Bluesky Adventures and Neoliberal Dummies
Oooooh baby!
I have to respect guys like Matt Yglesias and Will Stancil, two neoliberal dudes who, despite being disastrously wrong multiple times, remain unflappable in the face of adversity and simply just post through it. If I was a Bidenomics apologist on the level of Stancil or someone who thinks America can handle a population 3 times it’s current size like Yglesias I’d feel too ashamed to put my real name and face to my tweets anymore. Yet here they are polluting timelines with their unconscionable shilling just like nothing ever happened. It’s no use trying to get Will and Matt to change their worldviews for a number of reasons, one might be that their online brands rest on them gaslighting people constantly, the other more likely reason is that they’re fucking stupid, like really fucking stupid.
Neither of these guys understands the problems faced by real Americans because they can’t conceptualize the liberal leaders of America being flawed or at least putting forth flawed legislation and policies. What do you mean your wages haven’t gone up in 5 years? What do you mean you can’t afford rent anymore? If you can’t make it in America then it’s your own fault because there’s no way all these charts and graphs showing a line going up could be inaccurate or not representative of everyone. In fact I can think of a third world population that would be very grateful to live in America unlike you spoiled brats!
Yes me and every American is lucky we live here, I for one am grateful for the opportunities this country has given me. But there’s a point between being a flag burning commie and being the ultimate Murican’ patriot a where your Average Joe expects his needs to be met. They weren’t being met by the old administration no matter what the toadies say and he has every right to be upset. Sure it could be argued that a lot of Americans are not good with personal finance, but that in itself is a flaw of the American system that is only exacerbated by the shallow consumerist culture we’ve allowed to fester here.
People see what the previous generations had as well as what their successful friends and neighbors have and feel they deserve the same, but they can’t achieve that and no matter how great Matt and Will think America is, that is an indictment of our country. People may seem ungrateful today but it used to be that anybody could work a 40 hour a week job and afford a roof over their heads and a comfortable life, only the most sheltered people think that’s true for most Americans now. Even if Matt and Will’s admitted there was a problem their only solutions for fixing it are to let more people pour through the border unchecked and total fealty to the liberal establishment.
It’s good to love America, I love America but I can’t blind myself to the myriad of problems this country faces even if it means lending credence to people I don’t like. Will and Matt ignore the tangible problems faced by Americans because they think people simply misunderstand the issues at heart, because if people actually did understand them then there wouldn’t be a need for guys like Will and Matt anymore. They’re counting on you to be misinformed, they’re counting on you to just grin and take it no matter how miserable your life is because that’s how they define patriotism. No more gaslighting and bullshit, people are struggling now and like it or not they see Trump as the man who can fix things. The fact people are willing to put their faith in evil rapist zionist fascist Trump instead of patiently waiting another 4 years for Bidenomics to magically fix a stagnant economy is a massive indictment on Will and Matt’s worldview, but they can call his voters racist for another 4 years if they like.
I recently joined bluesky, the decentralized app that’s fast becoming a new Twitter alternative as scores of disaffected leftists bail on Musk’s platform. There’s been a bevvy of so-called “Twitter killers” developed over the last decade, Gab, Gettr, Truth Social, Threads to name a few. Now Bluesky looks to try and buck the trend of dismal failure of competitors to the bird site. As of yesterday Bluesky administrators claim to have registered over 17 million people and counting. People who withstood the last 8 years of shit flinging on Twitter have called it quits, some of whom boasted accounts with 5 or six figure followings, but the thought of going through another Trump administration was too much to bear. While on bluesky I engaged in some harmless trolling and was treated to this roughly a half hour after registering.
Okay so maybe I took it a little too far, maybe my brand of humor was a little too much for these people, I can’t help it I like pushing boundaries! My posts getting mass reported didn’t shock me in the slightest, as Bluesky is dealing with a staggering amount of it’s users reporting each other’s content.
I used to scoff at the notion that “the left will eat itself” but I stand corrected, these people are absolutely cannibalizing each other and it’s hilarious to witness. I don’t know what people thought would happen when you take the world’s most sensitive people, including countless Tumblr-turned-Twitter refugees, and give them a platform of their own where they’re forced to interact only with eachother for an extended period of time. Add to this mix the anxiety over a brutal election loss and these people’s complete inability to be introspective about how it occurred and you get an online space where any mildly heterodox thought is grounds for mass reporting.
Basically all these left wing people believe that their personal brand of liberalsim/leftism/progressivism is the true way of the future. Nobody else is a real left winger, anyone suggesting that ignoring the working class was a mistake or thinks they should tone down fringe rhetoric is a fascist! I used to think that there was unity on the left the likes of which the right couldn’t match but even in my most heated arguments with my fellow right wingers we could at least get beyond petty squabbles and agree on end goals, these people can’t even agree on what constitutes a slur anymore.
When I left twitter for Alt Platforms years ago I was enamored with the ability to speak my mind online without fear of censorship. But this ability leads to a slew of low IQ racism and recycled takes about Jews and demographic replacement. It’s edgy to post things like that on a moderated mainstream platform but on places like Gab you’re just preaching to your fellow travelers and it gets old fast. Fortunately the fediverse was able to attract a more savvy class of users with it’s technological potential and stimulate a more broad minded online culture. But with a site like Bluesky you have to keep towing the line.
Apart from how funny it is to see liberals still acting like the use of crass language is a national emergency, notice how Kevin still censors himself off of Twitter. You can give this man the ability to say anything he wants to say and he still defers back to the old style of self-moderation so common with his kind. Sure there are guys among the left like Nick Mullen but for every sardonic millennial who has no qualms calling things “gay” there’s countless more people like Kevin who desperately cling to leftist language standards.
None of them can ever allow themselves to use a slur even when alone, none of them will ever admit to having a non-progressive thought, none of them will ever cop to being nervous when a black guy walks past them on the street because if they do they’re no better than the right. It can sometimes be hard to pinpoint the issues I take with the left but one that is clear in my mind is how they’re so goddamned afraid to just be human. They have standards set so high that no person could ever abide by them and any flaws they have are magnified tenfold in their eyes. Bluesky has only fostered an environment of insane purity spiraling because of this.
Something else I found during my abbreviated stay on Bluesky was this post by Roxane Gay who I mistook for Stacy Abrams because I have trouble telling fat narcissistic black women apart. Anyways, she had this to say:
So it seems they’re admitting that they don’t want to have their opinions changed and are happy just associating with only like minded people. Truthfully I can’t judge her on this because I’ve been occupying spaces that could be considered right wing echo chambers the last few years. I feel like anyone who has been involved in online politics for any amount of time has reached the conclusion that there is nothing more to be said between their side and the other. As a right winger I don’t know what I could say about the left that I haven’t said hundreds if not thousands of times before. I know how they think, I know how they argue, I know what their end goals are and I know I oppose their positions on the grounds that it would be disastrous for me as a White, straight, guy. If decentralized internet hubs apart from mainstream platforms where people seperate themselves based on ideology is the future, then so much the better.