Bari Weiss and Matt Taibbi Break The Twitter Files Part 2
Exactly How Third Rail Topics And Voices Were Disappeared
The Twitter Files Part 2 is breaking today, via
and @MTaibbi on Twitter—the two reporters Elon Musk gave the story to. They stalled for a few days after Weiss discovered that FBI’s James Baker was pre-censoring the files that rolled out.
Many of us may feel that this is a dead horse. Or a dead horse that has left the barn.
I myself was banned from Twitter early in 2021, accused of “urging people to self-harm or suicide,” which is as unfounded and insane as could be. I have never expressed anything of the kind. They did not reply to any of my objections, which they invite you to submit.
I no longer try, because it feels degrading to speak into a non-answering void. Every time I go to Twitter I see a sign that reminds me I am “permanently” suspended. Is this a special degree of banned? What did I say or tweet? That PCR can’t measure “infectious” “virus?”
I have no idea and it eats at me. Sometimes.
However:
I’m very accustomed to having things violently taken away from me with no explanation and no redress, so I mostly don’t take action in these situations.
It’s a matter of pure exhaustion accrued over decades.
I do feel frustrated that those of us who were unceremoniously banned but are relatively small fish are left high and dry. But that doesn’t mean I don’t think this unfolding story is appalling, shocking and worthy of attention. It also doesn’t mean I view Elon Musk as any kind of “savior.” However, he is exposing the dark, woke -totalitarian (not surprising) underbelly of Twitter.
Speaking Of Underbelly
Matt Taibbi once was possessed by the devil, when he wrote this. I hope he has repented.
Nobody doubts he is a very skilled and effective, darkly funny writer. That’s why he has hundreds of thousands of subscribers and is an iconic name of post-Hunter S. Thompson Gonzo journalism.
He had his origins at the deeply misogynistic New York Press. (Take my word.)
Does this make any of us wish to unsubscribe from Taibbi?
I go through this every time these old, dark writings emerge, from him and others in that ex-pat dude crew.
I think he should address it. But “our side” should not pretend it’s nothing.
We understand it’s the usual ad homeneim—not germaine to the Twitter files.
In a sense I changed the subject. It’s another subject—Matt Taibbi’s dark side.
Re. "...it feels degrading to speak into a non-answering void," and other sentiments like it, consider that we have been groomed for this death train. It has not yet reached its final (inhuman) destination but we can now see it clearly: a social credit score system tied to CBDC, using opaque, unappealable, ever-changing and utterly impersonal algorithms which (allegedly) maximize the "common good"--which is neither--to enforce, well... everything.
Leaping off isn't an option, for they have (proverbially speaking) nailed the doors shut and we are already deep into enemy territory--the whole planet, under their God-hating rule.
I am no Luddite. I worked in high and exciting tech spheres in the dotcom boom and for some time thereafter. I helped put such things in place. But when companies began--quite rationally--to shunt live phone calls down menu trees, to voice-response systems, e-mail, websites and whatnot, we all felt the loss of human connection and reasonableness.
We discovered that it was priceless only after it vanished but, even so, no one in corporate-world could financially defend the old ways with appeals to things like customer satisfaction, loyalty, or competitive advantage. I sat at some of those tables. I ginned up some of those figures. I made instinctual pleas. And I wasn't alone. So, failure was not for lack of plenty of well-meaning folk trying.
But now that it's all in place, and we're used to it, they count on our playing the game. They count on our fatigue and ennui in appealing within the system and reporting back that doing so is useless, or at least fickle (banned one minute; restored the next; banned again). They count on our being fascinated by the back-and-forth of a game within walls that we don't notice at first keep closing in. (Cue the first Star Wars movie and the desperate dumpster scene.) They count on our putting our hopes on bold men like Elon. But he merely plays the game better than most. Because he is a sinner like the rest of us, the question is not whether he is compromised, but how.
Most like to imagine mankind outside the train, able to derail it. We look for USAF WWII counterfactual heroes. We've learned! "...won't get fooled again." (Cue Roger Daltrey's crushing guitar riff.) But we're inside the train. The system takeover attempt this time is truly global and existential. What will happen next to Adam's race? Same as it ever was. Our only hope is outside the system.
God must "bomb" the "rails" (metaphorically speaking). I pray in trust that--in His perfect timing, for His glory, and for the good of those who love God (in Christ) and are called according to His purposes*--He will do precisely that. *(Now would be an excellent time to memorize Romans 8:28)
I unsub'd from Taibbi for an arguably lesser offense: his celebration of Andrew Breitbart's death.
He does make a good tool for this disclosure, though. The left can't argue he's part of some right-wing agenda.