So about an hour ago, I made this joke on Twitter and Facebook:
You see, here in America, we have a proud tradition of checks and balances on executive power. When the president attempts to incite a violent coup, he gets his twitter account suspended.
— Joel Swagman (@JoelswagmanJoel) January 9, 2021
...thus breaking what had been a 7 month streak of not posting political content on Facebook and Twitter. And only one day after I promised on this very blog not to post any political posts.
I couldn't help myself. It was just too absurd not to make some sort of cheap joke.
It was absurd for a couple reasons.
One reason is that for years people have been complaining that Millennials and Zennials have been more interested in what happens on social media than what happens in real life. And now we have both the President of the United States and the establishment news media are more concerned about the President's Twitter account than anything in the real world. We have officially entered the 21st century.
But secondly, it's also absurd when you consider that for years Donald Trump has been able to do whatever he wanted to with no consequences, and now finally he is facing some sort of repercussion, and it's from Twitter. Twitter is (apparently) the only institution who has the ability to punish the President when the President commits illegal acts.
There's a good joke in there somewhere, right?
I couldn't stop thinking about it. What was the perfect quip?
Something about how years from now, we'll be able to tell our grandchildren that Donald Trump finally faced some kind of consequence after all his illegality?
Or a juxtaposition of the headline "Trump Banned From Twitter" against headlines of Johnson not seeking re-election and Nixon resigning, and some sort of comment about the defining moments of each generation.
Or some variation on Sic semper tyrannis (W), with the "sic" now referring to Twitter bans.
Or some sort of comment like "Ah, so that's where the line was. I'd been wondering."
I know, I know, I'm 12 hours too late on this. Everyone and their brother has already been making jokes about this on Facebook and Twitter. (Another reason I swore off of political posts back in June is that it's difficult to come up with truly original content. Everyone has a social media platform, everyone is a political commentator, and we're all reacting to the same news cycle. I can't post anything without seeing variations of the same theme all throughout Facebook the same day.)
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Okay, maybe it was never realistic to expect that I could give up commenting on current events entirely. I'm going to make an effort to drastically tone it down, and minimize my political commentary, but I shouldn't promise that I would give it up entirely.
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And while I'm commenting...
I should mention that, all joking aside, I'm not actual in favor of banning Trump from Twitter. Just because of my anti-censorship bias. I think it's a dangerous precedent whenever we start censoring people. Put him in jail, yes. Censor him, no. In an ideal world.
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And since I'm already commenting on politics, just one last observation...
This is what scares me the most about Wednesday's attempted insurrection: At least 6 GOP legislators took part in Trump-inspired protests
....state legislators, it sounds like, but still part of the Republican Party Establishment. In other words, this wasn't only some marginalized nut jobs. This is now some portion of the official Republican Party that is now refusing to recognize the legitimacy of peaceful elections. We're in for some rough years ahead.
4 comments:
I've been itching to say something about the whole scene also, but hardly know where to begin. When I contrast Twitter sources, who appear to have been present on the scene, with what is being reported by MSM I am horrified at the disparity of coverage. Even the newly-woke NYT is, to my mind, soft-pedaling the events. Don Jr. tweets video footage from inside the bunker, where 45 and his lick-spittles are cheerfully watching the monitors, while off to the side D.Jr.'s wife does this skeevy little dance. Footage demonstrates cops anxiously struggling to fulfill their duties; other footage shows a cop calmly holding a door open for the Seditionistas and telling a reporter to head the other way. On and on. Clearly a tipping point has been breached and we are seeing but a fraction of a great rupture in public trust.
To my mind Cari Luna's tweet sums it up best:
"Your gentle reminder that the Spanish Civil War was caused by fascists rising up against a democratically elected government because the left had come back into power and were undoing the damage done by the outgoing right-wing administration."
Careful, you're going to get me started, and then I'll be writing my thoughts all night...
Yeah, where to begin, huh?
I hate to admit it, but we are now living in a world where that a coup is not inconceivable. I don't say that it's likely, but it's not inconceivable. That tweet quote you put at the bottom is, I agree, relevant.
I wasn't aware of half the stuff you mentioned. (It's been an exhausting week trying to keep up with the news.) I googled the Don Jr clip you mentioned just now, and found it on Youtube. https://youtu.be/HGAXBFYWKgM No sound, but that joyful little dance is disturbing, isn't it? I'm not sure if it's quite ominous, but it's very inappropriate.
Yeah, "ominous" is overstating it, but it's certainly upsetting. Police and security "unpreparedness" however -- that's ominous.
Also troubling: media spin is torqued up for very particular audiences. It's kinda unsettling hearing Matt Taibi, of all people, say, "I used to laugh at 'above the fray' columnists'" only to advocate for some now-impossible alternative press that at least tries.
This is the one YouTube video I watched from beginning to end. The agitators are predominantly white, of course -- but not exclusively so, by any stretch.
So, I just watched the video. You're right, it's incredibly disturbing. And it does seem to indicate that it was a lot more intense than what is being reported on the MSM.
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