I got knocked off Xcrement yesterday – for my “violent” speech. That is to say, a comment of mine the algorithm did not like. I posted something to the effect that Klaus Schwab and his sort ought to be put through a wood chipper and the slurry fed to the hogs. Specifically, the algorithm says I violated the rule that says “You may not share abusive content, harass someone, or encourage other people to do.”
Well, so much for free speech.
What is “abusive” content? It is something like “the common good” in that both are neatly elastic terms that can encompass just about anything. There is no precise – and so knowable – definition. It is the antithesis of free speech when you are unable to know in advance what you’re allowed to say without triggering speech suppression. This method restrains speech a priori, as the philosophers say. It is a little like holding your tongue at the Thanksgiving table because you know that if you say anything your mother-in-law does not like, there will be consequences. 
What Thomas Paine wrote in Common Sense was surely regarded as “abusive” by George III, but it was a manlier era and grown men dealt with affronts differently once. In our time, we are corralled by an algorithm. It is effronterous as well as effeminate all around. The (supposed) presumption being that grown men (and women) are too delicate to see words that affront them and must be protected from such “abuse” by an opaque algorithm that operates kind of like a unseeable schoolmarm who can smack you on the back of the head at any time, just because she can.
Which is what Xcrement’s algorithm did.
“We’ve temporarily limited some of your account features,” reads the notice I was sent. I was informed I could “learn more” by clicking a provided link. Whatever happened to the more forthright and manly: For more information . . .? The shrink-dicked soy boy who came up with “learn more” ought to be . . . put through the wood chipper and the slurry fed to the hogs. I can state that here, without fear that I will be smacked on the back of the head by the schoolmarm. Because here there is free speech. Literally as well as operationally. 
Literally, because EPautos does not demand money for speech. To “boost” your speech – and suppress/sideline it if you don’t pony up. Operationally, because you can speak freely here without worrying about offending a schoolmarmish algorithm.
Xcrement is not like that. Which is why it is excrement. It is also something worse because, after all, excrement is a natural part of life. Xcrement, on the other hand, is the unnatural creation of (probably) the intelligence apparat of the Deep State, currently owned by a billionaire technocrat grifter who has the gall to charge for “reach” and call that “free” speech. And even that paid-for “reach” is subject to being batted down at any time by opaque algorithms and terms-and-conditions that come down to: We can suppress you at any time and for any reason and are under no obligation to specifically define the reason, either in advance or after the fact. 
When you think about it, you realize that playing with Xcrement is something like playing along with Sickness Kabuki during “COVID.” They let you shop if you wore a “mask.” Similarly, you’re allowed to post if you play by Xcrement’s opaque rules.
Xcrement demanded I delete the “abusive” post in order to have my account “restored to functionality.” This is a prequel of the future that Musk and his fellow technocrats have in mind for us. It is a future in which we all must play by their rules and these rules are vaguely defined and so easily applied. We are kept in a state of uncertainty, which is just what they want because uncertainty fosters fear – as of repercussions. 
Meanwhile – at the same time – they are collecting information about us. What do you suppose all of the “data centers” are for? What do you suppose they will one day be used for?
The lure they hope we bite is that we will get to participate in their system and the stick is the dread so many have of being excluded from it. They play, in other words, on the psychology of social animals, which is what human beings are – to further that which is as profoundly anti-human as can be imagined. A fake and gay online netherworld of unreal interaction controlled by an algorithm, with no appeal to a human being even possible.
Xcrement and Facebook – indeed, all centralized “social media” – is as bad for human beings as high fructose corn syrup and canola oil. The more it is consumed, the worse our health (mental and physical) becomes.
Avoidance is the best medicine. Bur awareness of the danger is the necessary antecedent.
If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos.
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A music page on fakebook asked followers to name a Johny Cash song that they liked.
I posted Cocaine Blues.
I was blocked from the page and Fakebook restricted me from market place for a month.
I was not allowed to sell or reply to ads posted on market place.
I asked for a ‘review.’ I was given multiple choice answers, none of which said that what i wrote was a fact, in fact a song.
So I answered that it was a joke. I was lectured on irresponsibility because a song called Cocaine Blues was nothing to joke about.
