Bringing a Smartphone to a Gunfight
As demonstrated by Dave Chappelle and J.K. Rowling, if you don't give a shit about the Tweetstorms and cultural hit pieces when you dare refute the orthodoxy of the shrieking micro-minority and their performative allies, you are effectively uncancellable.
The difficulty faced by those within that in-group of the Rage Profiteers is if there aren't enough of you to seriously foment change, change ain't happening. If everyone offended by Chappelle's statement that “gender is fact” and his admonition that a transgender woman is not a woman simply cancelled their Netflix subscription en masse, it still wouldn't be enough to move the dial much. That's ultimately why Netflix has deflected the complaints.
As businesses are waking up to the fact that the numbers do not match the noise, the corporate flagellation in the face of moral indignation is diminishing. One can only cry wolf so many times before the game is exposed. Too many cries of outrage and the online campaigns become easily ignored.
A lot of us centrist-types are not, as so many on the lunatic fringe want to charge, against the sorts of changes they so fervently advocate for.
Oxford Languages defines the adjective “liberal” as:
willing to respect or accept behavior or opinions different from one’s own; open to new ideas.
relating to or denoting a political and social philosophy that promotes individual rights, civil liberties, democracy, and free enterprise.
Arguments for reformed policing, protections for transgender individuals, reversing the course of man-made climate change, adjusting the system that allows for such extraordinary income inequality are right there in our wheelhouse. It's the hysteria over things that only matter to the fewest like shrill (and deeply unpopular) calls for white atonement, language changes that eradicate the male/female biology, censorship of art and political speech, and the belief in looting and property destruction as legitimate forms of protest that don't jibe.
This is not good for the things that actually matter. There are far more pernicious people out there who have proven themselves impervious to the relentless propaganda of the Twitter Warriors.
The most prolific of the Twitter Warriors comprise less than 3 percent of the population who, in turn, drive the most noise about issues.
As the Democrats are flailing in approval and the base of voters on the Left become more despondent at the lack of immediate progress under Biden, the so far uncancellable Donald J. Trump and his treasonous bunch of cohorts are preparing for another coup attempt. This time it will likely succeed.
Now, while a second Trump presidency might be a phenomenal boost to the finances of anti-right groups (because the money flows big time when there is a monster in charge), his next time will potentially be the last honest presidential election in our lifetimes. The stakes are pretty high, kids, and your amazing facility with your smartphones is no match.
When the GOP takes the House and Senate in 2022, the dinner table is set. Trump gets in legitimately (as in actually wins the election) and we're all toast. And the loudest micro-minority is only really good at protesting in the streets during a time of pandemic lockdown and taking selfies to prove they were there. Most of the time, they are charging in to cancel professors who show Othello and comedians who once tweeted something vaguely homophobic a decade ago.
There's plenty to say about the other micro-minority of raging dickweeds on the right side of things but you have to hand it to them—while the Woke trashed Portland, their mouthbreathing dopes did a smash-and-grab on the United States Capitol. They brought guns with them, too.
The first big test of whether or not Democrats can show even a modicum of initiative and spine is in the handling of Trump crony Steve Bannon, who could soon be held in contempt of Congress for his refusal to answer a subpoena pertaining to Trump's coup and the January 6 insurrection. In theory, this is a jailable offense and Bannon should be in danger of a dramatic perp walk. Bannon clearly believes Democrats don't have the guts to do it. Democrats, however, are insisting otherwise.
"He will be prosecuted, that's our expectation," Rep. Adam Schiff of California told MSNBC. "He apparently feels he's above the law. But he's about to find out otherwise."
Big talk, but can they make good on it?
The process of actually doing so — described by CNN as "a series of steps needed to move forward," including holding meetings, writing a report, and referring it to the House for a vote, then referring it to the Justice Department — doesn't inspire confidence. Every step allows the notorious cowards in the party to get cold feet and telling themselves an idiotic story about how inaction somehow plays better with the voters than action. No wonder Bannon is so sure he'll get away with this.
While our most ardent revolutionaries are busy digitally obsessing over Dave Chappelle and Joe Rogan, a fuckface like Steve Bannon is likely to skate past Congress.
What the Twitter Warriors do not comprehend is that most Americans don't see their outrage over micro-aggressions as righteous but as petulant. Only 22 percent of the 330 million Americans use Twitter; 80 percent of all tweets from American adults come from the top 10 percent. I don't call it a micro-minority out of pique but out of fact. The most prolific of the Twitter Warriors comprise less than 3 percent of the population who, in turn, drive the most noise about issues.
The fragility of that crowd, unable to have deep conversations with the rest of us about the changes they'd like to see, is crippling any persuasive potential. Get off your phones and start listening to those people you've decided you can't abide because they vote. That vote will only matter for a few more years if Trump lives past 2025 because if you think he’s going quietly, you aren’t paying attention.