So what happened to CNN? What does this #CNNBlackmail hashtag mean? Why are so many people angry and most importantly, what impact does this have one me? If you asked yourself any of these questions about CNN's newwest controversy, or if you were completely unaware of the controversy as whole, you've found the right place. However, rather than just going through the controversy like many are doing, probably better than I, I'm also going to delve into why this impacts YOU, and why this is just a small glimpse into the future.
As for what happened...
A few days ago, President Trump retweeted a GIF of him clostheslining Vince McMahon from his appearence on a WWE show years ago, except in this case, McMahon's face was covered by the CNN logo. The creator was obviously poking fun at the fact CNN has had a rough year this year, mostly due to their losing PR battles with the president. However, after retweeting that GIF, the media, mostly CNN and other left leaning sources claimed the meme was promoting violence against the media. That obviously was not the intnetion, but regardless, that narrative picked up a little bit of steam. But it did not end there, CNN began investigating into who made the meme, with the obvious goal of making them pay in some capacity.
In comes HanAssholeSolo, the reddit user credited with creating the GIF. CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski was able to locate the creator, and speak with him. Now, this is where the controversy begins, HanAssholeSolo posted under the subreddit /TheDonald, where the GIF was originally posted, a lengthy apology for the post itself and some past postings that were deemed racist, misogynistic and anti-semitic. The reason for this apology, is that Kaczynski on behalf of CNN informed HanAssholeSolo that if he did not apologize for the offensive posts and take the GIF down, he would be doxxed.
What does that mean? For those that are not veterans of the Great Meme War of 2016, being doxxed means that your personal information is released to the public. Now this doesn't sound too terrible, but an extreme example of that is what happend to Walter Palmer, after the killing of Cecil the Lion. He and his family were subjected to harrassment, threats of violence, and vandalism, at the hands of hundreds of thousands of people. It got so bad, Palmer was forced to close his dental practice. Now thats an extreme situation, but a suffucient doxxing, especially at the hands of CNN, would leave HanAssholeSolo, his family and his employer, at the mercy of mob rule. His employer would probably be forced to let him go due to the constant barrage of harrassment, like we've seen with so many others, and him and his family would essentially become shutins for months until people finally moved on. So doxxing people, although not illegal, is pretty serious, and its absolutely appalling if a credible news source would threaten that over such a petty meme.
But the question is, did CNN technically threaten to dox HanAssholeSolo? After Kaczynski's article was posted, many accused him and his company of that, but he quickly defended himself, and said that HanAssholeSolo had posted the apology prior to CNN ever contacting him by phone, but the apology had come after CNN emailed him. He went onto say that he's spoken to HanAssholeSolo since the article was posted, and that HanAssholeSolo corroborated that claim, that he was never threatened with being doxxed.That all maybe well and true, but would HanAssholeSolo have posted an aplogy if CNN wouldn't have originally reached out to him via email? At that point, he was already fearful for what could have happened, so an apology proior to that call seems likely, but what was said on that phone call? Was he threatened then? Two paragraphs from Kaczynski's article, which I'll post below, infer HanAssholeSolo was threatened. You be the judge...
"CNN is not publishing "HanA**holeSolo's" name because he is a private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again. In addition, he said his statement could serve as an example to others not to do the same.
CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change."
To most, thats a clear threat, CNN, a media company that attracts the eyes of millions of people each day, threatened to dox an anonymous reddit user because the President chose to retweet a harmless GIF he had created. If you're infuriated and appalled like me, good, you should be, but if you're still asking yourself, how does this directly impact me?
This is the future.
Whether you're aware or not, there has been an outright assault on free speech for the last two years. People talk about Political Correctness taking over, it has, but its more than that, PC culture is being taken to the extreme by future generations. On college campuses everywhere, diversity of thought and free speech is being assaulted. If you don't toe the, extreme socialist line, you're at best an outcast. In my experience I'd say that half the students align with this school of thought, while 20% are close to that, 15% dont care, and the rest are ostracized. Kids are being radicallized on our college campuses all across the country, and they are being given the tools to do all they can to completely silence their opponents.
What tools exactly?
The media. News sites like Vox, AJ+, NowThis, Occupy Democrats and so many more pander to these extreme leftists, and tell them what to think, how to think, and how anyone that disagrees with them is not only wrong, but should be silenced. Now you might ask yourself, why does it matter what a few fringe news sites do? Because firstly, though they're not widely distributed, they're not fringe, they attract millions of eyes each day. This is how millenials consume news, and these news sources are seeping into the main stream like CNN and MSNBC.
Social media. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit and other social media sites are locatated in the leftist mecca of Northern California. Like we saw at Cal-Berkely, antifa came out in full force and sought to use violence to silence their right leaning opposition. These are the areas from where these sites hire the people that police Facebook, Twitter and others. They're radical leftists, and they, with the blessing from Chairman Zuckerburg have direct control over the content that is posted and disseminated across the platform. They have direct control over what tens of millions of people see everyday, how does that make you feel?
With their monopoly on education, the media and social media, they are slowly gaining momentum over the status quo. With that, instead of just simply engaging in discussion with those they disagree with, with the power of society they will silence them, and if that does not work, like we saw at Cal-Berkely and we're seeing at college campuses across the country, they will resort to violence.
This is our future.
Some say we're in the final days of the Roman Republic, I reject that, I believe that we're in the final days of the Russian Empire.