FTW
There is a way…
Use non-standard ASCII characters to confuse the algorithms and censors.
Hi Willy,
Insufferable, isn’t it? I refuse to play games with these hypersensitive Karens and Kens (and their algorithms). Now cue up some David Allan Coe….
As I recall if you listen to the lyrics he got himself into quite a bit of trouble, it doesn’t exactly paint drug use in a positive light.
Says something that Musk is apparently afraid of the Euroweenies and their censorship regime. Did you see that now they are going after him because they were able to get past his block by using a VPN? Well, yeah, obviously.
And he’s probably fearful for good reason. He cast his lot with Trump, and the Dems are not going to let him forget it. Not only will there likely be an international warrant for his arrest, but the Dems would be among the first to extradite. Hell, they may not even require a formal request.
Like it or not, violence and pain are key parts of the human experience.
You know what used to be a saying?
“Free as in speech, not as in beer.”
Usually seen in the open-source movement. Which, I might note, is lately becoming our best defense against MicroSoft/Big Brother/online age verification.
(Yes software is a form of speech, which makes all laws attempting to regulate it unconstitutional. Back in the day someone printed out source code & published it as a book, for purposes of making this point.)
Eric – did X allow Trump to post his threats to annihilate Iran?
I asked Ai:
“Blown off the face of the earth”: Warning that Iran will be erased if its military targets U.S. ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Back to the Stone Age”: Threatening to bomb the country into total regression.
“Taken out in one night”: Setting specific 24-hour deadlines for Iranian compliance before full-scale strikes.
“A whole civilization will die”: Claiming that the entire Iranian civilization faces annihilation if a deal is not reached.
Hi Jack,
That was a very observant incongruity – thank you for noticing. I get banned for making a comment that could perhaps be regarded as uncouth and mean-spirited. But Trump can make overt threats that he is a position to carry out… and it’s all just fine. The Plate Lipped (and hair-plugged) Albino approves!
Just in: Trump Posts Gulf Map With US Flag, Explosion Pics Amid War Escalation Threats
“The latest online blitz came after Trump issued a fresh warning to Iran, saying it had to move quickly towards a peace deal or “there won’t be anything left of them.”
take a look at the map trump posted:
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/iran-us-war-news-inside-donald-trumps-graphic-warning-to-iran-lasers-bing-bing-gone-11510075
If they all were to disappear into the woodchipper, I wouldn’t shed a tear.
Heck, who knows, I might well cheer.
Fill a glass with orange pulp
It’s too sour to take a gulp.
Then the black frog will be sent
Now a pile of X crement.
Next a pile of slime so Slick
Will he morph for one more trick?
Tiny, soft and sickly gel
Soon explores the Gates of Hell.
Don’t exempt the palace pet
It’s not hard, don’t break a sweat.
(That’s enough verses for now)
From Da Forge of chunky wine
Keeps the rabble feeling fine
Bittersweet the lessons passed
All the world looks on aghast
The worm has turned…but it won’t last.
I got that on the old twitter for using the title of a Clint Eastwood film in a comment about lefties double standards. How something was fine for them but for someone else it was “hang ’em high’. Didn’t say anyone should be hanged, just using the term to describe an attitude.
Interesting:
AI license plate cameras tore this town apart and led to a state of emergency
https://archive.is/0NDBO
Good article. Further proof that the Repukes are no more friends of liberty than the Dems with their constant “back the blue” and “public safety” ramblings. We the plebes have more in common that the fake ass “media” wants us to think, these cameras are weapons against all of us.
Go long spray paint cans and paintball guns.
I backed away from X-crement when they didn’t cancel the accounts of the Supreme Leader of Iran and his toadies. How the hell were they allowed to even be on X-crement? They constantly posted “abusive” and “violent” content, and got away with it. How and why is beyond me.
Hi Eric et al,
I have an X account that I very rarely access because the X environment is almost total noise with very little signal. If all the cool kids have to be on X I reckon I’ll just be the nerd I always was. For me, along with the LRC, epautos.com and a few other sources, I read a lot of content on Substack these days….sure it has its own issues but I can follow and support folks whose views I find respectable…..X is pretty much a sewer to me.
Morning, Giuseppe!
