My dude. The "Great Capitulation" would actually, precisely, be the opposite -- if we all stayed and made nice. Like what on God's green earth could you possibly mean here?
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The guy's been on Xitter since 2009, and has 82k followers. He's spent a lot of time building up a following, and, presumably, is watching his numbers drop day by day. I imagine lots of people like him are upset that the platform is dying:
As usual - Nobody ever has agency except for the libs - everyone else's action is that of a morally inculplable animatronic zombie- my exodus caused this!
guess he doesn’t understand people got tired of being called horrific names & finding porn in their comments and it actually intensified after the election, why eat moldy bread when a fresh loaf is available
He's been talking about this more. He was unclear. He admits he's hardly ever on X himself.
Apparently he's talking about the Far Right's dominance of both social media & mainstream media. He's correct that we need to do something about that. (My solution in my next post.
This is a problem not just on the individual level but on the systemic level.
All of us including Will leaving Twitter solves the individual level problem.
Here's my proposal for solving the systemic level problem.
It’s always bothered me when media platforms present debates on issues like climate change or vaccination as if both sides—say, climate scientists vs. deniers—are equally valid...
—This false equivalence dangerously misleads the public into believing that these positions represent two legitimate extremes or that the truth lies somewhere in between. It’s preposterous and undermines efforts to address these critical issues effectively.
Undermining efforts to address these issues is an end-goal of one entire party in the political debate. Like Southern Democrats in Antebellum times, should Republicans accept the framing of climate change as a real issue with broad moral implications, their entire political stance is a nonstarter.
He means that if "we (you) all" stayed and didn't make nice the left/liberal movement wouldn't have been seen as capitulating. And some organizations have acted on this information.
I have my doubts about whether Will is correct, but the statement is not that hard to parse.
If we had stayed on twitter, ABC wouldn't have sent Trump $15 million to settle his bogus defamation suit? Amazon and Meta and a bunch of other tech companies wouldn't have sent him millions and bent the knee? Mika and Joe wouldn't have kissed the ring at Mar-a-lago? They did that because we left X?
I'm not talking about paid subscriptions. My point, albeit done with snark but hey that's the internet for you, is that ANY activity on the other site helps it retain value which helps elon and therefore the rest of the MAGA movement.
Just being a fly on the wall does not help him one iota. The problem with the left is they always take the MAGA bait and want to insult and argue, as seen here. A simple "whatever" is the best answer as it drives the MAGA nuts.
You can’t be a fly on the wall while also trolling. So which is it? Or are you just completely full of shit? The more you post, the more obvious it is you’re the same type of internet weirdo as them.
Musk has turned Twitter into a trash site. It’s politically slanted towards MAGA with mostly crude and untrue content. Other than those actively refuting that content why would anyone support Musk’s revenue stream?
Others have noted this in replies, but his point is that with the lack of liberal voices on Xitter to offer some resistance, that it’s too easy for the MSM and craven pols to do the wrong thing. I think it’s a good point! But staying on Xitter isn’t a solution.
I mean, according to Will there it's apparently to... convince politicians to do their job and oppose the person their constituents want them to oppose?
You say that like it’s plainly wrong or impossible that social media could be used to persuade people or influence elite consensus. I think you’re mistaken!
His point wasn't that people should've stayed over there, it's that liberal voices leaving that site has caused a shift in how the legacy media views & covers Dear Leader
Exactly - I'm not sure he's right, and maybe he traded glibness for clarity, but it's not so obviously wrong (or stupid) as most of the replies here are implying
Tho It’s hardly incontrovertible especially if you assume media companies getting in line to kiss the ring of a soupy brained King could definitely move them back on the vengeance list tho if you didn’t see everything Trump has ever done as mob protection racket ur really behind in the coursework
Yeah I don't think that's wrong I just think the analytics the legacy media companies have on Twitter trends are probably less robust than we think - they probably know there isn't a massive cross section of users regularly watching ABC News and regularly using Twitter
I think Stancil may have overstated the importance of libs leaving twitter but it probably has had at least a small impact on the total lack of pushback to this kiss-the-ring shit
If he wants to use Great Capitulation (with caps) like it's a major historical event, he should be talking about something more important than choices about social media platforms. The real fight brewing is between blue state governors and Trump. Newsome, Shapiro, Walz, Whitmer, etc. aren't caving.
I assume he's referring (perhaps even tongue-in-cheek) to all the legacy media companies bending the knee recently but it's just a screenshot out of context so I don't really know
Staying on twitter is like deciding to wrestle with a pig in the mud. YOu get dirty and the pig loves it. Twitter is a cesspool, a never ending obscene phone call, insanity by a thousand tweets. Perhaps leaving is hitting Musks bottom line a little?
I think there’s something to it, but it’s not the fault of those of us who’ve left Twitter. It’s on the journalists and other big accounts that have loaned their credibility to a toxic platform.
Twitter by far has a larger user base. Moderates or those who are non partisan are being pulled right because many of the voices of the left have abandoned the debate there.
That only works if you removed the blue check weighing, the musk weighing, replace trending with actual trends and not what grok guesses, and restore basic moderation. Otherwise what you have is enormous pile-ons towards the lefty who responds which also pulls people right in a community way. so...?
