Jonathan Turley on GoFundMe’s game
GoFundMe’s suspension of millions to support protesting truckers in Canada shocked many, particularly when the company initially announced its intention to distribute the money to other charities. It was less of a surprise for those of us who have criticized the company for years over its use of the platform to target and block funds for conservative and libertarian causes. Indeed, the company has revised an old practice known as the “Nag’s Head light” in luring the unsuspecting into what has become a liberal lockbox on funds.
I suppose Turley has been tracking this for quite some time because GoFundMe has targeted not just conservative causes but libertarian causes, and Turley is a libertarian. I suggest you read the whole thing.
There’s certainly been a theme lately, hasn’t there? Companies (including internet companies but not limited to them) and the state, and the media and the academy, working together to silence dissenting voices on the right.
There’s a word for what you cite in your last paragraph:
Fascism.
Properly speaking, the word “fascism” should be used only to refer to an Italian political party which ceased to exist three generations ago. As Orwell recognized just after the war, it is nothing but a term of abuse to be shamelessly wielded as a moral cudgel against one’s ideological opponents (Yale’s absurdly unphilosophical and grotesquely-remunerated Jason Stanley being but the most egregious of many pseudo-academic purveyors of such pernicious nonsense); however, if it can be held to have any contemporary meaning at all, it is indeed the statist symbiosis of Big Government and Big Corporations/Media/Academy working in concert to crush any and all dissent (on which see Vivek Ramaswamy’s excellent and very timely Woke, Inc.).
Turley’s a conventional academic whose viewpoint was unremarkable when he entered the academy in 1987. He addresses issues which derived from questions dealt with in case law. He translates the discussions of case law for general audiences. He does not address issues as would an ordinary citizen or as would a student of social theory. He goes off script only in discussing the Near East; he takes considerable umbrage at Saudi Arabia.
His signature of late has been two fold: the decline of the culture of free speech and an appreciation of the value of free speech by institutional elites (a disdain which leads to contractual violations and 1st Amendment violations and, more in passing, the purge of non-leftist from faculties in the last generation. He makes no bones about it that he sees what has happened as not a byproduct of the social dynamics of the legal academy but a deliberate effort.
He actually expresses no particular opinions on other topical questions. Richard Epstein has been an explicit and pugnacious libertarian on a law faculty. Turley has not. What distinguishes Turley is that he’s fairly straight from the shoulder about academe’s pathologies, which Ann Althouse is not. The soi-disant libertarians at the Mercatus Center are useless in this respect, a controlled ‘opposition’. Turley has of late been going to bat for Ilya Somin; I doubt Somin would ever stick his neck out for a stranger subject to an academic mobbing; certain Tyler Cowan and Scott Sumner never would.
To re-iterate. Turley is an adherent to professional collegiality. Other academics favor collegiality only as a conduit to avoid being subject to examination and review by outsiders. He’s basically aghast at how professors treat each other nowadays, in particular aghast at how instructional deans like Wm. Treanor treat faculty.
Jimbo:
I discussed that briefly in a post the other day. It’s economic fascism, which is an element that is a subset of fascism but not the whole thing.
Again, what GoFundMe did was egregious, certainly tortious. If it wasn’t criminal, its because some set of jackwagons put a loophole in the law. This should appall everyone. Leftists aren’t bothered by it. They fancy it’s a neat trick. We have scads of opinionated friends who are street-level Democrats, and not one of them will offer a remark condemning GoFundMe’s behavior. Take it to the bank.
During the whole Kavanaugh imbroglio three years ago, not one of the street-level Democrats on our Friend schedule remarked on the elephant in the room: neither the accuser nor the employees of Bezos or Sulzberger, nor the nexus of oppo researchers in and around the Democratic Party managed to locate or present any evidence that she’d ever met the two men she was accusing. Nor did they present and argument that a set of circumstances ever obtained that would make it likely she’d met them. There were about 40,000 people resident in Montgomery County, Md. born after 1962 and prior to 1968, so you would not assume they knew each other. The culture of the Democratic Party is deeply diseased. It’s gotten impossible to have decorous competition and debate because there are no rules anymore.
