SNGTDTED

Trump has been rightfully called the Twitter president in the past, and a crucial part of that legacy is the skilled exploitation of this information environment. His administration’s chief output is online shitposting. It’s not an actual form of governance, nor is it a kind of policy, but it is performative speech that’s supposed to signify action and, in the case of the Venezuela raid, strength. The resources of the most powerful military in the world are being marshaled in service of making memes declaring, “THIS IS OUR HEMISPHERE.” All because the country’s leaders think it’s good theater, and in a postliterate political era, the spectacle is propulsive. 

“Free speech culture,” as practiced in American, makes this deal seem like a scam. “Free speech culture” tells students that free speech means someone can come to their campus and say bigoted and evil things and that’s good, and that their remedy is more speech, but if they use that speech the wrong way, that’s bad. “Free speech culture” tells people that we should be more worried about a prominent podcasters’ speech being chilled than theirspeech being chilled. “Free speech culture” elevates the rituals of a particular elite, academic style of speech over substance, such that calling for censorship from a debate stage is pro-free-speech-culture. “Free speech culture” tells people they should shut up about the things that make them passionate so other people feel more comfortable disagreeing with them. “Free speech culture” is intellectually, morally, and philosophically incoherent and people perceive that incoherence. “Free speech culture” is currently telling students and professors that it’s their fault that government force is being used to deport and expel and fire and censor them because they dissented wrong. “Free speech culture” tells people that others have the right to denigrate them, but they have some ill-defined obligation not to respond too hard. “Free speech culture” tells people they’re wrong and illiberal to notice that people using government force to censor them were previously calling them illiberal and censorial.

For Some Reason I've Been Thinking About 'Revolt of the Elites' a Lot Lately

If you were born around the 1970s, you probably remember many more dead insects on the windscreen of your parents’ car than on your own. Global land-dwelling insect populations are dropping about 9% a decade. If you’re a geek, you probably programmed your own computer to make basic games. You certainly remember a web with more to read than the same five websites. You may have even written your own blog. But many people born after 2000 probably think a world with few insects, little ambient noise from birdcalls, where you regularly use only a few social media and messaging apps (rather than a whole web) is normal. 

 X/Twitter is a Pornhub where everything is twisted around the particular kinks of a specific, and visibly disturbed individual. Whatever Musk wants, as the Voice of God, may or may not become the Voice of the People, but is probably what the people are going to end up talking about, whether they want to or not.