(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Whoever will stand up for the bigoted hatemongers behind KiwiFarms? Glenn Greenwald, of course [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2022-09-07
As part of a lengthy Twitter tirade on Tuesday night, in which he also claimed efforts to curb disinformation amount to censorship, Greenwald took a swipe at reporters who he claimed were angling for just that.
x But the worst is watching people whose job title in corporate HR Departments is "journalist" take the lead in agitating for censorship. They exploit the platforms of corporate giants to pioneer increasingly dangerous means of banning dissenters. *These* are the authoritarians. pic.twitter.com/Ru6oGtIrFb — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 6, 2022
Coverage of Keffals’ efforts to bring KiwiFarms down featured very prominently in Greenwald’s rant. As we now know, the snowball that ultimately crashed into KiwiFarms late Sunday started rolling down the hill on Friday when NBC News’ Ben Collins profiled KiwiFarms’ outrageously criminal attacks on her.
Let’s review. Keffals, a popular Twitch streamer, began her push to get KiwiFarms deplatformed after KiwiFarms users doxxed her and her family, hacked her family’s Uber accounts, and swatted her numerous times. The harassment forced her to flee her home in Ontario, and ultimately flee across the Atlantic to crash with a friend of hers in Northern Ireland. KiwiFarms users continued terrorizing her, even in Europe—apparently in hopes of forcing her to commit suicide, as has happened to previous KiwiFarms targets no fewer than three other times.
It is beyond dispute that KiwiFarms forfeited its right to exist. And yet, Greenwald seems to think that Collins’ highlighting of KiwiFarms’ depravities for NBC News is part of an effort to “pioneer increasingly dangerous means of banning dissenters,” and that Collins is an “authoritarian.”
On what planet is someone running a site which aims to harass some of the most marginalized people in the world merely a “dissenter”? And on what planet is driving that site out of existence so its targets can exercise their right to live their lives “authoritarian”? Apparently in the world of Greenwald. And apparently he thinks getting to the bottom of bomb threats against Boston Children’s Hospital—motivated by far-right opposition to its work with trans youth—amounts to authoritarianism, as well.
I wonder if Greenwald would be so cavalier in decrying the effort to drive KiwiFarms out of existence if he’d had a chance to speak with Debi Jackson, who was targeted by KiwiFarms after her trans daughter, Avery, made the front cover of National Geographic.
In a thread posted shortly after Keffals declared victory over KiwiFarms, Jackson noted that Avery is now 15, and has spent the past six years—“more than a third of (her) life … in the shadows of KiwiFarms terrorism.” However, with KiwiFarms now on life support, Jackson believes she has her daughter back.
RELATED: 'My bright and confident kid withered away': Mother shares heartbreaking fight with KiwiFarms
Again: How in the hell is driving a site out of existence that denies people the basic right to live their lives, to be themselves, a sign of creeping authoritarianism? Only someone with a completely warped moral compass would even suggest that notion.
Granted, Greenwald has already shown us that his moral compass is severely warped. He trumpeted Russian disinformation about Ukraine secretly developing biological weapons, and had no qualms about hosting the preview of a favorable documentary about Alex Jones. But to suggest—to his 1.8 million devoted followers—that shutting down a website that literally puts people’s lives in danger amounts to suppressing “dissenters” isn’t just wrong. It’s dangerously wrong.
For all of Greenwald’s handwringing about free speech, he doesn’t seem to know or understand that an environment in which people are silenced by harassment and trolling is as far from being conducive to free speech as you can get. Greenwald seems to be okay with a world in which trolling and harassment are mere facts of life. Last I checked, that’s not democracy. It amounts to rule by the mob and for the mob.
By suggesting that stamping out a site that believes marginalized people have no right to live their lives amounts to authoritarianism, Greenwald is telling us who he is: a man without a conscience, who is no different from the likes of Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and his buddy Alex Jones.
And we’d best believe him. He long ago forfeited any right to be taken seriously about anything, by anyone, at any time.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/7/2121421/-Glenn-Greenwald-thinks-driving-a-hate-and-harassment-site-out-of-existence-is-authoritarian
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