Yep, I feel the same. I still post links to my articles, though this is probably pointless. The upside to not caring is that I won’t care when I fin ally do get banned for good!
The only reason for an open internet was to weed out the discontents. That’s over now, they know. The whole world is basically a gulag, run by psychopathic jews, who print the $ that keeps the gears grinding. They want you just as homeless/and or dead as a Gazan. Bad shit is coming, everyone senses it, no 1 wants to really talk about it. If you capitulate and bend over for these jew cocksuckers…..you’ll wish you were dead.
“I posted something to the effect that Klaus Schwab and his sort ought to be put through a wood chipper and the slurry fed to the hogs.”
In fairness to Twitter, that is pretty cruel to the hogs…
“Xcrement and Facebook – indeed, all centralized “social media” – is as bad for human beings as high fructose corn syrup and canola oil. ”
They are and have been created exactly for that (Facebook is originally a pentagon project, Twitter might have been different but eventually evolved towards the same goals: know everything about you, surveillance, limit your thoughts, distraction and propaganda).
The technocrat Musk bought Xcrement to build a gigantic database where he can gather all data about what people think and say, excluding the real dissidents.
Solution: ditch these antisocial media.
Do we need social media?
No, we don’t. They need us more than we need them.
Bring back Usenet!
Here here
“We are in the reset, things will get much worse and TPTB will offer a fix. Digital money and a more authoritarian system. It’s for your own good, or for your children’s future will be something said. The same bankers who destroyed the dollar will be in charge of Digital money. We all know who they are.”
” It looks like the scam will work. Our population is gullible and ignorant. Like farm animals.”
“Four legs goood. Two legs Baaad.”
The excrement algorithm is always changing as you pointed out Eric. Most times you’re the bug, sometimes they let you be the windshield. Still seems like it’s still run from some DOJ bot-farm, the basement in Marc Elias/Norm Eisens leering center, or, the SPLC KKK round up. I called out someone by their proper name who was projecting faggotry, got the hateful conduct, autobot reply. Then I appealed, calling out Elon and Nikita Bear as faggots for allowing such a blatant double standard in the matter.
When I reposted your article, it was seen by about 20 people. Not being able to take criticism is one of their very telling weaknesses. They are the side that cant argue their cause, or, even trade insults without melting like the little baby ass snowflakes they are. They hate the success of Arizonas ESA schools almost as much as they hate Gawd Almighty hisself. If this thing ever goes kinetic I worry about these bitter AWFULs of Arizona. They’re likely to murder people In defense of muhdumbocracy-anti-bullying-trans-whatever-ism. They will need to be put down, and buried deeply. Very unhinged this leftist gynochracy in Arizona has become. Virginia is a few years ahead of us in the process and now serves as a cautionary tale. A very vocal, fierce feminist minority, funded ironically by billionaire kings wants to drag Az into a California style soulless age.
Boredom is the only reason I still engage on x. That and a handful of fellow non-bot Arizonans. Most are involved in educating the public about the dangers of our current dalliance with Bolshevism. Sometimes it’s just bullying the staffs of our incompetent governor and her Pretorian lick-lick AG. One vetos everything, the other sues everyone she disagrees with. They are both retarded gurls who are the archetype for the meme/story ‘Everything I don’t like is just like the Nazis, a basic book for dumb cunts.’ Their existence ends the argument for why women should rarely, if ever be allowed into power.
At least they gave you something specific.
Facebook suddenly and without warning “suspended” (deleted, disappeared, erased, terminated) my Facebook account on the night of January 4 , because , “community standards.”
No other cause shown or reason given. Nothing more specific than that. I cant recall doing anything different from what I had been doing for 14 years and change.
Just like that, I was digitally assassinated. 14+ years of my life erased. Many decades of it you count the decade’s worth of archived material., now lost.
ALL contact with family and friends lost. Severed. Separated as if by death.
And I have no idea what for. I’m sure I didn’t threaten anyone or advocate anything illegal.
I had already been without telephone service of any kind since October of last year, when AT&T arbitrarily and without advance notice or warning terminated all landline phone service in my state.This was presumably to force everyone to go to smart phones, which are far more profitable.
What was all that again about how “Greed is goood”?
