As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m not a big fan of social media — and certainly not of the fascist platform formally known as Twitter. And yet I do still maintain my account on the latter, unlike a good many other honorable souls who have bailed out to let the rats sink with the ship.
The way I see it, that ship is more in need of sane voices now than ever, and I might actually be able to do some good. Inevitably, this has led to being characterized occasionally as a “troll”.
This generally happens when I make a comment on a post by PragerU, which is an organization that aligns perfectly with the values of X Overlord Elon Musk. But it’s happened before on other platforms and websites. Lacking any response of substance, people sometimes resort to the “troll” label as if that settles something.
But they’re really not even using the word precisely. Strictly speaking, a troll is someone who makes comments on a site for the purpose of provoking a reaction. As defined by Merriam-Webster, a troll is :
a person who intentionally antagonizes others online by posting inflammatory, irrelevant, or offensive comments or other disruptive content
But my comments have absolutely nothing to do with being inflammatory, irrelevant, offensive or disruptive. Nor am I the least bit interested in provoking any kind of reaction. I am in fact the opposite of a troll. (Would that be a billy goat?) Rather than provoking reaction, I want to provoke thought and curiosity.
I realize that this mission is a lost cause for most readers of a site like PragerU. They’re not going to be open to anything that challenges their ironclad convictions. But my comments are not directed to the hardcore fans; they’re directed to other people who read the posts. My hope is that such people will be prompted to give a more discriminating look at the propaganda.
This is not trolling. It is what one might call piggybacking — using the enormous popularity of a trash platform to reach a wider audience for facts and intellectual honesty.
There is a drawback, of course. By interacting, I am helping to boost the site’s stats, however slightly. But since PragerU currently has nearly a million followers on X, the additional points on the tally sheet provided by one more follower are not a drop in the bucket; thus the positives of commenting on it outweigh the negatives.
So every morning I sit down with my cup of tea and spend ten minutes or so wading through the fever swamps. And making my presence known. It is truly a dirty and disgusting job. But it just might produce some results to make it worth the minimal time and effort.
(NOTE: If you are a subscriber and did not receive a notification when the previous post, The Trouble With Conspiracy Theories, was published, my apologies. There was a glitch for some reason.)
The Propaganda Professor 
I used to belong to Twitter (now brand x). I tried to stick to facts and be a bit polite to every commenter who challenged my statements. My name often appeared (very temporarily), on the upper right of the page, as one of their “relevant people,” and occasionally I answered others with clever barbs that turned their unproven words back on them. Then, when I lost access to Facebook, I was asked to re-enter my password and screen name to get back into play. However, after a couple of dozen tries I got nowhere even while trying to use appropriate language and a bit of respect. I also tried to re-enter my previous screen name and password, but it was always rejected, so I quit, and no longer showed my comments on x!!
It’s a crying shame that so many wealthy conservatives have no idea about both the privileges and limits that come with the First Amendment. They seem to think it gives them the freedom to spread any lie and write any kind of unproven nonsense in the hopes of solidifying the Mad MAGA people. Thus Trump’s conspiracy machine can claim it is he who is being censored when ordered not to discuss jurors and while being a continual salesman of the absurd and the tragic.
So until his requirements are no longer so stringent, I will let Mr. Musk’s lie after lie control or deny any examples of fairness and decency issued by the Biden government. They also seem to think they are allowed to censor any pieces of great literature, with the defense that they give children the wrong impression! However, it’s comforting to know that Trump is like a virus that will eventually die out. What matters is how much damage he does to the institution of Democracy while he conceals himself beneath tons of lies and absurd suggestions.
Will we ever recover?–maybe not for decades, but there are still many voters out there who have the decency to care about their fellow Americans and about electing the best candidate for the job. Not just the best liar, or the best conspiracy weaver!
Combine the old and new names. Xitter.
(“Xi” is pronounced the same as the Premiere of China.)
There are many foolish and few wise in this medium of exchange.
Get Outlook for iOShttps://aka.ms/o0ukef
11-06-2025
RE: Beliefs Have Many Sides, facts don’t”
“If we don’t win there won’t be a ‘Right’ to argue with about who goes on what podcast, because there won’t be an America.” There will be a dystopian, gay race communist security state, that steals our kids, and locks us up… (William Wolfe)—a conservative protestant fundamentalist Minister.
Funny but, our current extreme right wing government is hoping to end broadcasts that are contrary to what our MAGA leaders affirm, and instead decide what needs to re-done or removed, The Smithsonian Institute’s “anti-conservative displays” are being removed, in order to conceal facts that our kids, families and friends admire, while locking away and emptying our historical records, and what our founding fathers believed”—denials–which pretty much sum up the many restrictions being used by Conservative Trumpers to influence financial and political lies that then keep us in the dark about why we need to “obey” Trump, and/or his legally displayed arguments—used to hide the fact that Trump’s policies have not been able to destroy and replace our reliance on our democratic government, nor prevent the state from constantly diminishing our Constitutional rights, while they still allow us, and so many others, to lose our most cherished and foundational freedom to choose, and to criticize others are guaranteed under by the 1st amendment so when our enemies express dislike or hatred against agreeing with us. My hope is that MAGA people will discover that criticizing, or even disliking anyone else, are freedoms guaranteed by the first Amendment, However lets also recognize that, unflattering things and angrily expressing Hate speech is also lawfully guaranteed unless speech is used to encourage violence, In we can even wears blinders that favor only one side of any political ideology.
https://www.standingforfreedom.com/2025/11/06/five-key-takeaways-from-the-2025-elections/
Peter W. Johnson
Superior WI.
715-395-0008