenager, it was my first exposure to written erotica and it left a deep impression.
If a teacher had assigned that book today, they would wind up fired or in jail. It's sad how far we have backslid since then.
Excellent post Christine! I think you're bang on about Zuckerberg simply living out the political fantasies he maybe always had. Silicon Valley/Venture capital is culturally I think very Maga, perhaps it just lacked the mode of expression that Trump has now provided to this new wave of tech-trad libertarians.
Also, remembering the 30-50 feral hogs guy has genuinely made my day.
it gave me a thrill to include it :)
Nice piece Christine. Meta employees getting upset about these changes, now, given everything Meta has done up to this point, reeks of the very hollow liberal progressivism that has exhausted so many Americans. They'll get over it for the very reason they strove so hard to work there in the first place.
And I think Zuck feels he can finally do away with all that by embracing Trump, who is the human embodiment of permission.
To your point about the recent changes/rogan quotes simply reflecting an already-happened vibe shift, I was shocked to see so many people responding in 2020-style outrage! The stuff about “feminine energy” was so obviously longhouse coded to me when I heard it but lots of people took it to be incel divorce vibes and against women in the workplace. Much of America/the internet has already arrived at Zuck’s conclusion, yes, but lots (esp among the media class) really haven’t
Without Transparency, There Can Be No Democracy. Having a say in self-governance cannot exist unless the people are allowed to see the actual problems.
We need a new constitution. One 100% written and controlled by the people, using collective intelligence systems to write it.
Would you agree to this?
https://joshketry.substack.com/p/without-transparency-there-can-be
Both the extreme right and the extreme left desperately need issues like transgenderism to justify their existence. Identity politics works wonders in motivating people even when the actual prevalence of the issue involves less than one tenth of one percent of the population. Zuckerberg's implementing "Community Notes" as opposed to fact checking is substituting a popularity contest for the pursuit of truth. Humanity has been here before. Christians being fed to the lions in the Roman Coliseum? Witch hunts in the 1600's? Very popular at the time but little or no fact to back up the perceived threat to society. Except the witches of course. Which is the more dangerous witch? Gavin Newsome or Donald Trump. Mr. Trump does claim to be the subject of a witch hunt. It is obvious that Witches are real and practice Black Magic. Just ask anyone on the extremes.
None of this was ever going to happen if kamal won.