I dislike mobile phones intensely. I can *barely *tolerate a pre-paid ‘trac phone.” I hate smart phones with a passion few could understand.
My home computer, a desktop PC, suffered a catastrophic hard drive failure on the night of April 21. It says it has no operating system installed. Well, it had one installed just a moment before. What happened to it? What took it away?
I am on a public computer now. The text is *tiny*, hard for my aging eyes to see. And I cannot touch-type in any case.
I can’t even comment or post on YouTube anymore because to do so I must log in or sign in with Google. I can’t because it requires me to scan some “QR code” thing. Which my stupid little “trac phone” (first acquired on April 26) is unable to do, even though it has a camera.
For the same reason I am locked out of my own Gmail account. I can neither send or receive emails now.
No, I must have … wait for it … a *smart* phone to do that. Did I mention I really hate smart phones?
And now the apartment building I dwell in is requiring that all rent payments and work orders be entered by way of some “app,” which can only be accessed by … scanning a “qr code” thing … with a smart phone …or via some super duper secret code that must be accessed by … email.
I call it “the App of the Beast,” without which no one may buy or sell (or pay rent).
See where all this is going?
Yes, especially the QR code crap. And people wonder how their finances have been hacked.
Mark, thank you for replying and understanding.
Oh, another thing I have run up against twice now when trying to open a new account, or just log into an old one — a demand for a “video selfie.”
The last time it happened, after I managed (with great difficulty) to upload a “video selfie” on a library computer that had a camera, Facebook announced that “You have submitted an appeal.”
I had done no such thing. I was merely trying to log in. There was no “appeal” about it.
Aand, of course, the appeal was denied, and my *new* (two week old) Facebook account was likewise terminated with extreme prejudice, like my 14-year-old one.
Also interesting is that, that last time, it started off by accusing me of being a bot. It kept demanding, “Prove you’re not a bot!” and “Prove that you’re human!” And after I had jumped through all those hoops successfully, it demanded a video selfie.
And then it still denied the so-called “appeal” I had never submitted anyway.
And finally, it is precisely the most overtly religious (or religiose) people I encounter who seem the *least* troubled by all this new AI scanning stuff that seems to me so much like, at least, a *precursor* to the biblical (Revelation 13:16-17) Mark of the Beast.
One I spoke with about it two days ago blithely declared that he wasn’t worried about it because when the time of Tribulation comes, he won’t be here. That is, he expects to be miraculously “Raptured,” while still living, up to Heaven with “the church” (however he defines that — I’m pretty sure he doesn’t count Catholics)
Then, bizarrely, he cited the case of some Egyptian Coptic Christian migrant construction workers who were murdered/martyred by ISIS or someone like that in Libya in 2015, when they all refused to deny their faith.
This guy seemed to think people, Christians, being willing to die for their faith somehow proved the Rapture!
I pointed out that none of those 21 true Christian martyrs were miraculously rescued by being Hoovered up to Heaven in the nick of time, and they were not holding their breaths waiting to be.
Also, this same guy lauds Dr. Anthony Fauci as “a beacon” of light and enlightenment during the Covid mass hysteria (in contrast to us benighted “anti-science” dissidents and refuseniks). He calls Rand Paul “a psychopath” for opposing Fauci.
He’s also fully devoted to the official government line about what happened in Waco in 1993.I tried to set him straight, to tell him that *everything* he had been told about that was a lie, but he wouldn’t budge. He just kept repeating that Koresh was some sort of child molester/pedophile.
Something he was never charged with. And the search and arrest warrants said nothing about any of that. They were all about the Davidians possessing 100-plus guns (there was no legal limit to how many guns you could own in Texas then), and gun *parts*.
All this was based of the ATF’s pet “theory” that IF the Davidians had certain kinds of advanced machine shop machinery and tools they *could*, *theoretically* , convert some of their (then) perfectly legal semi-automatic rifles to full automatic. To this day no solid evidence exists that any such operation was ever performed.
More bizarrely still the same guy says all threats to religious freedom come from what he calls “the Right.” He clarified this by saying “the Republican party.” He then went on to say that “the Right” had a stranglehold on the country until Watergate, and then everything got better!
