I did note this story on Axios, which was discussed scathingly and at length on Ace of Spades; that the Lefty Progs have belatedly realized that, yes indeedy, us social and political conservatives are building our alternate establishments, in media, money-management, retail, and everywhere else. Welcome to the party, pal… It goes without saying that the Lefty Progs disapprove, most indignantly. I noted the split a little more than a year ago, in this post.
We’re already at the split. We read different books, watch different movies and television shows – those of us who still watch movies and television – follow different celebrities, earn a living in different ways, educate our children differently. We honor different things, different heroes and heroines, have wildly different aspirations and hopes for the future. We are already split.
In the year since, the split noted has already widened sufficiently to the point where the professional media mavens have noticed it. Conservatives are busily and relatively quietly building around, under, alongside the established and prog-dominated versions. The Progs are indignant over this, of course, blaming so-called conservative billionaires and their wicked wiles, dominating a herd of ignorant and easily led proles. Never mind that many such social media sites, institutions, and occupations became actively hostile to conservatives. Why shouldn’t we walk away, if our presence is discouraged, and build a more tolerant and welcoming establishment elsewhere? In my own circles of authors, a good few decided to publish and market their books themselves, when the largely New York based Literary Industrial Complex publishers began freezing out all but the most liberally conformist.
I suspect that this indignation is because those whom the Lefty Progs view as ignorant and obedient human cattle are energetically rejecting the guidance of our so-called betters with the contempt which such condescension richly deserves. This disobedience incites sullen fury among the Lefty Progs, because they can’t quite figure out why, or how to counter it. If such eccentric and conservative millionaires and billionaires are indeed investing in what Axios describes as a ‘conservative bubble’ in social media, regular media, and publishing – it might very well be that those investors are seeing a profitable niche market in catering to at least half the country.
Discuss as you wish and refer us to any alternate establishments you know of, which may be news to some of us.
What exactly are the conservatives buildinkg to counter this? I see nothinkg in mass media. Social media – MeWe? I don’t know if they are so much “conservative” as more tolerant of opposing views. And at 20 million vs Facebook’s billions, hardly a threat.
Twitter?
Academia?
Is this more wishful thinking than fact?
Believe me, give me an alternative and I’m outta there.
“What exactly are the conservatives buildinkg to counter this?”
Well, various projects have been crushed by being banned by AWS and/or Google/Apple. It’s not quite clear to me how to get around that sort of overwhelming collusion unless the GOPe grows a spine and starts threatening to rip these companies to pieces.
I have not been to a movie in several years. Last year was understandable but my wife asked me a week ago if there were any good movies around. I honestly don’t know. I saw an ad for something called “Nightmare Alley,” which was a Tyrone Power movie long ago in which he played against type. I doubt this is a remake. Everything else looks like a made-for-China-cartoon .
Trump’s thing starts in February but it sounds like Twitter, which I never joined. The only “friends” I have on Facebook are family and a very few real friends. I don’t watch TV.
Yes, they’ve remade “Nightmare Alley”; it releases on the 17th. It’s going to have to clear a high bar to be as good as or better than the Tyrone Power version, but it has a good pedigree; perhaps I’ll take a look when it comes out on DVD.
I haven’t been to a movie in a theatre since 2004. Haven’t had cable TV since 2000, except for several brief periods so my wife could watch high school and college football. We watch old movies and television shows on DVD. That’s it. I’m accused of being a Luddite, but I’ll never stream; it’s physical media only for me. I also read, and none of that is on a device. Real books only for me. My wife and I are taking concrete steps to disengage from the System that runs things, and disengaging from media is a big step we took a very long time ago. We’re better off for it. We both think it’s the prime reason we aren’t taking the needle, and never will; we don’t depend on CNN or Fox to do our thinking for us.
Those who are getting the vapors over conservatives building alternatives, see theirs as The One True Way … and the political divide as Normal vs. the Evil Other.
Such fundamentalist thinking explains their panic – that we are NOT just submissively falling in line with their “enlightened” take on things, and therefore are a threat not to truth, but to their all-in investment in being part of the alleged elite.
As for alternatives … I see MeWe as what Facebook was before things got so political; a place to link up with family. Gab is building out alternatives on multiple fronts. Parler is operational. And blogs like this one still have active communities around them, especially when they open up comments.
The big problem is getting those who are not attuned to the selective operation of Big Tech to make the effort to move into these alternatives, because they might leave friends behind and lose touch with them.
And another potential problem to consider, is taking parallel into full-on “be ye separate” and ceding the culture to the Church of Woke. I myself deleted my Twitter account and deactivated my FB account (leaving Messenger active for family contact), because of their editorializing over top of posts … but I also see the need to find ways to interact outside of these alternatives.
And also consider that there is another set of alternatives that the occupation of DC eleven months ago drove us to embracing – state and local levels of government, where the media evangelists of the Church of Woke have far less influence than with the Feds.
