Kamalaw & Order Meme Rocks

In some alternate reality from this one, Trump TV started up and Hillary won. But in this timeline we’re stuck in, Trump won, Bannon’s in prison where he belongs (but for only four months, alas) and who knows what Trump or the GOP will do post November.

It’s common to do a post-mortem after lost elections. Certainly they did with McCain and Romney. How many times do they need to have Trump lose before they realize it’s time to cut bait?

Well, if it’s a CABLE network, the Fairness Doctrine won’t have any application. The Fairness Doctrine, even before it was undone by Reagan, didn’t apply to the likes of CNN or TBS or USA or any of the cable networks. It DID apply to PBS, CBS, ABC and NBC. I believe it technically applied to the new FOX network–the one that gave us “Married . . . with Children” and “The Tracey Ullman Show” rather than that “news” channel–but I don’t recall if FOX had really been on the air that long before the Fairness Doctrine was abolished; the reason I said “technically” is because I don’t recall FOX airing any kind of “news/opinion/editorial” programming during its roughly 18-hour broadcast week (at the time, the network only operated for 2 hours Monday through Friday nights and about 3 hours on Sunday nights; the FOX affiliates were largely responsible for all other programming although when FOX tried its hand at late-night shows, like Joan Rivers’ and Arsenio Hall’s talk shows, those hours also added to the network’s time).

But, even if the Fairness Doctrine were to be restored without some significant changes, CNN, MSNBC and Fox “News” would still likely be exempt.

I won’t speak for Ursuala, other contributors or readers on this. Only for myself. From the time I heard of it, and people making a BFD out of twitter I thought it was stupid. The whole damn concept. 240 characters? From what I could tell it was damn near exclusively people posting drivel. “Twitter is Twattle” was what I always said. I just never understood why it became so freaking popular although I freely admit to often having been clueless about pop culture and trends. As with FB I saw no reason to sign up and take part. After five years or so of prodding by friends I eventually relented with FB – mostly because it gave me a chance to reconnect with people around the country I’d known. Also to keep up on goings on with their major life events. Eventually it became a time suck and I cut way the hell back. Anyway that was it with social media for me. Even after getting on FB I STILL thought twitter was just stupid. Still do. I vowed I’d never sign up for it. However I also knew it had become a critical marketing platform for businesses from small mom & pops in places like where I grew up to major corporations. Entertainers too. Politicians and journalists using and even relying on it was a bad sign as far as I was concerned and it turns out I was right to feel that way.

However, we’ve long been stuck with it. A lot of people would be screwed without it which is why there’s no way in hell control should have been turned over to one single person. Twitter was dangerous already when it was a publicly traded company (same for FB as Zuckerberg holds controlling interest) but in the hands of one person who answers to no one but himself it’s far more so. I don’t know what kind of unholy bargain Zuckerberg struck behind the scenes with Musk that kept the former from launching a true competitor but there has to have been one. That’s a much longer thing to get into.

It’s infuriating but we are stuck with twitter or X or whatever Musk wants to call it. Just like the public is stuck with Fox. We don’t have to like it and I don’t but that’s just how things are. Too many people/businesses are stuck with it so it retains huge influence and Musk’s evil doings are part of that mix. We can ignore it like many do with Fox, or we can (some of us) point out the abuses of truth and decency as well as the damage that gets done every day. Swimming in the toxic cesspool of RWNJ media including social media has to be done and reported on. Pretending it’s not there and in the process not realizing just what MAGAs and people even worse is a bad idea. There IS a market for that crap and tens of millions who want more and more. We ignore them at our peril.

Those who step into that toxic cesspool to inform those who understandably don’t want to swim in it themselves but still want to be informed should I believe be respected instead of criticized. You and others who despise twitter and Musk as much as I do still need to know what those we HAVE to defeat are lapping up. As well as the efforts of those who are on there every day (Ron Filipowski of Meidas Touch for example) that are there fighting the good fight to counter the toxic hate Musk is selling.

Again, I fought getting a twitter account until just a couple of years ago. I don’t “tweet” and might (probably not) never do so but much as I hate accessing that site I know to do my job here I have no choice.

I want to wrap up by emphasizing I don’ speak for Ursula, other writers or Politizoom itself. What I’ve written is me and only me trying to answer your question. I hope you’ll give some thought to what I’ve said.

PLEASE stop linking to Xitter (pronounces $hitter)! I will NEVER go to Muskrat’s trash heap!