I read this lib "how to" about Gaza - How To Speak To Voters Who Say They Can't Support Biden Because Of Gaza. The substack is co-run by George Takei and he's built himself into a super-popular lib brand. I wanted to know what he was promoting.
Most of it was exactly what I expected. But a surprising word stuck in my craw - "dealbreaker". As if there can be a "deal" made on morality. And - of course - the "deal" is we must change 100% and see things the lib way while they don't change an iota. Quite a deal!
Most of us know someone on the left who is dug in against voting for Joe Biden because of U.S. policy toward Israel and Gaza. For them, the continued support of Israel and the flow of weapons is a dealbreaker, and they say they can’t support a president for reelection who would back a genocidal campaign against the Palestinians.
It all goes back to the power of blackmail IMO. It's a lot easier to manipulate public figures if the intelligence apparatus and the state department has access to a red button that destroys the credibility for any public figure. It's not so much that there's a big conspiracy, like Epstein, to get all the celebs to be doing heinous things to be used for blackmail; instead, all the institutions that are supposed to prevent abuse instead have been shifted to providing accountability or enforcing a punishment on those who are exposed as abusers. It goes both ways too, like with Takei, if you bend the knee and didn't offend too greatly the media forgives and extinguishes fire. That way, the media and the surveillance state ultimately have the power to make your career and end it, and they make sure there is still a culture for people to incriminate themselves on their watch before they get big. If 80% of the celebrities people pay attention to have skeletons in their closets, and we have an all knowing panopticon, it becomes a billion times easier for that panopticon to flip those celebrities into working in favor of the state dept's agenda.