Don't worry, your privilege (and the gatekeepers of the "truth") will protect you
FYI: I posted these concerns directly to Daily Kos staff Monday at 3:38 PM EST. No one responded until this morning at 7:52 AM after “timing me out” for 36+ hours within an hour of a brand new user complaining with one piece of contrary evidence. So here we go:
1) Longtime Daily Kos member posts diary based on SEVERAL items pointing to possible complicity of the powerful in support of the Capitol insurrection.
2) Said diary reaches the top of the rec list and attracts widespread attention.
3) One person, newly joined to Daily Kos, contests it with a tweet thread from one of the sources, 2 days after the diary was first posted, that contains items that the author takes issue with, and was NOT the primary source for the claim in question.
4) Daily Kos staff amend diary title and content WITHOUT giving the author a chance to do so, blocking said author, and not responding in a timely fashion to questions about this action.
As a lifetime subscriber from 2004 and frequent commenter but very infrequent diarist, I posted a diary entitled "Ginni Thomas - Aiding & Abetting the Capitol Insurrection" (now renamed by the admins as “Ginni Thomas Supported the Capitol Insurrection”) based on what I knew on January 9, 2021. Why? I, like most of you, have been angered past the point of inaction about the seditious rhetoric from the powerful in support of blatant falsehoods that led up to and encouraged the Capitol Insurrection of January 6, 2021.
Consequently, I thought I was doing a service to this community by reporting on several tweets I had come across in regard to Ginni (Mrs. Clarence) Thomas’ possible incitement and support of those activities. I am not the New York Times. My days involve being the primary caregiver for my 83-year-old mother who has severe Alzheimer’s disease. So I fired off a diary. Little did I expect or know it would reach the top of the rec (or Trending) list within a few hours of posting.
Was I trying to delude anyone? Hardly; I posted based on what I had read through Saturday, January 9, 2021, and attempted to follow every comment, recommending everyone (even those that disagreed with me) for participating, limiting assertions that stemmed from an incomplete understanding of what I had posted (such as “support” equating directly to monetary sponsorship), and even editing the diary to include a very insightful comment that, in some ways, cut my argument off at its knees, in the diary itself. I tried to be respectful of the desire for the search for truth.
But there were a few commenters claiming (erroneously) that I had only sourced one tweet, and finally, one person, who joined Daily Kos MONDAY MORNING, alerted Daily Kos support staff to evidence from just one of those sources (and NOT the primary source for the assertion in question) that came to light Monday, January 11, 2021, two days AFTER the diary was posted. Subsequently, I was IMMEDIATELY blocked and my diary’s title and content altered without my consultation.
Before I knew it, I lost all access. No, I was not given a chance to respond. Nor were the other sources investigated.
I draw your attention to one of the primary sources: Anne Nelson @anelsona Author of "Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right" (Bloomsbury, Oct. 2019).
Original tweet:
Monday's tweet:
And I would also assert that, having been on boards myself, that being on a board, whether as a director, trustee, or advisor, DOES imply you give tacit approval to the organization for which it belongs, even its day-to-day operations (“simply lending your name to the group” = YOUR NAME, YOUR SUPPORT, YOUR APPROVAL). Finally, I think we SHOULD be taking what those with such platforms, like Charlie Kirk, say, in terms of holding them accountable for it. Otherwise, we might as well claim that since Trump lies all the time, he was just lying about the rally on January 6 - and thus had no responsibility for it. So I do not believe Mark Joseph Stern's tweets to be the end-all, be-all in regard to this issue (and they were NOT the ONLY source for my diary).
If Thomas stepped down from the relevant board in 2019 or far enough back in 2020, then no, she has no responsibility for the bus “sponsorship.” But was she rotated out at the end of 2020 as her term ended, yet still was on board when the bus sponsorships were planned? This would definitely have taken place at anytime following Trump’s December 19 announcement of the “wild time” coming up on January 6. And her social media posts (as reported by Mr. Stern) certainly show explicit support for the lies of election fraud and for the “protestors” up to and through the morning of January 6.
To summarize, we have for far too long given a pass to seditious rhetoric. Do we hold those who proclaim it to account, or do we continue to turn a blind eye? And when there is evidence (however scant, considering the powerful have myriad ways to disguise their actions - such as deleting their social media posts or “stepping down” from their posts as board members of this or that corrupt organization) to investigate seditious rhetoric, and possible actions in support of, should we raise our voice to question them? Or shut our mouths (or have them shut for us) until the MSM decides it’s worth investigating? As I have learned now, we can stoke a fire that will bring additional and possibly professional investigators to question and research our claims. If that makes people in power uncomfortable. Good - it’s about fucking time.
What saddens me is that a platform I am a lifetime subscriber, proponent, and consumer, of, decided that question for me - without consulting me. At the behest of someone that just joined that day to question my assertions with only ONE source? Perhaps it was in the greatest faith, that of the search for truth, and in that, I don’t hold any animosity. But with great power comes great responsibility. It is up to those in power to not only avoid impropriety, but even the APPEARANCE of impropriety.
Then again, that might have only been the ethic of my father who raised me. If it’s not true, we deserve where we’re at. I thought we were better than this. Well, another thing my father taught me was to always speak truth to power, not matter who holds that power. Including Daily Kos.
As Living Colour sang, “Fight The Fight.” Peace.
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