Bubble Gum Group The Archies Threaten To Pull Their Music Out of Yard Sales In Protest Of Podcaster

By now you have probably come to realize that if you say something that runs contrary to the narrative of the establishment in the US you will be canceled and silenced.  Having a different opinion than those who are supposedly smarter than you is now considered impermissible.  In fact, having an opposing view in some cases can label you as dangerous.  Those of us who have different opinions can now be characterized as heterodox, we are not part of the orthodoxy (whatever the hell that actually is).  It doesn’t matter if the viewpoints that we try to share are factual or not—we must be canceled and silenced.

As if the fuckery couldn’t get any more ridiculous, here we are.  We have finally reached “ideocracy”.   You know, the moment when stupidity reigns supreme over any sense of sensibility.  The mainstream media in the US has become a joke, whose predisposition for lying has become antithetical to any truth.  Celebrities are stuck in the time warp of “Camelot the Sequel” period from the early 1990s (for those of you who are too young to remember this, it was the president who was compared to Kennedy).  Politicians are nothing more than corrupt puppets waiting for their corporate, monetary rations.  The nation has become more divided than ever. The whole thing reminds me of the final moments of the Titanic as it slipped beneath the waves with screaming people clinging to its doomed hull.

It has become a total shit show.  The truth has become rarer than jadeite.  A government figure stands at a podium and tells you that Russia is planning a bombing of the US or its allies, yet, when asked for proof, they coldly look into the camera and say, “you dare question your government, if we say it is true then it is true”.  Wouldn’t that qualify as misinformation and shouldn’t the source be silenced.   In a moment of curiosity, a conservative politician had the unmitigated gall to write a letter to Rip Van POTUS (our president) asking why we want war with the Russians.  A fair question (as far as I am concerned), however, he was ostracized by the Press Secretary, who went as far as to suggest that he be banned from all social media, canceled, silenced, and even be labeled a traitor. 

Meanwhile, mainstream media continues to push lies as truth and when called to the carpet they claim to be experts on everything.  Proof of this manifested itself in just one incident of a female journalist of “the most trusted name in news”, sniffing a backpack, looking for traces of serin gas during the false flag event in Douma, Syria.  This idiotic episode became sheer comedy when a chemist noted that even traces of sarin gas can be debilitating if not fatal.  Why wasn’t this “journalist” plucked from the network and silenced for misinformation?  Strange what we are told is good information over that which is considered misinformation.  The deep state has succeeded in controlling narratives, society, and everything in between. 

After all, that is the new establishment-controlled group that is making the rules, we call them the “cancel culture”.  A group of neoliberals who are rapacious in their march to stop anyone who disagrees with them.  Having a wide range of opinions or viewpoints has always been the strength of what we consider a democracy.  The arena of ideas is a concept that keeps a country moving in a positive.  I will be the first to admit that there have been times when I felt that some ideas were stupid.  Hell, I went through the entire four years of the Orange POTUS administration feeling that way.

Recently some washed-up musicians threatened to pull their old, obscure music off of a podcast platform where they probably don’t sell 10 copies a month (optimistically), in order to force the platform to remove a popular podcaster.  This particular social star has a daily estimated number of 7-10 million listeners so from an economic standpoint—idiotic!  But the even more serious issue here is the effort to silence other opinions in the name of our newest norm, misinformation.  This is the new word used by the Deep State and its newly recruited safe-room alter-ego known as the Cancel Culture.

At the heart of this current controversy is the dreaded Covid-19 virus and its different variants.  An existential threat for sure, especially when it first hit our shores.  In the US alone nearly 1 million people have perished from the virus.  This pandemic has changed the course of our country forever.  It has also served to divide us as much as any other issue that plagues (no pun intended) our nation.  Let me be clear, I am vaccinated, stay six feet from most others, wear a mask, and will continue the process for the foreseeable future as I have seen evidence of the success of those efforts with my own eyes.  My life partner is a medical information person and has her finger solidly on the pulse of the pandemic.  Hell, when it comes right down to it, I do my best to keep a safe distance from most people during the flu season, let alone a pandemic.

The podcaster, who is under siege by scores of geriatric musicians, has had many guests on his podcast, each with their own opinions about many subjects.  I have had disagreements with some of his guests but overall, I find his podcast refreshing because it does air other views.  When we try to silence differing views and those that we disagree with, we put ourselves on a very dangerous, slippery slope.  An arena of different ideas is critical to understanding and fixing issues in any circumstance.  Imagine if we had never opened our minds to the possibility of the world being round, many non-believers of a round world wanted detractors sentenced to death.  The world would be a really small place had everyone stayed where they were.

The superstar podcaster stepped into some serious shyte by interviewing some scientists and doctors who disagree with the currently prevailing belief regarding vaccinations.  A couple of his guests flat out disagree about the effectiveness and safety of the vaccines currently being used.  There are many doctors out there who have weighed in with their support of the safety of the vaccines and there are some who disagree with their effectiveness and safety.  I don’t agree with the anti-vaxxers, but I am respectful of their opinion.  I examine as much data as possible and try to make an informed decision.   

There is plenty to debate on the matter of Covid, however, I digress and want to move on to a matter just as serious.  I understand that the podcast platform in question here is privately owned and not really subject to the intricacies of the US constitution.  Private companies have a right of refusal to serve any customer that they wish.  However, in this particular case Rip Van POTUS and the US government have put skin in the game.  Through his mouthpiece (press secretary) POTUS suggested that “more can be done” to stop the misinformation being distributed by the podcaster.  The podcaster platform has agreed to warning labels and linking to a Covid info sight.  But those moves do not seem to satisfy the White House’s needs for opinion control.

