Back in December 2025, I wrote an article on that quintessential new Christmas tradition, that has come to veritably define the festive season lately: fake terror attacks.
I've never seen the point of having a blue tick on X and giving my bank details. I always assume if you go down the blue tick route you either want to make money or want to have a little bit of fame. I always believed X was the place to take politicians to task and to voice objection to authority. I'm anti-vax, anti-government ,anti-voting, anti-war, anti-fiat currency, anti-patriotism, anti-religion, anti-woke, anti-being told what to do. In fact all sorts of antis if only I could remember what they are. The point is everything on social media (in particular X), mainstream media is probably fake. Fake posts, fake videos, fake opinions, fake politicians. How do I know that Elon Musk is real? I've never met him and I've never met anyone I trust who's met him. Unless you are a high profile person the people in 'control' have no interest in you or what you say. The government and politicians have no interest in you as an individual. Once they are voted into power their interest are the powerful lobbies and multinational companies. So when it comes to anything a government proposes you know is will fail. All they need is to have enough people believing they can make it work.
Thanks Doug, good comment and I agree with most of it (and amusingly, those screaming most vocally about how they will "never comply" with verifying their identity online have blue ticks, so they already have). I completely agree that you should never be sure anything or anyone is real unless you or someone you trust has verified it personally. The one area I disagree with you on is that the establishment doesn't care what the "little people" say or do. I contest that they actually care very, very much, and that's why they pour so much time and money - why it is, effectively, their entire life's purpose - to control it.
Also, if everyone gets kicked off social media, I can't see it being a bad thing for humanity at all. I have been kicked off all the mainstream ones (except LinkedIn because I know which side my bread is buttered!) and I think it's been nothing but good for me!
Also a very valid perspective. Anything online is ultimately enemy territory because "they" control all the platforms. They showed us during the fake plague that they want us all inside, alone, online, as then we're isolated and they can monitor everything we do. As Marc Andreessen said, they plan for "reality privilege" to only be for them, so limiting our time online and prioritising real-world experiences is definitely key.
As you point out, a compulsory Digital ID to access your bank account etc (or end up 'living in a mud hut' 😀) is very different to age verification to access social media. I'm against the introduction of any new 'checks' but we've all effectively been verifying our age for years if we're paying for something online. We even have to verify if we're a human to access some sites and you can't get much more dystopian than that!
It's incredible that anyone genuinely believes that a government that injects children with poison from the day they're born wants to protect them from the evils of social media but no doubt the debate will continue for months with all the usual amplified voices playing their roles.
154 years ago, The Ballot Act replaced public, open voting where voters declared their choices publicly or via show of hands, exposing tenants and workers to potential eviction or job loss if they opposed their landlords or employers. The Act was meant to eliminate corruption, intimidation, and violence.
I like your use of brackets, probably because I tend to use them a lot too. I love the way you throw in sarcasm and irony with a straight face. Also love the way you use the now so familiar ideas like the only way we are going to avoid the digital prison is to live in the woods (or the bush in oz) in a mud hut.
I've never seen the point of having a blue tick on X and giving my bank details. I always assume if you go down the blue tick route you either want to make money or want to have a little bit of fame. I always believed X was the place to take politicians to task and to voice objection to authority. I'm anti-vax, anti-government ,anti-voting, anti-war, anti-fiat currency, anti-patriotism, anti-religion, anti-woke, anti-being told what to do. In fact all sorts of antis if only I could remember what they are. The point is everything on social media (in particular X), mainstream media is probably fake. Fake posts, fake videos, fake opinions, fake politicians. How do I know that Elon Musk is real? I've never met him and I've never met anyone I trust who's met him. Unless you are a high profile person the people in 'control' have no interest in you or what you say. The government and politicians have no interest in you as an individual. Once they are voted into power their interest are the powerful lobbies and multinational companies. So when it comes to anything a government proposes you know is will fail. All they need is to have enough people believing they can make it work.
Thanks Doug, good comment and I agree with most of it (and amusingly, those screaming most vocally about how they will "never comply" with verifying their identity online have blue ticks, so they already have). I completely agree that you should never be sure anything or anyone is real unless you or someone you trust has verified it personally. The one area I disagree with you on is that the establishment doesn't care what the "little people" say or do. I contest that they actually care very, very much, and that's why they pour so much time and money - why it is, effectively, their entire life's purpose - to control it.
Good point.
Also, if everyone gets kicked off social media, I can't see it being a bad thing for humanity at all. I have been kicked off all the mainstream ones (except LinkedIn because I know which side my bread is buttered!) and I think it's been nothing but good for me!
Also a very valid perspective. Anything online is ultimately enemy territory because "they" control all the platforms. They showed us during the fake plague that they want us all inside, alone, online, as then we're isolated and they can monitor everything we do. As Marc Andreessen said, they plan for "reality privilege" to only be for them, so limiting our time online and prioritising real-world experiences is definitely key.
As you point out, a compulsory Digital ID to access your bank account etc (or end up 'living in a mud hut' 😀) is very different to age verification to access social media. I'm against the introduction of any new 'checks' but we've all effectively been verifying our age for years if we're paying for something online. We even have to verify if we're a human to access some sites and you can't get much more dystopian than that!
It's incredible that anyone genuinely believes that a government that injects children with poison from the day they're born wants to protect them from the evils of social media but no doubt the debate will continue for months with all the usual amplified voices playing their roles.
Very insightful article as always, thanks 👍🏻
154 years ago, The Ballot Act replaced public, open voting where voters declared their choices publicly or via show of hands, exposing tenants and workers to potential eviction or job loss if they opposed their landlords or employers. The Act was meant to eliminate corruption, intimidation, and violence.
Oh, interesting!
I like your use of brackets, probably because I tend to use them a lot too. I love the way you throw in sarcasm and irony with a straight face. Also love the way you use the now so familiar ideas like the only way we are going to avoid the digital prison is to live in the woods (or the bush in oz) in a mud hut.