And the deplatforming continues
Photo by MILKOVÍ on Unsplash
Okay, so I might be a little late to the party, but I am also lazy and easily distracted. But I’ve been watching this story with interest, and it’s gotten to the point where I just have to say something.
I am, of course, talking about Patreon deleting Sargon of Akkad’s account. Sargon is a prominent center-left YouTuber and podcaster, whose real name is Carl Benjamin. He is a vocal opponent of political correctness and SJWs, and despite being a vocal opponent of the alt-right, leftists hate him anyway.
He made an appearance on Michelle Caitlin’s YouTube livestream on February 7, 2018, and used the phrase “white [DREADED N-WORD THAT MUST NEVER, EVER BE UTTERED, WRITTEN, READ OR EVEN THOUGHT]” while talking about some racist alt-righters. To clarify, he was using the racists’ own words and methods against them. Here’s the evil words (thanks to One Angry Gamer):
“I just can’t be bothered with people who chose to treat me like this. It’s really annoying. Like, I — . You’re acting like a bunch of n*****s, just so you know. You act like white n*****s. Exactly how you describe black people acting is the impression I get dealing with the Alt Right. I’m really, I’m just not in the mood to deal with this kind of disrespect.”
“Look, you carry on, but don’t expect me to then have a debate with one of your f**gots.…Like why would I bother?…Maybe you’re just acting like a n****r, mate? Have you considered that? Do you think white people act like this? White people are meant to be polite and respectful to one another, and you guys can’t even act like white people, it’s really amazing to me.”
Some asshole took it out of context and reported it to Patreon, who then deleted his account, claiming that he had violated their terms of service.
This appearance didn’t take place on his YouTube channel. He did not advertise it on his Patreon page. So, one would wonder, where’s the violation of their terms of service? Oh, there isn’t one. But Patreon, like Twitter, has a Trust and Safety Council. Yeah, those things are extremely Orwellian. They exist only to censor people the leftists don’t like.
The mainstream media – and by ‘mainstream media’ I mean the handful of tech sites and bloggers that have bothered to cover this story – are predictably labeling Sargon as an alt-right monster, even though he isn’t alt-right (they’re also calling Laci Green, who used to be an obnoxious feminazi but is now at least open-minded enough to not label her opponents as utter monsters now, an alt-righter).
So Sargon decides to set up an account with an Patreon alternative, called Subscribe Star. A few other prominent people decided to ditch Patreon and move over to Subscribe Star.
This pissed off the left, so a couple of asshole leftists decided to investigate Subscribe Star’s infrastructure and operations. I made a few posts on Gab about it, but they got lost in the sea of activity.
The two people in question are Becca Lewis and Tim Squirrell. Becca Lewis, who I guess is some sort of leftist blogger, did a great deal of the legwork and probably got the ball rolling on this. Tim Squirrell egged her on and helpfully posted a list of services Subscribe Star uses.
One of those services was PayPal. We already know that PayPal has been on a banning spree, denying services to Milo, Alex Jones and other vicious thoughtcriminals. So, predictably, they have denied services to Subscribe Star.
But, Subscribe Star is run by a Russian guy who is absolutely not taking this shit lying down. They’re working on a solution to this problem and haven’t banned Sargon or any of their new members. Right now, I highly recommend Subscribe Star. I’d use it, but I don’t think I have much of a following and I don’t really have much to offer anyway.
SubscribeStar on Twitter: “pic.twitter.com/a5Unknf4HU / Twitter”
pic.twitter.com/a5Unknf4HU
You can read more about PayPal’s despicable actions in this Financial Times article. It’s an archive link because they put their stuff behind a paywall.
And now to my favorite part of this whole story. A prominent leftist philosopher, atheist, commentator and podcaster, Sam Harris, has deleted his Patreon account due to all of this, all the while still being a leftist. I can’t help but have a lot of respect for this guy.
FREE SPEECH HERO: Liberal Sam Harris Deletes His Top 13 Patreon Account Over Political Bias Against Conservatives
Sam Harris is is a very popular American author, philosopher, neuroscientist, critic of religion, public intellectual, and podcast host. Sam Harris also has the 13th most popular account on Patreon. Patreon is a is a media platform that provides business tools for artists, writers and creators to run a subscription content service and raise money…
I don’t expect people to magically agree with me on everything. I’m just asking you to see me, and my fellow right-wingers as human beings. That’s all. I have no desire to silence anyone, despite wishing that some people would just shut up already. But am I going to actively censor them? No! Hell, if it weren’t for these people my blog wouldn’t have much content at all! The give and take is an important part of our society.
But the left doesn’t want that. They just want to shut people up.
Oh, and some more cool news? Jordan Peterson (who is not insane) is working on a Patreon alternative!
Gab’s got a payment processor and crowd funding alternative in the works as well.
Meanwhile, Far Left Watch is calling for action:
http://farleftwatch.com/far-left-extremists-are-raising-money-on-patreon-to-inspire-insurrection/
Oh, and it gets even better. So Jacqueline Hart, the head of their Orwellian trust and safety team, has been doing some damage control. The team has been emailing various YouTubers, desperately trying to keep them from leaving, etc. Ms. Hart herself called YouTuber Matt Christiansen, and while he could not record the phone call, he did provide a transcript. You can get a summary of what was said at the video below.
Here’s a direct-link to the transcript. I highly recommend reading it. I might fisk it after Christmas. In short, Patreon does not support free speech and they “aren’t a free market”, whatever that’s supposed to mean. So, basically, if they don’t like you, you can kindly fuck off. That’s the conclusion I’ve drawn thus far.
I am sure it’s going to get even more ridiculous as more and more people have decided to ditch Patreon as soon as it’s feasible to do so. I feel sorry for the non-political people that have been affected by this.