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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 18, 2023

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https://www.independent.co.uk/space/elon-musk-russell-brand-caroline-dinenage-mps-twitter-b2415346.html

Social media site X has been asked by a senior MP if owner Elon Musk, who changed its name from Twitter, “has personally intervened in any decisions on Russell Brand’s status on the platform”. Following rape and sexual assault allegations being made against Brand, online content platforms that host his content including YouTube and podcasting company Acast said that he will not make money from advertisements on their sites and apps. Culture, Media and Sport Committee chairwoman Dame Caroline Dinenage has written to other video hosting sites and social media outlets on Wednesday to ask whether Brand can make “profit from his content” on their platforms.

In the communication to X chief executive Linda Yaccarino, Dame Caroline said: “We would be grateful if you could confirm whether Mr Brand monetises his content and, if so, we would like to know whether X intends to join YouTube in suspending Mr Brand’s ability to earn money on the platform.

“Given Elon Musk’s response to Mr Brand’s tweet regarding the allegations, where he wrote ‘Of course. They don’t like competition’, we are also keen to understand whether Mr Musk has personally intervened in any decisions on Mr Brand’s status on the platform.

“We would also like to know what X is doing to ensure that creators are not able to use the platform to undermine the welfare of victims of inappropriate and potentially illegal behaviour.”

https://twitter.com/CountDankulaTV/status/1704607541852844072/photo/1

I think that it is important. But I am at loss of words so I am not even sure where to begin to make it effortpost. It is outrageous, indefensible and at first I though it was satire.

Do think this is rogue action? (my guess no), Will there be punishment for the MP for overstepping greatly any boundaries? (also no).

By all accounts Russell brand is a scum bag whether he technically committed rape or the women technically consented. But, and here’s the but, powerful parliamentary chairwomen do not need to be personally intervening to see justice served unless he’s not being charged with the crime(s) of which he stands accused due to corruption/political interference/whatever.

He’s a garden variety scumbag who, guilty or not, I wouldn’t allow to date my daughter. He should face legal penalties in a court of law and the government shouldn’t be pressuring extrajudicial sanctions onto him.

It's unsurprising the government is doing it, but it's also very much against the values it's supposed to defend. Ofc it makes perfect sense how it behaves, a 'democratic' government is more often than not a government by the bureaucracy for the bureaucracy, wearing 'democracy' as a skin suit.

That aside: a rather hilarious detail surfaced on twitter that sums up what's wrong with women these days.

/images/16952976384799938.webp

I distrusted the guy from the get-go based on vibes. (my vibe module says "wannabe cult leader, drop a grenade on him from a drone). Learning he was pushing OWS style socialism nonsense cca 2008 and is now on completely another bandwagon and that he was also dating 16 year olds at age.. 31 is unsurprising.

I distrusted the guy from the get-go based on vibes.

Yeah, the about-face here is just so exactly on the nose of the sort of thing that leaves me utterly repulsed by the impoverished language people have to discuss sexual malfeasance. Pretty much any guy could immediately tell you that Brand was going to be a lascivious womanizer, this is completely obvious from his physiognomy and demeanor, to the point where he's cast accordingly in movies. But we live in a time where the prevailing attitudes are that you can't judge people based on such surface-level appearances and you definitely can't judge any sex that people say is consensual, what whaddya whaddya. Upon hearing that he's exactly the guy that I would have expected, my sympathy for the "victims" is substantially dampened, while the people that would have told me that you can't judge now want him cast as a vicious rapist rather than just the exploitive perv that he always obviously was.