I think I’ve been there once before, maybe a year or so ago, so this is my second time in the pokey. The first time was via Katrina Kibben and her mob. I forget what I specifically did; I’m sure it was asinine and not defensible, but I’m sure that side overreacted and thought of every parallel injustice possible (“Ted’s comments are akin to black bodies being left in the streets of Ferguson…”) to get me piped into the pokey. I was there for about four-five days. This time it was because of Madison Butler, and I’ve been there about a week or more, with limited signs of getting out. So my LI days might be over. Alas!
A lot of what happened, and backstories, reside in this post too.
Now, do I think I am always a classy, professional person on platforms? Absolutely not. Often not even close. I have argued with two significant others about this very topic in my day. Now, one of those had a sister who regularly posted fawning pictures of her mother, and other people I’ve been with have/had family members and friends posting racist shit, performative shit, shit shit shit, and I do think a chunk of my stuff is thought-provoking. But some is awful, yes.
Do I also think someone should be allowed to get you banned from a potential income source platform over their woke, “everyone is a racist,” “all cis white males are evil money-grubbers” rhetoric? No, I think that’s a bit too far as well. Platforms should be safe spaces, but the definition of what “safety” is cannot be left to the Trauma Olympics crowd. LinkedIn is largely about work. Work is an extremely fraught, deeply-political, highly-polarized, dog-eat-dog world. People cry there hourly. Some stuff on LinkedIn might make you feel bad. It might jar you. That doesn’t mean you turn off the person. Because then you just get a basically white-washed, antiseptic version of what “work” is. Who does that help?
Maybe I’ll see ya back over there. Maybe I won’t. Leave a light on for me.
Ted, hope this all works out and you can come back. The world needs alternative points of view.