r/TuesdayswithPhony

This has happened to me enough times now that I want to highlight this behavior to the broader Reddit community. The basic pattern is such: user A makes a claim. User B responds to user A. User A responds back. User B responds, then immediately blocks A. A can no longer see B’s response, let alone reply, meanwhile B’s response remains an active thread. In some versions, user B uses their newfound invisibility to respond to other comments from user A, which user A cannot see nor respond to. User B now has last word in any and all threads shared between the users.

Since its probably not going to be very productive to argue whether or not this occurs, or is being used as an active manipulation strategy, so I’ll take another angle here: Reddit’s block feature is designed in a way that empowers the blocker to exhibit asymmetric control over narratives in threads where they’ve blocked other users. Unlike other evasive maneuvers on Reddit like the infamous ninja edit, there is no public audit trail to indicate where user blocks are filtering the information presented to different users.

Now there are situations where blocking is absolutely necessary for safety or privacy concerns, but that isn’t what I’m commenting on (these also probably account for less than 1% of blocked users, but again not the point here). To change my view, explain to me why Reddit’s asymmetric block feature is the best possible or only viable way to implement this feature.

It’s been decades and I’m sick of this petty shit.

You know exactly how to get ahold of me if you want to have a discussion, yet this has not been done.

The silence, kicking the can down the road, letting the buck run buck wild, the grift, the gambling, the high crimes. You’re pathetic and manipulative;

All of this evinced in the fact you can’t even have a discussion in good faith.

O lovely

§

I look into your eyes;

how the time flies!

With all of your blinks,

I catch my 40 winks;

§

if (if) [if] {if} <if>

§

At you I could gaze

through all of the days.

Though please, don’t be cruel;

I am a lonely, lost, and blue fool

§

for you.

Candace Owen’s podcast came into my know-knowingsphere after learning about it from mentions on another podcast.

I have enjoyed podcasts over the years, but have cut down significantly from 2-4/day to ~1/day.

“Candace”, her podcast title, is enjoyable in ways others aren’t. I’m fairly new to watching, and I find her humor entirely endearing. So far her show has covered mythology, religions, and a how-to on investigations and law; all very interesting topics.

Since I’ve been watching, she has been covering the Charlie Kirk assassination/case, which is kind of a big deal in the USA if what she has been uncovering is true.

I guess she and Charlie were friends, so it’s been kind of cathartic for me to watch her investigating the case of his assassination with such dogged devotion. This take might be vaguely morbid, and the whole ordeal is rather sad.

I didn’t know much about Charlie Kirk to be honest, but I did notice an uptick in online discussion before his death. A lot of people seemed as though they didn’t like him, but maybe they were bots and maybe I only saw a small swathe of internet users offering their opinions. I don’t know if they could claim to not like, as I don’t think they knew him, but they didn’t like his opinions might be the better choice of words.

I recall not having a neutral to not great opinion about him, but I’ve never watched him and my information was coming from scuttlebutt. I didn’t really think about him much because there is quite an ocean of content out there in contemporary times.

It was shocking to hear that he had died.

I had seen my mum shortly after the news broke. She had mentioned him before in the past, and she was quite sad with his passing. Talking with her felt like a cousin or close friend had died.

Around this time was when I started watching “Candace”; that’s when I learned they had been friends, and that she was working to discover the truth of what happened to him.

It has been cathartic to me watching her show because Candace has shown extraordinary nobility in the pursuit of justice for her friend.

If everyone in the world had a friend like Candace Owens, I think that the world would be a better place.

It doesn’t matter what “side of the aisle” one’s political leanings are, and this show has shown just that. What matters is that we are the *United* States, and it was wrong for Charlie Kirk to have died like he did. It’s wrong if there has been a coverup about it too.

It all seems a good turning point (ha) for all of us to realize that we are being willfully divided and pit against each other, like puppets not noticing our strings, over opinions and views we all are allowed to have. There’s so much to cover here, but I assume many have been following politics, the news, and current events; how could we not with so many screens in our daily lives?

This should be a good turning point for us to realize what matters in life, and what it’s all about.

Anyways, what she discussed in the linked episode and the purpose of this post is the notion of a “Show Trial”.

It seems like there is so much press around the upcoming trial of Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer, it’s become a spectacle. Much like having that Charlie Kirk tent photo-op thing or the selling of tee-shirts and other merchandise, and the seeming propping up of his widow.

Is this what our society has become? Are we collectively being pushed into consuming “Crime Entertainment”?

It feels like there is something wrong about the whole ordeal, making such a spectacle out of the whole thing. And here’s me adding into it.

It’s all just very sad. Maybe I’m getting too old. This isn’t how I thought of USA while I was growing up. Indeed, since 2010, for me, so much has changed so much. It sort of feels like bad reality TV, and almost like we each have our own show in the bad-reality-TV-universe. It’s sad and gross.

I could make some quips and embed links and connect dots and theories, but why bother?

I don’t view life as a spectacle. I can understand why many might choose to do so, but the whole Charlie Kirk ordeal is just really depressing to me.

Regardless of what you might think of him or view him, put yourself in his shoes. He built a huge organization based upon in-person debate, something so many claim to crave. He did the thing many want, and many spurned him for it because his favorite color is cerulean or vermillion or whatever is not their favorite color. It’s more nuanced than this, but the point is that he was a guy who strove for his American Dream and found it. He died for it.

There are so many people in our nation and the world who do the same thing everyday, but we often never know their name or even of their existence. Maybe that’s a good thing though, this kind of see-all public culture has only been around a couple decades.

I find it shameful the spectacle that Charlie Kirk’s life and death, and our lives watching it all, have become. A “Show Trial” just seems an ongoing tend of “Crime Entertainment”, maybe starting with the OJ Simpson trial. I can name 3 others many likely know, but maybe that’s just the evolution and nature of technology, attention, and our American culture.

I’m not sure, but I am sure that I’m grateful to know that people like Candace Owens exist.

Friendship is a sacred aspect of humanity, and as the old saying goes, “you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone”.

May the Charlie Kirk saga close in genuine good faith, justice, and the betterment of our society, so that he can rest in peace. May we all be better neighbors. And may we all learn to be better friends like Candace Owens exemplifies.