The Bluebird of Unhappiness. Bans are back on Twitter

Yes, Twitter is an echo chamber, but when it shuts Substack writers out completely, where are our voices heard? We are being strangled to death little by little.

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You can listen to me read this essay here:

First of all, I know many people do not relate to Twitter and can’t understand why being banned on it is of any importance. For a writer, it has been the go-to place to be heard; where debate could occur and people from all over the world could join communities where they no longer felt alone.

However, that desire to belong to a community has been used to imprison people without their actually realizing it.

I was banned for 8 months for continuously speaking the truth (The People's Medicine vs Merck's Billion $ Pill) and got back on recently. It is worse than ever now. People think they have free speech, but the echo chamber has been solidified and they don’t let you out. I am always fighting the system but if you fight too hard and you start to “Break Free” and people start listening, they punish you.

I knew from the moment Elon Musk announced he was taking over Twitter (Twitter vs Remdesivir) that it would be no better and would even be worse, so I am not surprised. Just angry and in a fighting mood! My voice was silenced for so long and when I found Substack, for the first time in my life, I was able to speak freely. If you haven’t experienced the suppression that I have, to the point of being threatened with harm, it’s hard to imagine how incredible that was. And then, to find a community of like-minded people on Twitter was just the icing on the cake.

But as my readers and listeners know, I refuse to be put in a box and I REFUSE to water down my message. I REFUSE the blue check on Twitter because I REFUSE to pay for the “privilege” of giving Elon Musk my data. It is interesting to note that without me asking for it, just yesterday, I see Substack suddenly, out of the “blue”, gave me a check, making me a “bestseller” in their new tiered system. So, this is how we are identified as dangerous? I did not ask for this check, I want my readers and listeners to know that. They say it is a way for those of us with more followers (btw, I am still the lowest on the totem pole of bestsellers) to “help” and “inspire” those beneath us. Rubbish. It silences smaller voices more. And it puffs up those with lots of followers; it’s like being back in elementary school and getting the gold star. It makes you want to conform to the system. Ugh.

I write a lot about this obsession with proving our identities and how the more we are required to prove “who we are” in a virtual world, the more we lose our identity in the real world. Digital ID and Our Obsession with "Identity"

This is no small matter! People must start to REFUSE.

I should now call myself a REFUSNIK.

I’m not alone in this. Bad Catitude just posted this: Bluebird Bans are Back. I see others are making similar posts now.

Here’s how insidious this is. Many who were censored on Twitter and were “invited back” (as if Elon Musk is some sort of God-like figure who can bestow free speech or take it away at will—and I guess he is, on this fallen planet!) are not going to speak up in defense of those of us who are now being censored. They will not want to lose their status yet again. IT IS MAKING THOSE WITH THE BIGGEST VOICES A PART OF THE SYSTEM.

PEOPLE, please pay attention. Support our voices. Share our writing everywhere that you can.

Robert F. Kennedy just announced his bid for the presidency, on the democratic ticket. He won’t get it, but I’d hoped that maybe someone of his stature would at least have a voice that the algorithms wouldn’t be able to stop and maybe a few people on the other side might listen to him. But now, I have to be realistic. I think his candidacy is in part responsible for this new suppression—not of his doing, I might add, although I guess we can be sure of nothing.

Here’s what is now happening to me, and I guess many others, when I try to post to Twitter.

At first, if I tried to copy the link and post it, as I have always done for years, a generic link to twitter would show up:

So, I typed it out by hand and was able to add the link in that way. Now I can’t even do that. This is what happens:

I will continue to speak Truth to lies. I will not bow to the despots. The elites. The algorithms. I will fight to my last breath not to be put into a box. Not to be identified by a “check”.

Thank you to all who read and listen to my writings and support my work. This is the time to speak out. Do not remain silent.

God Bless!