The Ministry of New Normal Truth

Back in May of 2021, Matt Taibbi interviewed me for his Meet the Censored series. We talked about how critics of the official Covid narrative were being censored by global corporations like Twitter and Facebook. I got into my "GloboCap" shtick a little, but, all in all, it was pretty tame stuff.

How far we have come over these last two years!

Today, Matt Taibbi is being threatened with imprisonment by elements of the US government for reporting on what he and Michael Shellenberger have been calling "The Censorship Industrial Complex." My social media accounts are dead. I have been visibility-filtered into Internet oblivion by Twitter — yes, Musk's "free speech Twitter" — and Facebook, ingeniously buried by Google, disappeared by YouTube, and Amazon has banned my latest book in several countries.

Reporting on how US Intelligence agencies and members of the Biden administration apparently conspired to deceive the public and interfere in the 2020 US elections, and how the corporate media collaborated with them and are burying the story now, Matt offers the following sobering observation ... "An all-time media blackout is in effect. We’re experiencing real-time Sovietization."

Even Michael Shellenberger has joined me in openly using the "T-word" ...

But that’s not what this newsletter is about … or … OK, it is, or partly, anyway. I’ll be writing a lot more about corporate/state censorship, and The Censorship Industrial Complex, or The Ministry of New Normal Truth, in the days and weeks and months ahead, and probably in the years ahead, but, before I do that, I want to do two other things, (1) tell you about some changes I’m making to my Substack operation, and (2) tell you about Substack Notes.

I’m going to make some of my Substack posts available to paid subscribers only. OK, relax, not my actual columns. My Consent Factory columns will remain available to all my subscribers, whether free or paid, both here, on Substack, and the Consent Factory blog that no one ever visits anymore, and on the websites of the numerous “disreputable” outlets that kindly regularly republish my columns, some with and some without my blessing.

The thing is, I’m extremely grateful for the readers that have been paying me for my work, and so I want to offer them something extra as a token of my thanks for their support. I don’t have anything good to offer them, so I’m just going to offer them … well, basically, me. What that means is, some of these non-column newsletters (i.e., the ones like this that are essentially just news) will be available to paid subscribers only, whereas all my regular columns will remain available to everyone, both “free” and “paid” subscribers, and anyone else with access to the Internet.

I hope I am stressing that point enough.

Now, don’t get all excited, you paid subscribers. This won’t be like traveling in First Class or getting a VIP pass to an event or anything. These paid-subscriber posts will probably be sporadic and not as wildly entertaining as my regular columns. Think of them as kind of a “behind-the-scenes” thing, where I might want to open up a can of worms, or two, and get opinions or feedback from you, or try to answer questions, or let you know about stuff like … well, for example, Substack Notes.

As I mentioned above, I am being censored into oblivion by Twitter and Facebook these days, so it doesn’t make much sense for me to continue investing my time and energy on those platforms. And so I’m moving my “short-form” operation (or most of it) to Substack Notes, which is brand new and still a work-in-progress. It’s not really a Twitter or Facebook clone, although the interface resembles Twitter. At the moment, it’s mostly just Substack writers and readers talking and arguing amongst ourselves.

Sure, there are attention-seeking assholes, like this …

… and slimy, lying smear artists like this …

… but, overall, I’m enjoying the platform.

As you may have gathered from the screenshots above, we Substack writers are having a bit of a debate about “moderation” on the platform. Which is to say, I’ve been trying to engage a number of my more fanatically totalitarian colleagues on the issue. It isn’t going very well so far — I posted a quote from fairly well-known George Carlin bit to make a point, so, naturally, I am being publicly denounced as a “racist, anti-Semitic harasser,” and an “insurrection denier,” and, of course, an “anti-vaxxer” — but I’ll keep trying, because I think it’s important.

The Ministry of New Normal Truth is not just the “Censorship Industrial Complex,” i.e., the network of governments, corporations, media conglomerates, creepy NGOs, and so on, that Matt and Shellenberger are reporting on. The new global-capitalist Gleichschaltung op is being conducted in a wide variety of contexts, large-scale and small-scale, throughout our societies — the corporate media, social media, schools, workplaces, relationships, families, etc. — and it is not going to stop. Every form of totalitarianism generates this type of mass hysteria and pressure to conform among the masses, and attempts to achieve complete control of what people are allowed to say, and think. Push back against it wherever you can, wherever you encounter it, at work, on the Internet, at school, at home, among your friends … wherever it rears its fascist little head. You might not think it makes a difference, but it does. Every little pushback does.

Sure, sometimes, there’s a heavy price to pay …

… but, what the hell, you only live once!

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Addendum (April 25): Unfortunately, a few hours after I sent out this newsletter, Substack discontinued the feature on Notes that aggregated bestselling Substack writers (i.e., writers whose readership exceeds a certain level) together in one big virtual space. That was the major draw for me, as it was an opportunity to interact with other writers with whom I wouldn’t normally interact and discuss things and playfully argue with them. So, that kind of kills the buzz for me. I am not terribly interested in another echo chamber. That said, I’m still a big fan of Substack, and, whatever happens with Notes, my columns will remain here.

As the radio-man used to say, don’t touch that dial …