By Fred Watson Jr for The American Sun
The great shuttering of the Internet has been an ongoing process since the 2016 election. Fake news and disinformation was the original explanation. This has been a flimsy rationale, which was quickly thrown back on the media by President Trump himself. The greater lengths that the regime is going to are a product of their loosening control of culture.
Internet access has been likened to the birth of the printing press, and there is truth to it. Democratization of information creation, dissemination and analysis has been a problem for the media and academic overlords. Anyone can set up a site or account and spread information. Control over the concept of truth was shattered. This became a large problem as the left wing and regime embraced more lunatic beliefs that are easily refuted by reality. Manufacturing agreement is much more difficult in today’s culture.
This explains the major pressure on Big Tech to clean up its platforms. Did Assad survive due to military tactics & Russian support or because he had such a strong online presence that spotlighted jihadist atrocities and provided a believable story opposite of the US media’s? America avoided deeper involvement even after red lines were crossed partly due to the meme of a No Fly Zone turning the US Air Force into Al Qaeda’s Air Force.
What started with NatSec concerns turned to anyone outside the Overton Window and countersignaling media approved facts and beliefs. Questioning Biden’s mental acuity caused Berniebro and Trump supporters to be locked or deleted from Twitter. The application of preventing disinformation and even harm due to hate facts spread to nearly every public policy topic. YouTube now uses demonetization to squash climate change denial content.
Youtube, Facebook and Twitter all instituted new policies to destroy the small reach sites out there, even tiny accounts with limited follower counts. Right Wing twitter saw all of its Covid takes be banned and mocked in 2020 only to be vindicated and partially embraced in 2021. Platforms complied with bans and continue to this day. Now they are coming for TikTok.
Media outlets are pointing out the dangers of TikTok. The algos lead to dangerous far right ideas. The left’s longhouse soldiers are getting frazzled debunking random TikTok videos. It is a repeat of the YouTube algo recommendation battle. It’s all so tiresome.
Does it matter? The left and regime have total institutional dominance. They are in a position of unchallenged strength. It does matter. They hold all the cards but the problem is fewer people want to play their game. CNN has nights averaging fewer than one million viewers. MTV’s video music awards had fewer than one million viewers. These are not one offs as all network shows’ ratings are way down. Check those TikTok articles. Some videos discussing hyperborea or other dangerous ideas have one million views. This is why it matters to the regime. Their traditional mediums are losing viewers and effect.
TikTok is a perfect example of this issue, and the picture used for this article clues us in. The young woman who started a dance routine to a new single “Say So” was viral enough that when the studio paid for a music video for Doja Cat, they incorporated the dance from the TikTok video into it. This sequence does show the problem media has in generating cultural force like before. Previously, the spread of video allowed them to shape people much easier via the Big 3 channels and then in music via MTV. With the advent of Nickelodeon & Disney, they could create a teen product, build a huge audience and then have her turn slutty at 21 or so to send a huge message to that pool of girls.
Doja Cat herself is a funny example as she has a checkered past with online far right engagement in her online life and is the embarrassingly transparent undefined race, body positive figure for girls to project themselves onto. She has no talent but was selected to send a message as a cultural product. She wears see through clothing for her official videos, yet does any man want to see her goods? The TikTok dance girl is far cuter and far more real and authentic as an aspirational figure. Now compare media made Doja to the thousands if not millions of women who can pantomime her song on TikTok. They are better looking, and far more successful at conveying a message of being the girl next door who can have fun and be a star. No wonder the follower counts grow. Who needs a mixed race, lowest common denominator mass media product when you can find a cute white, asian, black, latino, blonde, redhead, etc figure to follow dancing and lip syncing just like a star? There is a reason OnlyFans killed big production porn, and it’s not just the pandemic.
This is why they go after the smallest of communities like tradwife TikTok. The regime has full media control to push sexual promiscuity, careerism and wine aunt life, yet fears small communities promoting tradwife life. They know their positions are against nature and many will resist. They cannot allow any voice to say there is another way. They have full spectrum dominance and all of the credentials but are miles away from the truth. As it was with Twitter and Syria, YouTube and covid, so shall it be with anything and TikTok. They have total control yet realize their message does not grab and hold the population as before. We will see further clampdowns on all messaging that deviates from Harvard’s script.