New lows of the US media, judiciary, regulatory bodies, universities, studios, gov & Wall Street

You might think these are small things.

Or isolated.

But no, as a left-leaning centrist, I’m shocked at the present confluence of badly behaving lefties in the public arena.

I miss the old left that respected alternative opinions and free speech.

Now it’s all about cancelling and authoritarianism and never quite plainly stated threats, that all the same apply. If you want to keep your job.

These attacks on anything that does not celebrate ultra-liberal views – on race, gender or religion – is growing and becoming brazen and moronically more and more anti-evidence, anti-scientific, ideological.

Whether it’s anti-moderation, anti-education, anti-Tesla/Musk, anti-Rowling or anti-Jordan Peterson, these powerful institutions are ganging up on centrist and right wing players and organizations.

Playing the man rather than the ball.

They’re literally trying to cancel or defame their culture war opposition.

Unashamedly now.

Media

Today we have a silly example.

But it does speak volumes of the disingenuous nature of even historically fair-minded news services.

Reuters over-the-top news article this week that Tesla is having the ‘largest safety recall in history’, involving almost all their EVs for all time.

Yikes!

But when you read the article, guess what?

It’s an over-the-air software update.

It’s voluntary.

And it’s about increasing the size of its on-screen drive status icons (see comparison image below from Matt Poicos).

Normally I’d just say: click bait!

But there’s a pattern emerging.

Not a full blown conspiracy.

‘Just’ a group think.

In this case, any chance to defame Musk and Tesla ‘they’ know they’ll get some kudos from ‘their camp’.

Not to mention hit their opponent (Musk’s X is competing with traditional news, taking away advertising dollars).

But it’s disingenuous, it’s brazen partiality.

It’s not how news orgs should behave.

That was a very highly disingenuous article title.

When Reuters has no self-respect, it’s a worrisome trend.

Group think?

Yes.

Siding for what seems like it’s tolerant and confers virtue on one for taking that view.

Yet, there’s danger in every one of these, dare I say it overly-’woke’ stances. (e.g. think of impressionable young people jumping to conclusions and undergoing gender transitions, requiring side-effect-inducing drugs for the rest of their lives. And possibly regretting the often irreversible therapy).

Especially the authoritarian ‘Go with what we’re saying’ (or else we’ll cancel you)’ overarching approach.

Cancel culture is gut wrenchingly sickening.

I got cancelled on Quora once

I was cancelled on Quora once – despite my being a hugely pro-vax epidemiologist – for discussing vax-induced long-Covid-like symptoms (a real condition).

Idiotic MDs got me cancelled and Quora’s Truth and Integrity (= Crap & Propaganda) team joyfully complied.

I had to tell them they didn’t know who they were dealing with. I’m ultra-pro-vaccines and social distancing interventions. I proved it to them by my blogging. And that they were wrong about vax-induced long covid-like conditions.

No genuine apology when they all realized they were wrong and reinstated me.

Cancel culture is hideous lowest of the low

There are no civilized words that are printable here that expresses my level of hatred for cancel culture.

It’s nothing less than socially acceptable evil.

Allegedly practiced by caring people. That’s a sick joke. It’s also moronically stupid. Proves you have zero functioning brain cells.

I call it out whenever it’s ugly head rears itself.

Judiciary

Most recently, on a bigger stage, we have the judiciary of Delaware reversing a 6 year old $50B compensation deal for Musk via stock options at Tesla that the shareholders ratified back then.

The judge deciding that – almost purely based on intangible definitions of what constitutes ‘independence’ of board members – Tesla was insufficiently transparent in disclosure to stock holders.

Yet all information was provided.

Shareholders knew who the board was for years.

81% of shareholders approved.

And Tesla shares went up more than 10-fold over the next 2 years, activating the compensation schedule.

Regulatory

This week we also have outspoken centrist psychologist Jordon Peterson being disbarred by the Ontario College of Psychologists for telling hard-to-deny truths about political correctness, pronouns, free speech and gender equality.

When you actually look at the details, he’s all about moderation and centrism. And the demonstrable reality about the types of top-level jobs less women want than men.

These claims are not particularly right wing. He’s just putting the evidence up for discussion. Rather than just ideological agendas.

It’s almost pure truth he’s stating, occasionally a little shockingly, but with scientific evidence backing it and usually very calmly and articulately.

Universities

We’ve got three big-time universities recently so wrapped up in toleration of every cultural spin that, in a hearing on racial bigotry, they wouldn’t declare anti-Semitic calls for violence against all Jews, genocidal.

Presumably because Islamic voices were under question. The irony is that the very Islamic perpetrators responsible would be the first to admit they indeed do want genocide. It’s literally in their manifestos.

Woke-ness does indeed lead to insane levels of mistruth.

Thankfully, one of those spokespeople actually got the sack.

Gov

The US government is non-stop trying to trip-up Musk and Tesla.

On almost anything.

Biden couldn’t even mention the word Tesla at an EV forum a few years ago. And ludicrously declared GM’s CEO (ex Democrat senator) Mary Bara the leader of EV transition.

70,000 cars vs 1.8 million.

The US President tried to gaslight a nation.

It was possibly the most stupid thing a US President ever said apart from many of Trump’s ridiculous claims about the US response to Covid being ‘the best’.

What a pair of evil, disingenuous idiots the US has to choose between.

It’s just all coming to a head.

It’s (mostly) not orchestrated, but in politics it is.

It’s mostly a phenomenon of group think.

When you start insisting through thinly-veiled propaganda that everyone must think the same ‘enlightened way’, with misrepresentations of the true views of the ‘unenlightened’ and even start bullying with cancelling, then people . . stop thinking.

Very sad.

Very evil.

I miss the old left that stood up for free speech.

As an alternative, I recommend evidence-based community-minded centrism to everyone.