Let us capitalize on that, as well.
In a lot of ways, we are withdrawing our dollars and our eyeballs, from materiel and establishments which are inimical to us. Like Roadgeek, my daughter and I have cut the cable, and watch streaming video of our choice – like RG, mostly old programs, or foreign programs, or both.
You know what I watch on Tube of U, mostly? Regular videos of people building their own little cabins or homesteads off grid. Of people building dioramas and miniatures – quite a lot of them foreigners; from Italy, Germany, Russia and Australia.
Frankly, I wouldn’t know a current TV reality star if one of them came up and bit me on the ankle. Which is about what would have to happen for me to pay attention anyway.
The last movie I really wanted to go see in a theater was that one that Peter Jackson put together from WWI footage, colorized, adjusted and with audio added. It only aired for a day in San Antonio theaters, and I had another commitment that day.
I used to go to movies every couple of weekends, but there hasn’t been anything I wanted to go see on opening weekend since Dunkirk made a run at a local theater here.
Hollywood doesn’t want my money? OKfine, got plenty of other alternatives.
I agree the choice in movies is pretty sparse but what I have seen I generally like the smaller independent movies
Just saw Belfast which was excellent. It’s about the start of “the troubles“ in 1969 and normal Protestant and Catholic families.
Other than that I urge you to keep an eye on the offerings of fathom events.
Once or twice a month at selected theaters they offer what they call “Classics“ although in my mind anyway a lot of them are simply old movies.
And they showed the 1960s version of west side story last weekend
But you really owe it to yourself to see something like north by northwest on the big screen as Hitchcock intended.
I am on Facebook for the only reason this remnant group who read Neptunus Lex has a group. A small group of dissidents tried to get it to move to MeWe which they have but most people have not followed.
I hope Sgt Mom is right.
Oh, on YouTube I have been following several entities. My favorite is this British exotic car restoror, Iian Tyrrell. He only has about 30 videos but he goes into a wonderful history of whatever car he’s showing and gets into the internals.
And there is a Kansas shop owner called the car wizard that is pretty informative.
I really like to surf on YouTube, and the Roku channel is surprising with the quality offerings they give all free of charge.
The only thing I really watch on network TV is Blue Bloods on Friday
And I like Bull.
The sort of user that logs on to facebook or twitter for a few minutes in the evening to check out people they really know probably cost more than they’re worth and both platforms would rather they go away. The money is in the user that has the app always running and spends hours scrolling and clicking while they are served countless ads.
I have to wonder if conservatives are going to provide enough clicks to make something like that work.
The one truth we all need to learn is this: The King only has as much power as we grant him.
It’s a con game, start to finish. We don’t have to participate in it, or do anything other than laugh at them when they try to puff themselves up. Enough of us do that, they’re powerless.
There is absolutely no need for these assclowns; we don’t need them, and the sooner we learn that, the better. All the “great men” of history are parasites, living off the combined suspension of common sense and the belief that they’ve been able to generate. Who would Hitler have been, had all those Germans looked at him with the contempt he deserved, rather than adulation? A nobody.
Nancy Reagan had the simplest solution to our problems: Just say “No”…
Get on Gab!
To the Left, Marxist ideology is a religion. Alternative religions are blasphemy that can’t be allowed. Look at Islam, the difference between Shia and Sunni Muslims is they have different opinions on who succeeded Mohammad. Every other aspect of their religion is the same yet for centuries they have waged violent conflict against each other.
To the woke Marxist Left, allowing a Conservative alternative to their power structure would be like opening a MacDonald’s in a mosque. Pure blasphemy.
In the social sites category, Minds.com is worth a look.
Also, check out odysee for videos. I know there’s bitchute and rumble, but I haven’t delved into them much.
“I see nothinkg in mass media.”
When you stick your head in the sand or think the alternatives you see are a joke, then it’s obvious you’re the problem. Your ignorance and condescension are the problem.
Go directly to Gab. Free speech for all.
Gab, a twitter alternative.
MeWe a farcebook alternative.
A problem though, they control the web, the internet, and can shut, limit, access to alternative sites in many different ways.
We/me/you really need to develop a non supervised, non centralized world wide web alternative without controllable bottle necks on the data flow. There’s a lot of technology out there that could support such. Just duck duck go ‘meshnet’ and you’ll get an idea of what I’m talking about.
i didn’t see the original nightmare alley, this one seems to lean more noir then gothic element.
a dozen years ago, I didn’t really click on twitter, the blank pages had not completely degenerated to the degree they have now,
There’s things that can be done.
“Killing Deep States” was me presenting simple PROCESSES to put government into much needed feedback loops.
For example, have you ever gotten a W2? 1099-misc? You know if you hire someone for over $600 PER YEAR you are supposed to report that lawn guy with a 1099-misc!
