Yep; today we’re going to be exploring two more nagging thoughts of mine that I couldn’t manage to wring out into full-length articles. I had an English teacher that used to say that author’s get paid on their word count. If that’s indeed true, then I guess there’s a reason that I’m skinny AF. As always, I expect razor-sharp pitchforks.
Spotlighting the Shadowban; Trump’s Failure
Trump made his own version of the dog-and-pony show when he was re-inaugurated. He told Zuckerburg to his face that if Meta had continued their ideological censorship, then Trump would make sure that the Harvard dropout would spend the rest of his life in prison. In a move that was totally coincidental, Meta announced that they were removing their fact-checkers. Trump made it clear, left-wing censorship was out.
Of course, Trump followed in the footsteps of yet another daring billionaire; Elon Musk. The African entrepreneur famously rooted out the previous ownership’s culture of liberal-minded censorship, and replaced it with an aura of the Wild West. This came as music to ears of free speech absolutists, who reveled in the change of direction. The world’s richest man also reinstated the accounts of numerous outspoken individuals whose only crime was disagreeing with the KarenCabal.
Don’t get me wrong, these were all fantastic moves that needed to happen. The rate of ideological censorship pre-2024 was rivaling that of McCarthyism. However, there is one glaring flaw in Trump’s pro-First Amendment rollout. And it involves a little white alien and an army of obese neckbeards donning fedoras….
Reddit, for some unexplained reason has not drawn the ire of Hitman 47 in the same way other social media companies have. While I would personally rejoice at the fact of Steve Hoffman being thrown in prison until he can collect Social Security, I’ll settle for second place; the dismantling of his shadowban culture. For the uninitiated, pathetic lowlifes that work for free spend nearly every waking hour serving as Reddit’s thought-police for any number of subreddits. Users whobreak subjective cultural faux pas for unquantifiable things such as hate speech often experience what is known as a shadow-ban; being banned from a subreddit without any notification, chance to appeal, or explanation why.
In this mechanic, the mods are judge, jury, executioner, and necrophiliac. The victim has absolutely zero recourse when their right to broadcast gets removed. Reddit-a company headquartered in CommieFornia is being extra-hypocritical because the seemingly North Korean social media company loves invoking the Section 230 protection of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 in court. Yes, you read that correctly; Reddit has both thrown their hands up and said “don’t blame us, we’re just a platform and not liable for user-posted content” while also shaving off posts that they personally disagree with (read: non-woke opinions). You can’t have your cake and eat it too, Hoffman…
But hey, don’t take my word for it; read it straight from the censors themselves. Reddit removes nearly 3% of content submitted to the platform. In fact, this Orwellian practice has continued since Trump took office for his second term. Reddit, having apparently zero consequences for their actions, feels emboldened to keep trampling on the First Amendment. It’s high time that the aliens got the same White House pressure that Meta got; knock it the fuck off…
Hey Kim-Jung Hoffman, the 1st Amendment exists whether you believe in it or not…
A Tale of Two Daddy’s Boys…
Dan Bilzerian and Draco Malfoy. These two names, one fictional and one real, are typically not mentioned in the same sentence together. There is good reason for this; there is a tiny Venn diagram of poker-loving bros and Harry Potter aficionados. With that said, these two men have a lot in common, right up until the abrupt moment when they diverge wildly. Straddle your Nimbus 2001 or strap into your Lambo, because this ride’s gonna get wild…
Both of these grand personalities came from a life of luxury. Malfoy’s father Lucious was a high-ranking government official and a man of considerable sway in the wizarding world. In fact, Lucious Malfoy has so much gravitas that the younger Malfoy spends much of the series snapping the threat of my father will hear about this! Similarly, Dan Bilzerian is a trust fund baby whose father, Paul Bilzerian, was a corporate takeover specialist back in the days when San Francisco could actually win a Super Bowl. It seems 2012 Obama was speaking directly to the bearded flexer when he quipped you didn’t build that…
Baby Malfoy spent the early Harry Potter movies flexing his newest ride on the Quidditch court. Malfoy saw fit to outfit his entire entourage in the latest brooms. Hermione Granger even made it a point to clap back at the young Slyhterin, quipping that “well, at least nobody on Gryffindor had to buy their way in.” This is not unlike Bilzerian in a lot of ways. The influencer came up the social media ranks often by strutting out whatever flavor-of-the-week exotic vehicle he had gotten his hands on.
Malfoy, for much of his bravado, was only moderately skilled at his chosen endeavors. While he did manage to become the Seeker for his house’s Quidditch team, he certainly was not at the level that Potter was. And that isn’t saying a whole lot either, considering that in the later lore of the Harry Potter universe, neither Potter nor Malfoy became professional-or even national-Quidditch players the way Viktor Krum was.
Bilzerian is similarly ho-hum in his competitive life as well. For all of his chest-pounding that he did in his early years revolving around poker, his actual accomplishments are relatively lacking. Don’t get me wrong; could Bilzerian beat the Average Joe on the felt at a local casino? Sure. But he was claiming to have won millions from cardsharking. However, the mid-level professional players who railroaded his ass all over the felt would tell a totally different story.
The story continues with both Malfoy and his real-life counterpart Bilzerian taking misguided turns. Malfoy eventually pledged his loyalty to the DeathEaters, a murderous cult that swore allegiance to Lord Voldemort. Malfoy even went so far as to sign a blood-sealed pact to kill Professor Dumbeldore, even if he later proved to be unfit for the task.
While Bilzerian’s descent wasn’t quite as dramatic, he absolutely became a grifter. He wound up jumping on the bandwagon of selling masculinity courses to a generation of fatherless boys. While Bilzerian had the outer packaging of the real-life Roshi, what he lacked was the resume of the Eastern Bloc entrepreneur. Simply put, this is not a topic in which one can fake it til you make it.
The Malfoy-Bilzerian comparison holds up until a certain point. Post-Hogwarts, Malfoy peacefully schleps into a research-oriented government job, away from the public eye or considerable wealth he once enjoyed. Bilzerian however is choosing a different path. The under-accomplished influencer is now running for Congress. And I must say; I’m totally here for it. Bilzerian, like many young men in this nation, is fed up with the influence of AIPAC in our politics. He’s in fact so fed up with Israel that he’s making this the whole central issue of his campaign.
While Bilzerian may have a light resume, he makes up for it in an energy that threatens the cult-like neocon wing of the Republican party. Only time will tell if Bilzerian is effective, however FutureSense predicts that AIPAC and their many grubby little minions will spend quite a few silver shekels in attack ads against the former King of Instagram. Expect many affirmations of Godwin’s Law, though expect those same voices to be unable to articulate why Israel is our so-called number one ally. Here’s a hint; that’s because they aren’t.
TL/DR: one Daddy’s Boy joined a death cult, the other is running to defeat one….
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