Well, Twitter finally blocked my account. I got the notice by email Tuesday night that unless I removed an offending post, Heartland Diary USA would be locked out of Twitter.
That put me in the same position as actor James Woods, who was blocked several months ago for quoting Emerson.
Woods refused to remove the tweet that compared the Mueller probe to an failed assassination attempt. He has thus been locked out of a Twitter since April 20.
Unlike him, I removed my tweet immediately, not because I agreed that it was targeting anyone for harassment, but because I wanted to tell the story of how Twitter is harassing one more conservative.
Oddly enough (not surprisingly?), my offensive tweet was also about the Mueller probe. Posted in late June it was a dig at the special counsel for hounding the president even though it was obvious the president had been set up by the FBI. As a joke, I compared Mueller to the villain in a slasher movie who just won’t die no matter how many times he is dispatched. I called the movie “To Kill a President,” and said of Mueller in the role of the psychopathic slasher: “Just die, for chrissakes!”
Well, pardon me. My sophomoric attempt at humor was too much for some poor innocent freshman, who reported me to Twitter for violating the rules against “abuse and harassment.”
Here’s the notice I was sent. (I think I have permission to publish it on my own website, but who knows what Twitter will allow?)
Really? When you look at all the tweets published everyday on Twitter that are in fact abusive, they had to single me out for posting a satirical tweet about the constant attacks on President Trump?
If you think about it, Twitter’s goal isn’t really to remove an innocuous tweet like mine from two months ago that probably never would have been read by anyone ever again, but rather to remind you and me that someone is looking over our shoulders all the time.
The idea isn’t to protect the world from my joke about a slasher movie, but to remind me that there is always someone looking over my shoulder when I type a tweet. That’s the worst kind of intimidation and, yes, harassment, but Twitter and Facebook can get away with it because they have a virtual monopoly on the marketplace of ideas. You either play along with them or you are banished to a dark corner of the Internet where you may never see another human being. Scary.
So yes, I removed the post, but now you know the rest of the story.
Frank Miele writes from Kalispell, Montana, at www.HeartlandDiaryUSA.com and is a columnist at Real Clear Politics. My new book is “The Media Matrix: What If Everything You Know Is Fake.” To support my work, please consider buying “The Media Matrix” or my “Why We Needed Trump” trilogy, which documents the downward spiral of the USA before Trump arrived on the scene. The books are available at Amazon in paperback or Kindle editions. Go here for a free sample: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/sitb/B07PDQBJM4
Sounds like you’ve made the big time, Frank! Good for you!
Thanks Jan! But I must be at the small end of the big time!
Keep up the good work Frank!
Thanks!
Years ago I said you were going to be ‘big time’ and ‘national’. It is now here for you, and I am proud to be a reader. RLS
Thanks Rick. I owe a lot of my inspiration to you!
Me, too, Rick. I’ve followed Frank ever since I moved here 11 years ago. The Interlake isn’t the same without him.
Same here Jan, the Interlake isn’t the same. But Frank, join the club, Ricochet has been put on the black list as well! My favorite after you for go to news. I’m proud to be one of the deplorables on yours and Ricochet’s list.
Sorry to hear that Ricochet got banned. Good site!
We deplorables have to stick together, for sure.
A Badge of Honor…………..
BenjScout
Mont.Terr.
So THEY lowered the boom on you. When will THEY realize that this nasty type of harassment simply fuels flames that will eventually consume THEM. Keep a goin’ Frank….for Truths sake which IS Christ’s sake.