Art Deco:
Turley has defended libertarian causes in his writings. I decided some time ago that his basic political orientation is libertarian, or perhaps you might say libertarian lite. In 2012, libertarian candidate Gary Johnson specifically said he’d be a good SCOTUS pick if Johnson were to be elected, and Turley wrote this, including, “I obviously share many values with him on the constitutional system. Gov. Johnson’s acknowledgement was…entirely unexpected but deeply appreciated. “
I assume that gofundme has a % take as their handling fee, but what about investment income those dollars represent, especially if they collect the money but delay on distribution. I’m sure they don’t give those earned dollars back to the donor or fund owner.
Turley wrote this, including, “I obviously share many values with him on the constitutional system.
His reference is to legal-formal architecture. Turley does not write much on other subjects.
“Economic fascism” is a fulcrum intended to leverage cultural and political fascism.
Fascism is simply one subset of totalitarianism.
The left will never be satisfied with a compliant but resentful population. They seek enthusiastic obediance and mean to attain it through indoctrination from preschool on…
“D.C. kindergarteners forced to march with Black Lives Matter signs… Here’s the video…”
https://citizenfreepress.com/breaking/d-c-kindergarteners-forced-to-march-with-black-lives-matter-signs-heres-the-video/
I’ll start by saying GoFundMe’s actions regarding the Canadian Truckers seemed wrong to me because of the refusal to refund to those that donated. I’m not surprised at all that they decided to not allow the Fund, since they did similar things with Rittenhouse (while hundreds of alleged criminals seek defense funds within GoFundMe, and reasonably so as many are still innocent until proven guilty). I’ve noticed this behavior a few years back, so I don’t donate via them.
I see GoFundMe like I do the United Way, except I think the latter is actually worse. The United Way takes donations as an umbrella organization and then distributes them to preferred charities. You can donate to those charities directly, but as it is not necessarily easy to figure out how to do so, the United Way simplified it. However, the United Way went further than even GoFundMe by having businesses harass employees to donate to their umbrella organization.
My preference is to donate direct whenever possible.
I’m waiting for the left to corrupt Paypal. I use it and find it handy for Internet based transactions, but I suspect it is only a matter of time before they limit with whom they do business.
Leland, I believe PayPal is already refusing to do business with conservative businesses and groups.
https://www.foxnews.com/tech/conservatives-call-for-paypal-boycott-after-ceo-admits-splc-helps-ban-users
GoFundMe’s plan to confiscate donations was out-and-out fraud. They backed off because of how much this might cost them.
The most ridiculous part of all this is there’s a big element of the Left that HATES Big Tech and would like nothing better than to destroy it. So what does Big Tech do? It goes out of its way to antagonize and enrage the Right that would normally be its primary defense against regulation and anti-trust action.
Assuming we’re not all fighting over the tastiest rat 10 years from now, this whole mess should be taught in business schools as a classic example of capitalist system failure.
Mike
Did GoFundMe announce they were donating the money elsewhere as a distraction, and to make backing down and refunding look better by contrast?
The most ridiculous part of all this is there’s a big element of the Left that HATES Big Tech and would like nothing better than to destroy it.
Tucker Carlson made a pretty good point that the left threatens Big Tech with regulation and legislation. Big Tech tends to respond with leftist policies. The Republicans almost never do this.
JIMBO:
Thank you.
We need the F-word. We need to say it loud and strong.
That is what we are fighting — Fascists.
Let’s call THE LEFT what they are — Fascists.
Dan Bongino is working on alternatives to the left’s economic coercion. Paralleleconomy.com, Rumble, etc. I avoid PayPal as much as possible, neo using it is a necessary evil. United Way? No way, no more, nevermore.
MBunge on February 7, 2022 at 9:30 pm:
“the Right that would normally be its primary defense against regulation and anti-trust action” except they probably figure they are better off keeping their friends close and their enemies closer, via lobbying, funding campaigns, etc.
“… a classic example of capitalist system failure.” I see it as a great example of a capitalist system success – and a rule of law success. They were going to be sued for clearly fraudulent misuse of funds, so while the results of an actual court battle might have ended up with less “pure justice” than we would desire, the fear of such a contest ended up keeping them “honest” [at least “sort of”, unless or until we learn they have “fudged” in the money returns somehow.]
Eleventy times burnt, not shy enough.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/victoria-taft/2022/02/07/nine-times-gofundme-told-conservatives-go-f-u-n1556910
Well. They think if you disagree with them (no matter how mildly), you are literally Hitler. It cannot be bad to fight and be dishonest to Adolf Hitler.
