I’ve been thinking about this a lot. These kind of informant-led plots are always squicky, but the role of this episode in COVID politics is really important too. This is not just law enforcement entrapment, (assuming allegations are true) this is also essentially a false-flag operation that propped up the false idea that there’s a big, dedicated constituency opposed to muscular COVID prevention measures.
It’s like as soon as Trump started burying his head in the sand about COVID, the entire narrative was written, everyone’s parts were assigned, and the whole information ecosystem sprang into action to produce the play. The FBI finds some deranged losers to cast as the anti-lockdown terrorist, the Fox News undead get their vaccines then rant about how vaccines are evil, the memesters popularize the 5G conspiracy theory, Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes seek out the most noxious elements of the right to spotlight, and it doesn’t matter that 65% of people want to see vaccine mandates in some form.
And both Fox News and MSNBC are better off without vaccine mandates actually in place. Fox gets to yell about the looming threat of the mandates while MSNBC gets to yell about conservatives blocking mandates. These aren’t news organizations, they’re stirring up anger machines.
Yeah, this is the point. The question “Did the Biden Administration go too far, not far enough, or the right distance on X?” will get the same 50/25/25 results for any value of X. This is the technique for flattening all questions into the question of whether the Biden admin is: (a) a bunch of dangerous radicals, (b) fine, or (c) squishy shitlibs.
Also note the immediately preceding paragraph, which somehow didn’t get selected for amplification by the social media machine:
Change Research noted that the president’s worsening approval ratings on Covid is likely due to an increase in voters who believe the White House hasn’t gone far enough when it comes to vaccine mandates.
EDIT: “The Poll with a Thousand Faces”! Is that something?
I imagine you’re familiar with Sort By Controversial. Somehow, the reality is even darker. It’s not just that the most polarizing things bubble to the top, it’s that the ecosystem has evolved to make noncontroversial statements into scissors. “Vaccines against highly communicable and dangerous diseases are good” or “The President should not incite a violent mob to attack Congress while they’re trying to certify that he lost the election” really aren’t, or weren’t, controversial. The dark alchemy is that somehow they get turned into the ur-question to drive better engagement.
This is techbro fan fiction.
But I will let Neil cuck me into staying home.
She should literally murder RBG in 2014 and Breyer now.
And thinking about Neil could somehow get locked in his truck. Overnight. In the Yukon.
The Lawbros were wrong, all the way up to the Lawbro (?)
“I will not stand by silently as a State continues to nullify this constitutional guarantee. I dissent.”
It seems to me that’s exactly what she’s going to do.
Someone let me know if Sotomayor goes to Texas to protest or volunteer, throws open the doors of the Supreme Court to protesters, or drops a keg on Kavanaugh’s head or something.
But no she’s going to stand by silently. She dissents, though! So that’s cool.
Before anyone (Iron) posts this with a TRUMP JUDGE! take, it’s just a ploy to get the Supreme Court to eventually drop the hammer and explicitly condone this shit.
https://twitter.com/redistrict/status/1485793950267019265?s=21
Well they have a point. Libor isn’t real. Money isn’t real. Banks aren’t real. Of course, neither are law, justice, or courts.