What does “should do more” mean in this instance?  Maybe shutting down the podcast completely forcing it onto some underground, dark web platform.  Maybe it is banning this podcaster from any provider on the internet.  My question is if these measures succeed and the podcast is shut down, where will this end?  Now that the US government has assumed a position against the podcast, they will be able to shut down virtually anyone who disagrees with them. POTUS has overstepped some boundaries here. There is an outcry to make the internet and any company, especially social media sites, public domain and subject to the laws of the US Constitution.

Many of those people who want this change are the same people who want this podcast taken down.  The day will come when the government and corporations finally violate the bounds of freedom, and we will want to challenge and protest their overreach.  But the control over speech that we will have surrendered will come back to bite us in our arses.  The platforms once free to the world will be controlled by totalitarianism, they will shut us down in an instant.  No opposing thoughts will be aired anywhere.  Your beliefs and opinions are stymied by oppressors who want you under their control.

Sound ridiculous to you?  You might want to consider reading Mein Kampf, a book which itself has been considered dangerous and has been banned in the past, yet it teaches us what hatred and control of people can do.  Maybe look at the Nazis manifesto and pay close attention to the part regarding book banning and burning (oh wait – currently happening in Tennessee and Mississippi) and control of propaganda censorship. In centuries past many philosophers had developed theories that cost them their lives as heretics.  I am an admitted socialist, my beliefs are diametrically different than conservatives and for that matter many so-called liberals, I am not a fan of the Republican or Democrat parties. Much of the conservative materials out there could easily be considered diatribe against my beliefs, however, I still read some of it. 

Another question here would be aren’t Americans smart enough to make their own decisions?  I can hear the liberal arrogance on this subject dripping out like a tapped maple tree to accuse the people who agree with this podcaster are too stupid to tie their own shoes.  Anyone who would believe anything from this podcast has to be an idiot right?  Really?  If that is the case, then why do so many of the so-called smart liberals crave self-driving cars?  Are they incapable of driving a car themselves or just lazy?  They can’t parallel park and for fuck sakes since they can’t be bothered while texting it is a true blessing to have sensors to stop the car before it hits a vehicle ahead of them.  The vehicles can help keep you in your own lane, I guess all of that practice was for nothing.  Also, while we are on the subject, be sure to watch all of the videos out there of self-driving cars engulfed in flames after slamming into a tree.  So, intelligent class when you call people stupid, should you be looking in the mirror?

So, we are now in this world of “Cancel Culture”, where a few people decide for all of us what is acceptable information versus what is not.  The arena of ideas has been closed, barricaded, or maybe burned down.  We no longer want to discuss or debate issues with differing ideas but rather listen to a few individuals who have labeled themselves as an expert or authority on a subject or topic.  We are expected to accept everything our government says as truth in spite of the fact that they sent us into a deadly war with no evidence or proof of the existence of WMDs. 

Whether you agree or disagree or even feel that someone with different ideas is stupid, you cannot have them silenced.  How many times have different ideas entered into a conversation in a business or family meeting?  Often, the ideas, even if not helpful can trigger other thoughts that could help solve the problem.  Our business world thrives on thinking outside of the box.  However, if those thoughts are not allowed to be brought up then you are doomed to live the rest of your life inside of the dreaded box.  And quite simply we will lose the right to speak our minds.

To advocate complete censorship or suppression of information is akin to the same fascism that many washed-up celebrities claim to be against.  Another example of this is the daughter of “Camelot-the Sequel” president.  She recently referred to some independent writers as “grifters”.  I find this quite hilarious as you can look up the word grifter in the dictionary and images of her mother and father are shown next to the definition.  This would be analogous to two pots calling the kettle black.  Her mother and father spent their entire presidency spewing lies and apocryphal myths.  And yet they were not canceled.   

Social media and podcast platforms now pose a real threat to the “Deep State’s” effort to control all narratives.  So, I guess by default, old, washed-up entertainers from the Camelot sequel era must pick up the ball and run with it.  All the supporters of the “Slick Willy” administration have always believed themselves to be smarter than everyone else.  Yet this effort to silence anyone who disagrees with them actually proves the opposite—they are idiots.  When we stop allowing a different angle on any of the issues to be heard, then we are truly on the road to some form of totalitarianism. 

After writing this piece and offering my opinion I will be classified as a “useful idiot” for the right-wing in this nation.  However, I would like to reiterate that I am a far-left-leaning person who stopped being a Liberal Democrat when the second coming of Camelot arrived.  I burned my Democrat voting card as the party stopped being for the people and became a money grifter (there’s that word again) machine.   My far-left beliefs sometimes put me at odds with the podcaster in question here.  But sometimes he and agree totally on issues as well.  I consider him a fair-minded person who is willing to listen to differing ideas, we should offer him the same courtesy. 

I know that the previous paragraphs were a little rough and maybe even a little flippant, so I want to get serious here for a moment.  The right to your opinion has long been a bedrock of US society.  When we stole this real estate from those who occupied it before us, we were going to build a new nation based on freedom and liberty.  Now we find some of our fellow citizens trying to remove one of our key freedoms, which is the right to free speech and your own opinion.  I am totally against any kind of threatening language or menacing dialogue towards any person or persons.  But a differing opinion is a part of the freedom and liberty proposition.

Moving forward we must be mindful of the freedoms that we still enjoy (although they seem to be disappearing every day) and preserve our core principles.  People have the right to stop doing business with anyone they please.  But what they don’t have the right to do is prevent others from using a business that they feel is off-track or wrong.  That within itself is a matter of opinion that they are free to express themselves.  However, denying someone else their opinion is not the right of a few who feel empowered by their history or social power (however outdated it might be). As always, this is just my opinion (so please don’t try to block me).

The Grumpy Old Fart Citizen

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