Sure, Fasicsm is an Italian word referring to an Italian political philosophy, except that philosophy has been exported and mutated.
Like Omicron.
Fascist certainly means more than “Jack Booted Thug”.
I think the worry over subtleties of meaning for a word like “fascist” is a waste of time. Those in this camp are likely correct on the exact nomenclature of the word. Big deal. This is a war we are in. Words are weapons. The Left knows this. Conservatives keep losing the battles in this war by being mannerly, scholarly, oh so careful about how they express themselves. It is a mistake.
“inside every liberal is a totalitarian screaming to get out”
Horowitz said it years ago and he’s right. He was a red diaper baby. He knows the Left better than anyone. And he keeps being proven right every day.
Fascist certainly means more than “Jack Booted Thug”.
As an example of the mutation of the Democrat Party, that phrase was originally used by John Dingle, a Democrat Congressman, to describe the ATF.
How times have changed.
Art Deco – I would consider Turley’s positions on free speech culture and in support of Ilya Shipiro to be political positions, or at least issues that extend beyond the law.
Nonetheless, even if you consider Turley to avoid taking political positions, isn’t that just consistent his understanding of the law? Turley is undoubtedly an expert on technical issues regarding what the law is and how it is to be applied. (Perhaps he is also an expert on issues of free speech culture. I haven’t read his scholarship.) On most political issues, though, he is no more an expert than the rest of us.
We would all be better off if we let law be law and politics be politics. Unfortunately, given the judicial philosophy of half the country, and most of the legal profession, that isn’t going to happen anytime soon. Maybe Turley is on to something about law, though.
I just dislocated my own personal shoulder patting myself on the back for recognising the phrase ‘Nag’s head Light’.
I believe PayPal is already refusing to do business with conservative businesses and groups.
They still take donations for neo, so I’m sticking with them for now.
Mike K said “As an example of the mutation of the Democrat Party, that phrase was originally used by John Dingle, a Democrat Congressman, to describe the ATF.”
Yeah, that bozo was my congressman, like his daddy before him and his wife after him.
But he kept getting re-elected with NRA approval.
“…Turley on GoFundMe’s game”?
Here’s Turley on what is essentially the Democrats’ ENDGAME:
‘ “Dismantling Democracy” To Save It: How Democrats Rediscovered The Joys Of Rigging Election’—
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/dismantling-democracy-save-it-how-democrats-rediscovered-joys-rigging-election
(Must say that coming from Turley, that’s quite a title…. Seems his eyes have been levered opened…and he’s thoroughly appalled and disgusted.)
#Go_F_Me
” Companies (including internet companies but not limited to them) and the state, and the media and the academy, working together to silence dissenting voices on the right.”
These are lessons from Satans and Godhead.
It is testing people to see if they can discern good leaders from bad. And to discern if they have a comprehension or acceptance of the Law of One.
Corporations are persons. Thus they have the same rights as persons. If a person claims they own something online and can ban “whatever” because it is their home or property, this authorizes corporations such as Meta/FB/Twitter to do the same thing. To teach people a lesson about the Law of One or the effect of mirrors in society.
When people say that their actions are different because they are not corporations, corporations say that their censorship is ok because they are not the government. Again, lack of personal responsibility in the solar plexus has consequences. Failing or refusing to take the quiz, have consequences.
The government is abusive because families and personal relationships are abusive. People tolerate it and thus the government grows in power as totalitarianism is toelrated or promoted.
The problems mirror each other, because in essence they are one.
The tests will continue until humanity wakes the fk up. Or, the generations of humanity end.
“(Must say that coming from Turley, that’s quite a title…. Seems his eyes have been levered opened…and he’s thoroughly appalled and disgusted.)”
Nobody is dismantling democracy, that is just a conspiracy theory. Democracies don’t exist to begin with, as they are just rule by 1%.
}}} Assuming we’re not all fighting over the tastiest rat 10 years from now, this whole mess should be taught in business schools as a classic example of capitalist system failure.
Except it’s not about capitalist system failure — if stockholders elect agenda-driven morons, then refuse to repudiate them by not unelecting them, that’s not a failure. That’s stockholders being morons. You can’t make a system foolproof, and these fools show that to be the case.