He appears to believe all was goodness and light, happiness and sunshine, from about 1974 until Trump came along. He actually thinks the Left — the Democrat party — is more friendly to traditional Christianity than the GOP!
And he kept interrupting me and interjecting non sequiturs, generally along the lines of “Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?!”
I said sure I did. But I am not sure we were talking about the same thing. I think he’s talking about speaking in tongues and all that.
Aand he as much as said you could not believe in Jesus or be any kind of true Christian if you didn’t believe in the Rapture.
Which pretty much lets out all Christians before 1830-something, since none of them believed in that before some guy named Darby interpreted a few lines from
First Thessalonians that way.
I tried to tell him that too, but he thought I was talking about Darwin and evolution, and Darwinism, not whatsisname Darby, founder of Darbyism, and author of the new and improved Darby Bible.
All of this may seem very much like “inside baseball” and uninteresting to most people here. A great many libertarians are atheists, or think they are.
In a not unrelated story, you’ve no doubt heard that highly annoying Kars4Kids ad campaign. Well, guess what. No more in California. It seems this “children’s charity” is nothing but a money grab to provide summer camp and trips to Israel for Jewish kids. And no other. This might just be the “tipping point” we’ve been waiting for.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/14/kars4kids-jingle-california-false-advertising
Interestingly, a few weeks ago a Muslim friend of mine told me of this “Jews Only” scam. I took it with a grain of salt at the time but, time has proven him right.
Yep. You strayed outside the Overton Window fence of the mass mind. They can literally kill us with the death jab but you are not allowed to say we should kill them.
I bet if you said we should kill Muslims, that would be ok.
————–
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2026-05-17/fed-will-invent-new-inflation-numbers-out-thin-air
“Washington’s fiscal position becomes increasingly unsustainable if yields continue climbing because deficits at current levels only function in a world where debt can be financed cheaply.”
Orange dickhead will demand interest rates lowered while they go up. What will WARSh do?
IMO, in the near future, they are going to lose all control of narrative and finances. The nation will continue to devolve into a cauldron of endless violence. This trend is already well established.
At some point we’ll be reading the news how some anarchists sent a home built cardboard drone through the window of corporate headquarters or the White House.
This will go viral on social media. At that point the plebs will realize they can strike back at the monsters who rule us.
Thats great news, in a sense. The people pushing back against the powers would be a welcome change. The archons of this world will soak it up like gaffed bonitos on a sunlit beach.
We are in the middle of a drone arms race going hot. Drones are being made of every kind, shape, size, material. A video this week claims Ukraine took out a bunch of Russia SU30 jets with cardboard drones which can be assembled by the end user in just hours.
The propaganda mills are hard at work trying to convince you Iranian terrorists did 911 – which is a prelude to another all out attack on iran.
But we have photos of the Israeli art students, in the WTC towers, with the explosives.
The Secret Book Documenting 9/11 Setup/Preparation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LDWrgw1k8g
We live in a nation which fully denies the Israel did 911. No way we are going to survive when we can not even confront the Jew enemy.
“ a home built cardboard drone “
TORA TORA TORA!
https://tech.yahoo.com/transportation/articles/japan-2-500-cardboard-drones-165508788.html
My grandson flys RC, he has a stunt plane that’s just flat stiff foam panels with oversize control surfaces & gobs of power – fast and nimble.
In related news, the NY Times now says Israel set up two secret bases in Iraq to attack Iran. From WRH website:
https://theuglytruth.xyz/nyt-report-israel-secretly-operated-2-military-bases-in-iraq/
NYT Report: Israel secretly operated 2 military bases in Iraq
If they were able to build, maintain, and operate from 2 secret bases within an enemy country such as Iraq, all can JUST IMAGINE what they have done in the countries of the West where they can come and go as they please and were, up until recently, viewed and treated as ‘allies’.
Rest assured that they, the Eternal Menace, have smuggled in nukes, biological weapons, anything and everything, and have teams inside every major Gentile country just waiting for the order to ‘pull the trigger’ and unleash the worst.
How much you wanna bet that Covid was a mossad operation, covert Israeli biolabs in the United States weaponized the flu virus then Jewish operatives in the US government and media stampeded the Goyim herd to get jabbed.
