“why are there nazis and communists arguing on ‘rate my trashcan dot com,’ i just want to talk about eating garbage with my friends.”
— Starfish Who Just Wants To Grill (@IRHotTakes) June 26, 2020
Parler, per Wikipedia, is a “microblogging and social networking service launched in August 2018, promoted as an alternative to Twitter and particularly marketed to political conservatives in the United States”. (The article cites “Brad Parscale, Senator Mike Lee, and activist Candace Owens” as prominent early supporters, for what that’s worth.)
Benny Johnson, formerly ‘Buzzfeed Ben’, is a plagiarist currently serving as “chief creative officer at conservative nonprofit Turning Point USA”.
As you may have heard, Professional Conservatives are currently Big Mad at Twitter and FaceBook for those companies’ recent half-hearted attempts to staunch the sludge of hate speech, misinformation, and monetized lies. Lo, Mr. Johnson proclaims a Solution!
lol pic.twitter.com/ajcTvvpnAp
— Adrenochrome Harvester (@ClenchedFisk) June 24, 2020
It’s the hot new craze!
New: @tedcruz is joining Parler, the social media site that bills itself as an “unbiased” alternative to the likes of Twitter and Facebook, the latest GOP official to do so https://t.co/7fFSKoCiAK
— Cristiano Lima (@viaCristiano) June 25, 2020
Considering starting a Parler account.
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) June 25, 2020
Tom Cotton’s aide writes some advertising copy:
Buhbye! https://t.co/LSgw53daTo
— AdotSad (@AdotSad) June 25, 2020
Report from Fast Company:
… I have to admit: The Parler site itself is well-designed and organized. It obviously takes many cues from Twitter in terms of features and layout, but it’s got some of its own bells and whistles, such as the ability to tip other users’ posts with influence points, which you must buy with a credit card. You can also vote up posts and “echo” them by hitting a little megaphone icon…
Of course, if Parler has your credit card info, it can sell your data, just like those other evil apps! And because I am an elderly cynic, when a company offers a chance for its marks to send money to their faves, I immediately wondered about the percentage of outright grifters among its users…
yes they are literally called echoes and it will only get funnier from herehttps://t.co/ckt7JoMSN4 https://t.co/D7SwM5V4Bf
— kilgore trout, a ramp with no steps (@KT_So_It_Goes) June 25, 2020
— Adrenochrome Harvester (@ClenchedFisk) June 24, 2020
Endgame Portals but for weird dipshits https://t.co/LZS09fVUfe
— Zeddy (@Zeddary) June 26, 2020
it’s where all the Q and frog and militia folks are organizing on
— devin nune’s illegitimate calf (@JaysClef) June 25, 2020
here’s how this comedy will play out
week 1: back-slapping and self-congratulatory unity
week 2: let’s raid twitter as a show of unity *skirmish breaks out between open racists and closeted racists*
week 3: all-out war
week 4: open racists win, silent return to twitter— kilgore trout, a ramp with no steps (@KT_So_It_Goes) June 25, 2020
Joining @parler_app is a pretty toothless “swipe” at the dominant platforms unless you also close your accounts with them.
Until those involved in this “protest” are willing to do that, @Facebook and @Twitter will be like ¯\_(?)_/¯
— TimKarr (@TimKarr) June 25, 2020
my new favorite sport is parler watching https://t.co/dNc2tON80G
— kilgore trout, a ramp with no steps (@KT_So_It_Goes) June 25, 2020
I’m at Parler! Come say hi! pic.twitter.com/CDXJiMZ0d7
— Devin Nunes’ cow ?? (@DevinCow) June 25, 2020
Broke: Gab
Woke: Parler
Bespoke: The QAnon-only social network “WeWake.” pic.twitter.com/RlXeGRxco9— Travis View (@travis_view) June 26, 2020
Aziz, light!
Democracy dies in bullshit.
Mallard Filmore
So this will either be a closed garden, bringing back the joy of AOL …
… or greed will take over and it will become a resurgence of the SpamBone.
https://www.wired.com/1997/12/the-spambone-connects-to-the-funny-bone/
SiubhanDuinne
I only heard of Parler for the first time in my life about six hours ago (had to Google to even find out what it was) and now it’s suddenly a thing?
Martin
Good time for a reminder that conservatives wrote their own Bible because the usual ones hurt their feelings
It is funny how frequently the snowflakes find safe spaces to retreat to, and then, lacking libs to own, they abandon them.
SectionH
I still have LiveJournal/Dreamwidth friends I read several times a week. How weird is that?
Anne Laurie
@SiubhanDuinne: Hey, have to catch the latest phenom while it’s still ‘a thing’!
Me, I would bet a store-bought cookie that at least some of those Top Social Media Influencers are getting paid for this — we already know what Benny Johnson will do for money. Not to mention Brad Parscale, who needs a gilt parachute for when the other Trump grifters figure out how to funnel campaign funds to the Trump WAGs (if you know that British acronym… )
Brachiator
@SiubhanDuinne:
Same here. I never heard of it before, and will soon forget it.