Edit: that also ignores that twitters major "power" social media wise was journalism, sciences, and somewhat sports. Growing another place to convince them to leave the cesspit should end up being a general positive. Especially with regard to surface level only thinking journalists/pundits.
What I'm seeing are talented and smart left of center accounts making very weak points on Bluesky because they no longer are challenged. They are getting careless and their arguments are not being vetted or researched.
It's not my experience. When I was on the left I was directed to more left wing accounts and now that I'm moving to the right I'm seeing more moderate right content. If there's a bigot or abuse I mute them. For many years the left were catered to so equality now feels like bias
The fact you think the left was catered kind of says it all honestly. (I am a Dem but definitely not what most consider a lefty nowadays). Also guarantee you aren't seeing moderate conservative stuff, just what you now consider moderate (since first dozen of so comments will be tds or stupidity)
Pre Elon obviously twitter had a liberal bias. Massachusetts Institute of Technology study found republicans were suspended at five times the rate democrats there.
My views changed after Oct 7th when Israel was attacked. Twitter didn't alter my views. It's content to conform to my convictions
That study also showed right wing posters were significantly more likely to post misinformation (a few categories of which violated ToS on multiple platforms), violate ToS against violence and harassment, and multiple other areas so yeah of course they were. Going to end this here though I think.
All you have to do is mute a thread after you've made an argument. What you don't do is sit on this circle jerk site pretending you're accomplishing anything
Yes it's great to being in a silo and having all your assumptions coddled and applauded. What's not so great is having very flawed out of touch opinions and losing elections or being so misguided that you end up obliviously being the oppressor
Umm yes forming a group of people who wish to respect each other despite views, talk diplomatically, introduce in depth ideas - yea that is capitulation - not! We refuse to shut up, accept incompetence and inhumanity. Strength in numbers and freedom of speech.
His view is that X the Everything is in a worst-of-both-worlds state, in that it's a Nazi hellhole with no anticonservative pushback, but journalists and other influential people still stay there and take it seriously
"Capitulation" is an awful word choice because he also claims not to be judging.
The "Great Capitulation" is corporations donating $1 million to the Dishonest Donald Inauguration, ABC giving $15 million to Dishonest Donald for "defamation," Joe Scarborough kissing Dishonest Donald's rear end, the "LA Times" and "Washington Post" being taken over by far-right fascists, etc.
Its like, if you stay with Twitter, your brain gets eaten by worms and you post incredibly stupid takes -- I used to follow Stancil on Twitter. Its a shame what's happened to him.
lol, if we just would have sacrificed ourselves at the alter of the twitter algorithm, and maybe bought a few Teslas along the way… everything would already be fiiiiiiine 🙄
Dude who spent his life trying to win twitter arguments thinks we have to engage in meaningless arguments on a gamed social media site that strangles engagement on any political position to the left of Pol Pot.
Most pundits have a vastly overinflated sense of how much their posts actually matter, but it's rare to see one just come out and announce it like this.
I enjoy social media and all, but if “the media” does or has ever based its profile of the rest of us on what it sees on Twitter, left, right, or otherwise…that’s just really something.
As if social platforms were elemental, cosmic forces. It’s not even clear that they are societal forces, except in the minds of news media, influencers and advertisers. What drives masses of people are fear, hunger and avarice, as always.
It’s the political equivalent of “getting real ‘Boss Baby’ vibes off of this.” If your sole window and point of reference is your Twitter feed, you’re going to think it’s the sun the world revolves around.
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Now the Twitter folk will have to be in each other's face, deal with each other's awfulness, & live with each other's awfulness. 😁
This isnt an exodus it’s just people upgrading their surroundings.
Lol, LMFAO even.
Apparently he's talking about the Far Right's dominance of both social media & mainstream media. He's correct that we need to do something about that. (My solution in my next post.
https://bsky.app/profile/whstancil.bsky.social/post/3ldexpb65hc2w
All of us including Will leaving Twitter solves the individual level problem.
Here's my proposal for solving the systemic level problem.
https://upine.medium.com/time-to-solve-our-propaganda-problems-like-the-military-does-e97eda71ba7b
https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/powellmemo/1/
Its significance explained here:
https://billmoyers.com/content/the-powell-memo-a-call-to-arms-for-corporations/
GOP has been doing this plan since 1971. Dem have done nothing about it.
I have my doubts about whether Will is correct, but the statement is not that hard to parse.
At least now you understand what he means.
If less people are there, it is inherently less valuable.
Leaving the bar is the act of resistance, and they feel judged …but have they tried not being Nazis?
https://bsky.app/profile/upine.bsky.social/post/3ldf6kk7nj22z
But he'd be wrong, because it's actually a great trebuchet
My views changed after Oct 7th when Israel was attacked. Twitter didn't alter my views. It's content to conform to my convictions
just asking
but yeah, I'm muting this thread now
Twitter was not a popular app even before Elon bought it, something like 4% of Americans have an account.
Twitter is overrepresented in discourse because elites like it but normies aren't on there.
"Capitulation" is an awful word choice because he also claims not to be judging.
You should inspect what you liked about him and what you dislike now. I'm willing to bet it's not his logic that's changed.