And the whole Chinese wet market story was a ruse to divert attention away from the real perps.
Here are some suggestions on how to throw off the (((censors))) and (((algorithms))) that are in place on social media sites:
In the past, I’ve been in social media jail for daring to spout off the TRUTH about “(((you know who)))“.
I have found that couching my statements in allegorical terms can often get past the (((censors))). Also, pretending to agree with the subject being discussed while mildly posing fake outrage works as well.
Purposely misspelling words and phrases and using ASCII foreign characters can also throw off the censors and algorithms.
Recently I wasn’t so successful, directly challenging the (((state religion))), holocaustianity, but the message did get out before I was banned from commenting…
I hope this helps others navigate and thwart the social media (((censors))) and (((algorithms))).
“It is a future in which we all must play by their rules and these rules are vaguely defined and so easily applied”
Don’t forget that Elon owns this toy. He bought it and he’ll let you play with his toy but only with his rules. In some ways he is more powerful than the kings of old. Yep money rules. He who owns the gold rules the realm.
Socialism/Communism is bad but unfettered capitalism has itz own downside. But then again we don’t have to use capitalism’s products.
Torba’s GAB is an alternative to mainstream social media you’re pretty much free to speak although that site has had itz share of pushback from MSM and government due to some controversial posts. You be the judge.
It is worth mentioning that Larry Ellison provided a good deal of the funding that the Muskrat used to buy Xcrement. And you know how Ellison feels about any criticism of the “special ones”. There is more “free speech” on the Chinese WeChat platform than any US social media these days. The rules at least are clear that while one cannot criticize the Chinese government they are free to criticize most everything else, including the “Chosen”.
This nightmare, btw, cannot by any means be blamed on the so-called “left”. Yesterday I saw someone waving a flag that was a combination of both the American and Israel flags. Talk about useful idiots. Oy vey!
That’s the game, no sense bitching about it- this is why I always tell my web design/SEO clients to have all their channels but consider them ancillary because you don’t own them.
Certainly have those channels, weave them together for synergy, etc. but don’t count on them.
And don’t worry about it, because it’s your of your control unless you want to capitulate, which most of us do not.
You have very good organic reach, Eric- keep working on that and don’t let the social stuff get you down.
Eric,i appreciate how you call out the dumbed down terminology that permeates the lexicon of social media and mainstream news. I suspect the person who came up with the term “learn more” dutifully soaked up this type of terminology from years of government school programming.
Still i still run across ever lower levels of this type of language use. We were looking into manager training companies recently and one of these firms refers to the managers who enroll in their packages as “learners”. It was like something out of an elementary school reader. I couldn’t believe they actually used this term in their marketing materials.
Thanks, RS!
I get irritated – and that makes me type. I suppose it’s a sort-of healthy way to deal with irritation.
But if you advocate killing Iranians, you are an expert from the American Enterprise Institute (another Dick Diving RC) who not only gets to advocate murder on Xcrement, but in the Washington Compost, and FUX. X post includes 1:36 FUX clip of Thiessen laughing that we have already killed 50 Iranian leaders and should finish the job. Cooper’s finished 70-80% of his assigned targets and should take out the remaining 20-30% (not only is it illegal, how does he have such info? He is not being investigated for leaking classified info–the tweet was reposted by Trump who himself threatens and then brags about murdering foreign political and religious leaders; all the while accusing Iran of trying to kill him.
https://x.com/marcthiessen/status/2047048883822317692
APA 4.26.26: “U.S. President Donald Trump has shared a post by The Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen on his Truth Social account, APA reports. “Marc Thiessen called for the killing of Iranian officials who do not want an agreement with the United States. He noted that if there are two groups in Iran—one that seeks a deal and one that does not—then, “let’s kill those who do not want a deal,” the columnist said.”
I can definitely relate. I’m currently on a 7-day ban for quoting Bible verses.
Yes. Bible verses are “hate speech” on X. Think I’m wrong? See how much it likes John 8:44 or Deut 20:17.
And Edom Husk is such a f**king coward, that he’s terrified to even dare reply to any of his detractors. I poke him pretty much continuously for his use of H-1B workers in his Tesla factories. He’s a liar and a charlatan. And, oh yeah. He’s also a little b**ch.
