On Tik Tok, Of Course
[guest post by Dana]
Imagine not just thinking this, but saying it out loud:
Over the past 24 hours, thousands of TikToks (at least) have been posted where people share how they just read Bin Laden’s infamous "Letter to America," in which he explained why he attacked the United States.
The TikToks are from people of all ages, races, ethnicities, and… pic.twitter.com/EwjiGtFEE3
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) November 16, 2023
Although this is jarring, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise. If one has observed societal trends over the past decade, it has been easy to see the direction in which a certain segment of the public was going. Of course, the $64 question is: what is the inevitable conclusion of this mindfuck?
If you kids think Bin Laden made some good points, wait'll I tell you about a vegetarian former art student with an ironic mustache whose impassioned manifesto about the Zionist oppression of his people sparked a worldwide movement
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) November 16, 2023
–Dana
Hello.
Dana (932d71) — 11/16/2023 @ 10:40 amThere is a word: oikophobia.
Add to it an inability to externalize.
We have worked very hard in our society to put on Mr. Magoo glasses when it comes to other nations, and a deploy a scanning electron microscope on ourselves.
It’s a malignant narcissism, I believe.
For example: if you are pro-trans, how does that work out in the Islamic world?
But such people have no trouble embracing cognitive dissonance.
I suspect that the truth will be imposed upon them, and perhaps all of us.
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 11/16/2023 @ 11:04 amI confess that I have become more and more disheartened over the past month about the future of our country. The degree to which trendy Third Worldism — by that I mean the idea that every backward and dysfunctional nation or society is only so because the nasty ol’ West has been undermining them with their colonizer ways and that their systems are more “pure” and “authentic” than ours are — has taken hold in the educational and entertainment establishment and thus is now part of the catechism of Generation Z. This doesn’t bode well for our future.
Nitwits like Rashida Tlaib are born here to immigrant parents and thus have no experience with living in their ancestral homeland, yet still imagine it to be a place of happy and loving people who are oppressed by a nasty neighbor who wants to keep it from reaching its glorious potential. Outright idiots and frauds like Ilhan Omar come to this country to escape her hellhole of a birthplace, but then immediately declare their dissatisfaction with pretty much all aspects of their adopted nation and, as we have seen, aren’t shy about gaming the system for their own reward.
I’ve long been a supporter of immigration so that people around the world can come and experience their share of the American Dream just as my ancestors did, but recent events have me really reconsidering if we should be accepting immigrants from dysfunctional nations, given the fact that both our immigration and our education systems absolutely suck at assimilating them.
JVW (07e744) — 11/16/2023 @ 11:11 amWhen I read Ferrigno’s book, I had no idea that it could be so possible.
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Prayers-for-the-Assassin/Robert-Ferrigno/9781501152467
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayers_for_the_Assassin
Simon Jester (c8876d) — 11/16/2023 @ 11:13 amBack in 2004, it probably seemed that we were destined to a long twilight struggle against the Caliphate. It turned out not to be the case; so much so that even after significant screw-ups by four presidents there is no Caliphate remaining.
There are number of books that postulated such a battle, or a second Civil War. Didn’t happen. Won’t happen. Not even Trump can get us there.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/16/2023 @ 11:49 amFor a real mash-up of themes, I recommend John Birmingham’s “Weapons of Choice” (2004) where not only does he postulate an existential global war against radical Islam, but then he takes some of his 2021 combatants (the USS Hillary Clinton* and her carrier group) and drops them (and their 2021 social libertarianism) into the middle of WW2, where they are less of a help than you might think.
———–
Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/16/2023 @ 11:53 am* “The most uncompromising wartime president in history” (hint: also won’t happen)
Are these TikTok posts real? Or just bot-farm product?
Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/16/2023 @ 11:55 amBefore bin Laden, there was the Unabomber and his manifesto. Still available at this newspaper site.
Just in time for the Green generation.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/16/2023 @ 11:58 amNot on Tik Tok, but on X:
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/16/2023 @ 12:03 pmYeah, Rip, as I said here
Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/16/2023 @ 12:08 pmYour link doesn’t go to your post.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/16/2023 @ 12:10 pmYour link doesn’t go to your post.
