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PaperclipPerfector  6mo ago (text post)   27759 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 23, 2023

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Happy Birthday Elon Twitter

We're almost at the one-year anniversary of Elon Musk taking over Twitter X. How have your predictions fared? I'll answer below.

Regarding X/Twitter, as a dissident rightist I did a random thought experiment a couple of months ago but never posted in anywhere so far. It might be somewhat relevant here.

Let's suppose that whatever moderation policy X currently has is replaced basically by this:

  1. Any sort of political agitation, regardless of the party, movement, platform, umbrella organization, candidate, nominee, NGO etc. it is done on behalf of, or against, is banned.
  2. Any incitement towards political violence, or political use of the threat of violence as blackmail, is banned.
  3. Doxxing is banned.

How long would it take for X to be dismissed in mainstream discourse as a haven for Nazis? A couple of days?

Item 1 seems impossible to realistically enforce. If someone posts a selfie that has a pride flag in the background, is that political? If someone argues that the Bible forbids homosexuality, is that political?

Yes and yes.

It seems like everything is political if the standard is "can be interpreted as related to a political issue." Posting a picture of yourself wearing Nikes would be political because Nikes are made in sweatshops. Posting a picture with your kids is political because the decision to have or not have kids is politically salient. Etc.

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