Google has ratcheted things up even further by removing Parler from its app store, and Apple will likely soon follow. This push to marginalize even the already fringey social media sites is making the libertarian/shitlib argument of "If you don't like censorship just go to another platform" look pretty ridiculous. This is all happening just in time for the Biden administration, about which critics had already been voicing grave concerns regarding the future of internet censorship.

The censorship of a political faction at the hands of a few liberal Silicon Valley billionaires will do the exact opposite of eliminating right-wing paranoia and conspiracy theories, and everyone knows it. You're not trying to make things better, you're trying to make them worse. You're not trying to restore peace and order, you're trying to force a confrontation so your political enemies can be crushed. You're accelerationist.... Supporting the censorship of online speech is to support the authority of monopolistic tech oligarchs to exert more and more global control over human communication. Regardless of your attitude toward whoever happens to be getting deplatformed today, supporting this is suicidal.

The complete reversal in mentality from just a few months ago is dizzying. Those who spent the summer demanding the police be defunded are furious that the police response at the Capitol was insufficiently robust, violent and aggressive. Those who urged the abolition of prisons are demanding Trump supporters be imprisoned for years. Those who, under the banner of “anti-fascism,” demanded the firing of a top New York Times editor for publishing an op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) advocating the deployment of the U.S. military to quell riots — a view deemed not just wrong but unspeakable in decent society — are today furious that the National Guard was not deployed at the Capitol to quash pro-Trump supporters. Antifa advocates are working to expose the names of Capitol protesters to empower the FBI to arrest them on terrorism charges.

...There is a huge difference between, on the one hand, thousands of people shooting their way into the Capitol after a long-planned, coordinated plot with the goal of seizing permanent power, and, on the other, an impulsive and grievance-driven crowd more or less waltzing into the Capitol as the result of strength in numbers and then leaving a few hours later. That the only person shot was a protester killed by an armed agent of the state by itself makes clear how irresponsible these terms are. There are more adjectives besides “fascist treason” and “harmless protest,” enormous space between those two poles. One need not be forced to choose between the two.

..But as was true of the Cold War and the War on Terror and so many other crisis-spurred reactions, the other side of the ledger — the draconian state powers clearly being planned and urged and prepared in the name of stopping them — carries its own extremely formidable dangers. Refusing to consider those dangers for fear of standing accused of downplaying the threat is the most common tactic authoritarian advocates of state power use. Less than twenty-four hours after the Capitol breach, one sees this tactic being wielded with great flamboyance and potency, and it is sure to continue long after January 20.

Why do you have to do it here? — Hippyhead

You think its ok to verbally abuse others you disagree with, but racism is a big, "No-No"? Whats the fucking difference? — Harry Hindu

The cops are the same people as those who made their way into the capitol. The distinction is a costume and a badge. — StreetlightX

The cops and the protestors are the exact same people. There's no big mystery here. Both are costume donning larpers with a propensity to violence; one with an official mandate from the state, the other with an unofficial one. — StreetlightX

And also have the numbers, training, technology, equipment, weaponry, etc. — Xtrix

It doesn’t take much to be more progressive and bold than we have been historically, so xtrix is probably technically correct even if we’re still not VERY progressive and bold. — Pfhorrest

Support for Trump and his populism must be sky-high among police — Garth

And real grievances? What real grievances? — tim wood

This billionaire buffoon stirs up the underclass into believing their will was subverted, their election stolen, and now their guns and way of life will be taken away. I do think they really believe this and they'll speak proudly to their grandkids about how they fought for freedom like a true patriot. — Hanover

How effectively do they lock-in shared meanings? — Joshs