It did for me, comment #390 by Kevin M. last night at 9:12 pm.
JVW (07e744) — 11/16/2023 @ 1:09 pmMusk is your typical genius with zero social graces, but I can sort of understand his antipathy towards the ADL. I’ve never been big fans of theirs even though I obviously am on their side where issues concerning Israel are concerned. I find that just like other “civil rights” organizations — the NAACP, CAIR, MALDEF, etc. — they tend to deny the benefit of the doubt to people with whom they disagree and they are far too quick to ascribe ideological differences to racial animus. But Musk really does need to learn to express himself more clearly and avoid pithy Twitter replies.
JVW (07e744) — 11/16/2023 @ 1:14 pmYou get what you deserve. The harassment of teachers for political gain and religious fanatics and racists running wild. The targeting of children to buy consumer products and many other factors to numerous to mention. At least they don’t live in gaza. Are the premature babies still alive their?
asset (78d118) — 11/16/2023 @ 1:17 pmYour post 390 on the Weekend Open Thread says nothing about Musk’s comments as reported by CNN, so how is anyone to know what it refers to?
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/16/2023 @ 1:45 pm@7 I think we are seeing a lot of astroturf, both in social media and in some (though not all) of the “pro-Palestine” rioters.
Sam G (8d2ed1) — 11/16/2023 @ 1:59 pmOf course, the first reaction of a DC politician is to ban Tik Tok (a constitutionally dubious idea) because of what its users have posted; but you could say the same thing about what users have posted on Meta or X.
Rip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/16/2023 @ 2:15 pmOf course, the first reaction of a DC politician is to ban Tik Tok (a constitutionally dubious idea) because of what its users have posted; but you could say the same thing about what users have posted on Meta or X.
I maintain that we should ban TikTok not because of the content on that platform, but because it is a tool of an aggressive and passively-hostile Chinese government and because there is a bipartisan consensus that TikTok executives have lied to Congress about the company’s operations here in the U.S.
JVW (1ad43e) — 11/16/2023 @ 2:28 pmA new standard of incoherent ranting from asset.
JVW (1ad43e) — 11/16/2023 @ 2:29 pm@19 assumedly wrong thread?
Sam G (8d2ed1) — 11/16/2023 @ 3:06 pmTikTok should be banned for the reasons outlined @18. I wish terrorist sympathizers on TikTok was our biggest problem. Terrorist sympathizers in Homeland Security would seem to be a much bigger issue. For every one Nejwa Ali, I fear there are hundreds more who just happen to be smart enough to stay anon. Of course, this being a Democrat administration, Ali is on leave, not fired and presumably still on the taxpayer payroll before her inevitable reinstatement so she can resume processing asylum claims.
As for Musk, we’ve become accustomed to the delicate handling of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protesters, who we’re very careful not to brand anti-Semitic because, you know, there’s a difference. No such courtesy for Musk or anyone else on that side. You can’t be anti-ADL and not be anti-Semitic. There is no difference. Musk sued the ADL for discouraging advertising on X, so there’s a history there. I guess suing the ADL is anti-Semitic. It must be great to have that kind of force field around you.
lloyd (0ab1dd) — 11/16/2023 @ 3:26 pmThe voters who use tiktok only half of generation z has reached 18 might want to vote for people who want to ban those who want to ban tiktok. We see what trump wants to do to his enemies he calls vermin. When you look into the abyss the abyss looks into you. nietzsche. Haley now 20% in new hampshire trump 42%
asset (b97181) — 11/16/2023 @ 3:55 pmRip Murdock (d2a2a8) — 11/16/2023 @ 12:10 pm
JVW (07e744) — 11/16/2023 @ 1:09 pm
It’s on the top of the screen, and the post by Kevin M isn’t long, so your eye won’t immediately go to it.
This is post 390
It’s about the general quality of what Musk says. It’s not about anything in particular Elon Musk said unless it has something to do with getting rid of anonymity
Sammy Finkelman (1d215a) — 11/16/2023 @ 4:12 pmIt was in response to the news item that Rip saw a day later. It CLEARLY was in response to him shooting his mouth off again, which is evergreen.
Kevin M (ed969f) — 11/16/2023 @ 5:55 pm