Battling the rise of the censorship-industrial complex
A new hypothesis about why all our sensemaking institutions seem to be failing at the same time. @alexandrosM
We often lament how seemingly every body whose job it is to figure out the truth -- media, academic journals, doctors, courts, universities, even the military, seem to have lost the plot at right about the same time, and are not even trying to do their job, instead behaving first and foremost as defenders of an emergent narrative. On occasion I've mentioned that our culture is becoming aware of the construct of a "narrative" and is developing language and memes to describe its contours. When we talk about the "current thing", or the various "derangement syndrome(s)", or even about "disinformation"/"misinformation", or even "stochastic terrorism", what we're talking about is factors that contribute to, and are a result of, prevalent narratives.
What might have previously been highly specialized discourse between academics has broken through to the mainstream. So this is my hypothesis: for better or worse, people in positions of power, increasingly conscious of the narrative-shaping power of their words and actions, are now deciding what to do, consciously or subconsciously, taking into account not just whether the action is right, but also whether it will be helping or hurting the narratives they subscribe to. In other words, instead of the story emerging according to the facts, the facts emerge according to the prevailing story. This 2016 piece in the New York Times is emblematic of this newfound self-consciousness on behalf of journalists: https://archive.is/jb9vH Its final paragraph contains this gem:
https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/citizen-journalism-as-disruptive
It is pathetic when you have 5 running for mayor and 24 for city Councillor and you can't come up with 8 you would vote for for Councillor. I pass by if they are a civil servant or don't know the responsibility of the different levels of government. This is Red Deer. I have been waffling on Mayor but have finally made up my mind. Two former city Councillors are HELL NO's and hope to see their asses in rear view mirror.
Alberta strike cancelling classes across the province shows unions have far too much power
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/carson-jerema-abolish-the-teachers-unions
Tamara & Chris sentenced. The Message is Clear: Dissent is Now a Crime.
Writer: Timothy Knight
Timothy Knight
1 hour ago
2 min read
ree
Tamara Lich and Chris Barber got 12 months of house arrest today for “mischief.”
Not violence.
Not property damage.
Mischief.
Peaceful Canadians—criminalised for daring to speak out. The same justice system that drops charges for real crimes and lets violent offenders walk free spent three years trying to break two people who stood for freedom.
The Crown had outrageously demanded seven years in jail to make an example out of them.
Why?
To warn you.
To scare anyone who might ever peacefully defy the state again.
Even the judge admitted Chris Barber “came with the noblest of intent” and never called for violence.
But it didn’t matter. They needed bogeymen.
We remember all the others:
Maxime Bernier was handcuffed in Manitoba for speaking at a peaceful rally.
Mark Friesen was fined thousands for organizing gatherings.
Randy Hillier saw convoy charges stayed after years of harassment.
Todd Dube was ...