The only thing about this that is remotely interesting is that Trump and his minions still want to force Twitter, Facebook, etc to accept right wing bullshit in a perverse reversal of the Fairness Doctrine. If they succeed, I suppose that they will say that liberals can always come to Parler if they like.
The other thing that might be interesting is to see how many conservatives with a conscience will go to Parler, see the kind of crap it spews and decide that it is a cesspool too far.
piratedan
@SiubhanDuinne: they will hate their new platform in less than a week, because where will their outrage go? no one will deny them the outlet to say stupid shit non-stop, so if there’s no outrage to be ginned up and no libruls to offend, what’s the point? These people are not ever or ever will be wanting to engage in a discussion, they already know everything they exist to be the smug, self-righteous examples of semi-sentient meat sacs we’ve always known them to be.
Kent
At least Ted Cruz isn’t trying to do TikToc. That would literally burn my eyes and make my screen crack.
Anya
Isn’t parler French for talk? I wonder why they chose a French word?
On another topic: Black Lives Matter Organizer Resigns as Chair of Atlanta DSA
Kent
It’s a right wing ecosystem. Of COURSE greed will take over. It’s gonna be Gault’s Gulch meets Fyre Island.
Brachiator
@piratedan:
Some liberals deeply believe that they are the center of the conservative’s universe. This is not true.
Right wingers have felt embattled ever since they lost all arguments against rationality, and have been looking for a safe place ever since.
And if Trump is re-elected, they won’t be thinking “what can I do to offend liberals,” they will move to the next phase, “what can I do to shut liberals up?”
Kent
@Anya: Damn… Click through the article. That’s some parting shot at the Sandernistas. Talk about burning some bridges and scorched earth.
AJ
Pour one out for Gab
Villago Delenda Est
@Martin: Prezactly. With no libs to pwn, they have no purpose. So this thing is as doomed as Gab as a serious killer app.
Brachiator
@Kent:
Unfortunately, the author cannot see the contradiction he is caught up in.
This thing that the author belongs to is totally organized around Bernie worship and cannot exist without him.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brachiator: There are no longer any “conservatives of conscience”. The Never Trumpers are pissed because Donald is destroying their brand, by exposing the reality of it: obeisance to the parasites of the .01%.
Villago Delenda Est
@Kent: The preteens would feast on his entrails.
Kent
Oh yes. The entire DSA has turned into an epic and monstrous train wreck in just 3 months. Their heads must be spinning with how fast they went from being the new left to utter has-beens. With the BLM movement gaining all the youth attention and attention from people of color that they thought was supposed to be “theirs.”
Maybe the problem really is about racism and not just the 1%.
Bernie is still a Senator and possibly an exceedingly powerful committee chair in a few months. They are all now……spectators.
Brachiator
@Anya:
They have an obsession with the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean?”
And they love to be snooty while pretending to champion the common white man.
trnc
Wait, so it’s no longer called 4chan?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@SiubhanDuinne: Hadn’t heard of Parler before either, I know of Pooch Pawlor, that’s the doggie day spa.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
That possum account on twitter has some really cute photos.
gwangung
@Kent: Well, having a monstrous blind spot about race will do that, particularly for the POCs who were open to his economics message…
There are LOTS of people who are open to many of his policy stands, but the insensitivity to sexism and racism in American society (where POCs openly state that one of the major problems of American society is white supremacy) dooms that particular segment to irrelevancy.
Folks have got to keep up. Denying the problems of racism (which a class-first approach does) will just mean all people will dismiss you as having a flawed approach.
mrmoshpotato
@Mallard Filmore: Someone’s trying to win the “Posted old ass article” award! ?
Anya
@Kent: I was thinking that he’s going to be dead to all of his former comrades. He torched the bridge but it feels like he’s been thinking about this for a long time. It sounds like he’s been dissatisfied for awhile and the lack of support of his BLM initiative was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Anya
@Brachiator: I can see what he’s trying to say though. He’s basically saying that he supports Bernie as a person and what he stands for but that doesn’t mean the movement has to revolve around Bernie.
mrmoshpotato
@Villago Delenda Est: LOL
Now I want that smarmy Canadian-born sack of shit to make TikTok videos!
mrmoshpotato
@Kent: Silly Kent. The only problem we have in this country is INCOME INEQUALITY!
(furiously wags both index fingers at you!)
Anya
@Brachiator: Ugh! I hate that they’re obsessed with the movie of my childhood.
SectionH
@Villago Delenda Est: Oh yes. In fact Mr S – whose political instinct I respect – is all about worrying about the *surprise* Dolt’s gone, and let’s all get behind… Pence? That’s where it breaks down for me.
But srsly, I think the major movement with the Republicans now is an attempt save the party. Lincoln project and all. Love their ads, but I’d rather the Republicans go the way of their predecessor Know-Nothings, and I’m kinda worried they won’t.
different-church-lady
The first rule of Tautology Club is the first rule of Tautology Club.
different-church-lady
@Kent: Bernie-Bros keep telling us who they are, and some people keep hearing something else.
lumpkin
Ya know, Ted Cruz used to be the most popular guy everyone hates but now he’s mostly like a big slug in the middle of the sidewalk that you want to avoid looking at.
lumpkin
In terms of smarmy offensiveness Tom Cotton is currently running circles around Ted Cruz.
scav
Incroyable, donc inévitable.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@lumpkin: Ted’s gonna need to up his game.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Speaking of Bernie, he sure has disappeared.