Does ANY recipient of government largesse get a 1099? Do they ever get less than $600…per month?
Starting to issue 1099-GOV and using the average or median government handout then setting that as the starting tax deduction would be a start. Arguing if your first grader deserves a $3600 deduction but a San Fran urban camper/pharmacist deserves TWICE that with no reporting. Now that right there is crystal.
Try Gettr- lots if fun stuff & serious stuff too. Agree to book reading, find a good list & dive in.
I think that a lot of the issues with things like the two main offenders in social media, Twitstorm and FaceFraud are entirely inherent to the nature of the beast. You’re not going to reform anything, or solve the problem by moving elsewhere, because the same set of syndromes are going to ensue.
What I see as a “solution”, then? Cold turkey that shit, and quit wasting your time on what other people think and do, while throwing your private business out there for the world to see. I don’t need to know the inner workings of your fatuous mind, or how little Susie banged the drum down at the recital. The majority of that bullshit is self-aggrandizing, self-involved, and a waste of time. People spend more time engaged with their goddamn phones these days than with the people around them, and it flatly just disturbs the hell out of me to observe it. Moms have their noses stuck in their phones, while their kids go begging for attention, and Mom is posting about what a great mother she is… Which is bullshit, because she ain’t.
The apps have enabled a whole new set of sociopathies, and I don’t think society is better for it. There are good things about all the connectivity, but the things that Twatfest and FaceFsck have enabled aren’t a one of them good. They’re positively evil, and I suspect that in years to come, they’re going to be seen as fonts of damaging social pathologies and mental illnesses.
Only real solution? Abandon the entire genre of “social media”.
The apps have enabled a whole new set of sociopathies, and I don’t think society is better for it. There are good things about all the connectivity, but the things that Twatfest and FaceFsck have enabled aren’t a one of them good. They’re positively evil, and I suspect that in years to come, they’re going to be seen as fonts of damaging social pathologies and mental illnesses.
Only real solution? Abandon the entire genre of “social media”.
I don’t see many people abandoning it but I agree how from a societal point of view people ironically become more isolated.
And some tend to be far ruder and vulgar to others than they would be face-to-face.
A phenomenon that intrigues me is that it brings out a bit of narcissism in some – who cares about a picture of your wound or the fact that you’ve had a cold for 3 days?
When Trump was kicked off Twitter I gave up on them – and here they allow the Taliban?
If some viable alternatives are coming they have to overcome the critical mass.
I wouldn’t join AARP but did join Amac – probably less than 1% the size of AARP.
AARP had an ad on Facebook to which some “commenter” (was he a shill? one never knows), but he claimed that “I’m a conservative and I think they are great – doesn’t matter to me what they lobby for” – to which I replied “if you paid money to an organization that actively tries to wipe out your beliefs, are you really a “conservative”?”
Anyway, didn’t see that ad again although if it was because of me I can’t say.
But it will take a lot of effort and money to build comparable (in size) institutions.
I
Put not your faith in institutions, for they are of man and thus, inherently corruptible or already corrupt. Everything starts off with good intentions, and then when it becomes successful, the parasite class swarms in to take over. Happens everywhere, with everything–No matter how prosaic.
There’s a congruency here, with Gresham’s Law: “Bad money drives out good…”. Inside any institution, bad people drive out the good from positions of authority within them, resulting in the institution being run by venal creatures of opportunity for their own benefit. This is an inescapable feature of human behavior, with an apparent corollary that “good people” within those institutions will be oblivious and apathetic in the face of such takeovers.
My take on things, the longer I live? Enlightened anarchism is the way to go–Nothing permanent, a constant state of ad-hoc adaptation and temporary solutions to current problems, with finite built-in lifespans. You go for these vast imperial coral reef-like structures, and they’re inevitably going to ossify and get turned against their original purposes, not to mention the actual interests of the majority of us.
the problem is this structure of disinformation, what I call blank pages, out of they live, they exacerbated the real conditions of this outbreak, they cover up the real injuries to the body politics this regime has and continues to inflict on this country, look at any local or national broadsheet our cities descend to boschian hellscapes, abomination is praised in the highest ranks of the academy
just a random example of category error
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/editorials/os-op-desantis-florida-militia-editorial-20211209-wgbfunwskbholk6zezylbsmvli-story.html
‘Conservative’ media (‘conservative’ used as here shorthand for a range of views which share non-wokeness and some level of sanity) can have 3 purposes:
–communication of news and ideas
–discussion among conservatives
–discussion including non-conservatives, offering the possibility of opinion change
Maybe this framework can suggest ways of thinking about what media strategies are and are not likely to work.
The commenters talking about idiots on social media have a point, but I wonder what exactly they think people talk about face to face?
Suzie banging the drum at recital, or the awful cold they had, or a thousand similar pieces of small talk are in fact *exactly* what people talk about.