Episode 110: The Threats Against Jesse Get Weird, Jon Haidt Diagnoses America, And The FBI Plots A Terroristic Kidnapping

Does the Twitter trans community have a problem with sexually violent threats? Will Elon Musk hurt Twitter? How accurate is Jon Haidt’s take on what is ailing American? How big a threat was the Gretchen Whitmer kidnappling plot? Is this question-heavy format for episode descriptions annoying? To discuss this episode with other Blocked and Reported subscribers, click here?

Show notes/Link:

The tweets Jesse was complaining about:

Jesse Singal @jessesingal

This has now escalated, over the years, from made-up rumors that I DM trans women inappropriately, to random death threats, to a surprising number of calls for me to kill myself, to a lurid publicly posted fantasy about raping me. I think maybe it's enough?

A threat to hang the likes of Kathleen Stock:

Kathleen Stock @Docstockk

This tweet was written at a time when there were multiple news stories about the ongoing harassment campaign of me on Sussex campus. Manhunt is a novel. The funniest thing is that it got positively reviewed by @NPR

Normal stuff:

Jeff Jarvis @jeffjarvis

Today on Twitter feels like the last evening in a Berlin nightclub at the twilight of Weimar Germany.

Max Boot 🇺🇦 @MaxBoot

I am frightened by the impact on society and politics if Elon Musk acquires Twitter. He seems to believe that on social media anything goes. For democracy to survive, we need more content moderation, not less.

"Why The Past 10 Years Of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid":

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel/629369/

Than Robinson on the SPLC: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2019/03/the-southern-poverty-law-center-is-everything-thats-wrong-with-liberalism

The Whitmer “kidnapping” “plot”:

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kenbensinger/fbi-michigan-kidnap-whitmer

https://reason.com/2022/04/08/gretchen-whitmer-kidnapping-plot-acquittal-fbi/

The Takes:

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/michigan-militia-trial-whitmer-kidnapping-plot-highlights-surge-violen-rcna22903

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2022/04/09/whit-a09.html

Image: People attend a Freedom Rally in support of First Amendment rights and to protest against Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, outside the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan on May 15, 2021. (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP) (Photo by JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)