I was at grocery store today and they had his picture on a milk carton.
Jay
Jay
@mrmoshpotato:
activists and “others” often focus on a single issue of “whats” wrong, prioritize and focus on that,
Sars-Covid-19 has exposed a lot of the rot in the West.
My better half works for/with a Think Tank of influence here. Mostly young brilliant people of accomplishment for change, almost all focused intensely on a single issue. Sars-Covid-19 has changed that. Teams, groups have formed on the realization that it’s all interconnected and cross crisis,
and there is internal rot in the institution.
People, “thought leaders” are using words they have never used before. Trudeau said UBI.
My wife is being radicalized, she’s almost where I was during the Volker Recession.
Eyes are being opened.
lgerard
Parler?
guys, wait up!
I’m still on Conservapedia
Jay
Jay
different-church-lady
@Kent: What’s interesting is that for years Bernie’s line basically boiled down to “Income inequality solves racism,” but now smarter people are kicking around not just the opposite (racism is a tool of capitalism), but even that capitalism’s very purpose is white dominance. You can’t get much further from the DSA line than that.
m.j.
Circle Jerks.
Jay
@different-church-lady:
yurp, many people have moved on from ancient texts by white men on how capitalism exploits the working man, to include the exploitation of women, people of colour, colonies, the commons,….
and while some have become more “inclusive”, other cling to dogma.
Martin
@Jay: This is an effort to force unpaid leave to balance the budget.
Kent
What black folks have known all along. It’s not the 1% who are holding them back. It’s the racist cop, the racist jury, the racist loan officer, the racist teachers, the racist supervisor. None of whom are part of the 1%.
The 1% didn’t give us Donald Trump. White people gave us Donald Trump. With a big assist from the oligarchy, media, and Putin of course. But white people did all the voting. With a lot of fucking glee. And I’m sorry to say that a whole shitload of them were my extended family.
Martin
@different-church-lady: I would disagree that capitalism’s purpose is white supremacy. I would agree, however, that capitalism can be an excellent tool to maintain white supremacy.
Jay
Kent
Racism is economically irrational. So it doesn’t compute for economists and they assume it away. But then so are a lot of things like life like religion, and love. Economics only gets you so far.
Jay
@Kent:
economically, racism makes perfect sense. Labour get’s divided, not united against the rent seekers and owners of capital, that keeps wages down, profits up, which drives the Markets.
it allows economies in infrastructure spending and creates barriers to economic rise.
it creates massive opportunities for regressive taxation.
different-church-lady
@Martin: Well, I wasn’t necessarily advocating that theory as correct, merely pointing out just how quickly and completely Bernie’s theory fell out of fashion.
Shalimar
@Anya: I read it. I don’t recognize any of the names he refers to, but it sounds like the only bridges he burned are with those in MADSA who were blocking his efforts at every turn. All the other relationships he has built will continue in other, more effective organizations.
different-church-lady
@Kent: It’s the whole damn system that’s holding them back and down. It’s called systemic racism for a reason. Bernie kept focusing on just that one component of the system because he was trying to shoehorn minorities into his solution that resonated with whites.
“We’re all people” doesn’t cut it when half of society is treating minorities like they aren’t people. Give society free college, and that will be used as a tool of racism if you don’t address the racism.
Rob
Anne Laurie, Benny Johnson the “plagiarist” is NOT “Buzzfeed Ben”. Buzzfeed Ben was Ben Smith, who was https://twitter.com/buzzfeedben and is now twitter.com/benyt since he started working at the New York Times earlier this year. He abandoned https://twitter.com/buzzfeedben, which is now a parody account.
p.a.
1) For Parler future, see history of conservapedia, c.b. radio.
2) So the new conservative lifeline is… French?
BruceFromOhio
@Kent: All the bridges! And rightly so, Councilman Khalid did the legwork to identify and support candidates. The MADSA folks, well …
Always do the right thing.
Miss Bianca
@Anya: Yeah, well, fuck that shit. Lefty authoritarian cult leader leads cult of lefty authoritarian followers, what a shocker that they don’t have any coherent agenda on race/class intersectionality when he didn’t. You take away Bernie and they will flail like pithed frogs, unless and until they find another Dear Leader. “Democratic” Socialism, my ass.
ETA: Read the article and I applaud the guy for his activism and commitment to public service, cognitive dissonance about the DSA notwithstanding. I hope he continues in public service and goes on to do some more great things for his community.
Another Scott
Jester Actual has been keeping an eye on them, too.
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Elizabelle
Parler? LOL. 21st century piratespeak with 18th century worldview. Have fun with that.
toine
@Anya: I think I might have to go over there and ask…. :-)
Fancycwabs
If I knew any k-pop stans, I know exactly where I’d be sending them.