The best thing we can do is to draw as much attention to this fact as possible. Anyone that’s still active on X should share and repost this article far and wide. It’d be nice if we could at least get that gutless wonder to give us a reply, though we all know how unlikely that is.
You’re forgetting that Thomas Paine wrote at a time before the Hays Code, the NPAA ratings system and the NAB Code. He wrote at a time before the (admirable) goal of getting rich from publishing was more important than publishing itself. The 20th century distorted free speech because of the rise of broadcasting. Not just radio and television, media of all types became mass distributed. And unfortunately with universal availability comes a loss of control over viewers. Paine’s pamphlets were passed around pubs, granges and town halls. They weren’t shown to children, because the children didn’t need to know of such things. They probably weren’t shown to women either, although the concepts they represented were likely discussed over the evening meal or around the hearth.
With the rise of the broadcast came the instantaneous presentation to everyone, all at once. The morning paper came straight to the house, available to anyone living there. The radio broadcast was loud and booming from the parlor, and because it was new and novel, the children were fascinated with it. With talkies came big budgets and the need to appeal to the widest of audiences, so even though the camera eye could capture any human activity in stunning detail, most of the risqué action was left up to the viewer’s imagination with a “fade to black” ending the scene. Television, as with radio, was consumed in the house, and because of the established standards for acceptable behavior on camera, carried and expanded the MPAA and Radio Code into the Code of Practices for Television Broadcasters. I remember getting up Saturday morning in anticipation of a morning of cartoons and being greeted with a message similar to this one, followed by the national anthem:
this seal is a symbol of good television. It signifies that KNBC observes the high standards of programming and advertising recommended by the television code of the National Association of broadcasters. To see better TV watch channel 4, a TV code station
The gentrified broadcasters and newsmen of the late 20th century were, of course, countered by the “smut peddlers.” Playboy, Rolling Stone, High Times, National Lampoon… these were Free Speech™ outlets that published something like the truth, although with an unhealthy dose of spin and political bias. They “got away” with counter-publishing because they were selected and brought into the home. Kids might have wanted access, but they were up on a high shelf behind the counter. When they attempted to cross over into the other media their messages were bland and uninspiring, because they had to conform to the various codes of standards.
But social media is different. Instead of a few people generating content to get rich, we have billions of people generating content to make a point, or at least get noticed. Those people didn’t sign off on a code of conduct, at least not explicitly. But even if they did, you and I probably don’t share the same idea of proper behavior, especially in such a fragmented society as ours. Yet the desire to have that mass audience that can only come from a broadcast model never went away. As the crowds shifted from print to radio to television, it has now shifted to big social media. that’s probably expected, as the cost of entry at the global level is still pretty high. But what happens when that cost falls? Will we see a fragmentation, like we did with analog media types? Radio went from a few (local, not counting clear channel nationwide) AM stations to a dozen or more FM stations. Television went from 3 to 57 (and nothing on) to 500 channels, and now streaming personalized “channels” to everyone. Eventually people will figure out that having a smaller slice of a bigger pie will be worth it, even if you don’t get to live in Beverly Hills and have a star on Hollywood Blvd.
Eric, you are too kind.
The “rules”, such as they are, are akin to being ruled by a 14-year-old black girl with raging hormones and emotions to match with an IQ 1-2 standard deviations below the mean.
I, for one, am sick of it.
Amen, Mark!
I think playing with X can also be likened to “masking,” i.e., people wear the thing to be allowed to participate. The whole thing is a degradation.
The creation of social media came as a direct result of the cold war, when the CIA and other alphabet soup agencies learned of the (((CCCP)))’s various internal spying groups, such as the FSB, GRU, et al, to get people to report on their friends, neighbors and associates for “crimes against the state “. Some bright eyed Wonder kid, definitely not mark fuckerberg, lol, came up with the idea of having people just report on themselves, by bragging about their lives…and voila, here we are today, some 20 years later! Name your poison, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, MySpace, Twitter…. the list is endless!
Why do you think all these datatcenters exist??? To sort thru all the SM info…literally worldwide….
The Panopticon is almost complete!!!
Oy Vey!!!