I'll say this for Jack Dorsey, he's got balls. A helluva lot more than Mark Zuckerberg, that's for sure. The Twitter CEO, after being threatened by the little dictator with possible shuttering, called his bluff. Trump's latest tweet in which he referred to the rioters in Minneapolis as "thugs" and threatened to send in the National Guard was flagged as a violation of its rules regarding posting. This is the second time that Twitter has called out Trump over one of his tweets. The first time was over his claim about mail-in ballots being fraudulent. That tweet was flagged as misleading.
Below is Trump's latest tweet along with Twitter's reply.
I'm not sure what pissed Trump off more, the rebuke he got or the words "Learn more" that appeared directly underneath it. It's one thing to correct the "stable genius" in public, it's quite another to provide a link for his edification. I can only imagine the fur that flew at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue when old Cadet Bone Spurs read that.
Like I said, Dorsey's got balls. And with good reason. For starters, Trump can't do jack shit to Twitter and both he and Dorsey know it. Yes, he can sue, but Dorsey and his company are worth billions. They'd eventually prevail in whatever venue Trump chose to fight. Even Tom Hagen wanna-be Bill Barr knows this is a no-win situation for his godfather.
Secondly, and most importantly, even if Trump could shut down Twitter, does anybody in their right mind seriously believe he would do that, knowing what that would mean to his campaign? He's got millions of followers. Were it not for Twitter, it's doubtful Trump would've won in 2016. Without it, he has virtually no chance of getting re-elected. There's no way in hell he'd ever shut down the one platform that allows him to speak directly to his minions. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
But here's the thing. As much as I applaud the stand that Dorsey is taking with Trump, the tweets are still up, including one involving a vicious conspiracy theory that MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, while he was a congressman, murdered a female staffer. The family of the woman implored Dorsey to take down the tweet, to no avail.
It's time to admit the obvious: Twitter and Facebook have become little more than cesspools of thought where people congregate in their own little universes. Social media has become anything but social over the last ten years. If anything, it's become anti-social, insofar as it encourages the kind of insular thinking that people like Trump exploit. The rhetoric that is spewed over these platforms strikes a cord within the vulnerable and the gullible, and this has led to tragic consequences.
We have seen, first hand, how certain extremist groups have used both Facebook and, to a lesser extent, Twitter to advance their deranged agenda and inspire people to commit acts of violence against innocent civilians. Trump may be the most appalling offender, but he's hardly alone. I sometimes wonder what the world would be like if both of these platforms were to suddenly disappear from our midst.
I dare say we'd have a helluva lot more time on our hands and far more constructive ways of putting it to good use.
Below is Trump's latest tweet along with Twitter's reply.
I'm not sure what pissed Trump off more, the rebuke he got or the words "Learn more" that appeared directly underneath it. It's one thing to correct the "stable genius" in public, it's quite another to provide a link for his edification. I can only imagine the fur that flew at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue when old Cadet Bone Spurs read that.
Like I said, Dorsey's got balls. And with good reason. For starters, Trump can't do jack shit to Twitter and both he and Dorsey know it. Yes, he can sue, but Dorsey and his company are worth billions. They'd eventually prevail in whatever venue Trump chose to fight. Even Tom Hagen wanna-be Bill Barr knows this is a no-win situation for his godfather.
Secondly, and most importantly, even if Trump could shut down Twitter, does anybody in their right mind seriously believe he would do that, knowing what that would mean to his campaign? He's got millions of followers. Were it not for Twitter, it's doubtful Trump would've won in 2016. Without it, he has virtually no chance of getting re-elected. There's no way in hell he'd ever shut down the one platform that allows him to speak directly to his minions. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
But here's the thing. As much as I applaud the stand that Dorsey is taking with Trump, the tweets are still up, including one involving a vicious conspiracy theory that MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, while he was a congressman, murdered a female staffer. The family of the woman implored Dorsey to take down the tweet, to no avail.
It's time to admit the obvious: Twitter and Facebook have become little more than cesspools of thought where people congregate in their own little universes. Social media has become anything but social over the last ten years. If anything, it's become anti-social, insofar as it encourages the kind of insular thinking that people like Trump exploit. The rhetoric that is spewed over these platforms strikes a cord within the vulnerable and the gullible, and this has led to tragic consequences.
We have seen, first hand, how certain extremist groups have used both Facebook and, to a lesser extent, Twitter to advance their deranged agenda and inspire people to commit acts of violence against innocent civilians. Trump may be the most appalling offender, but he's hardly alone. I sometimes wonder what the world would be like if both of these platforms were to suddenly disappear from our midst.
I dare say we'd have a helluva lot more time on our hands and far more constructive ways of putting it to good use.
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