The Social Alternative - Welcome to the New SA! - Issue #8

Welcome to the new Newsletter!

Thanks for checking out the newsletter! Due to Elon Musk obtaining control of Twitter and subsequently axing the newsletter Revue platform, I have been forced to look elsewhere to continue writing. Not a loss by any means, Beehiiv far surpasses Revue as an upgrade! If you are new here, The Social Alternative is my place to discuss politics broadly, educate others on Socialist perspectives, and analyze events that impact our lives on a weekly and monthly basis. Our current politics don’t seem to offer much of a future at all. Our only choices appear to be either a technocratic neoliberalism that embraces the rhetoric of social inclusion but not equality, or a right-wing populism channeling anger into the worst directions. 

The Decline of Twitter

Since Musk took the reigns as CEO of Twitter, the clown prince of Big Tech has behaved a bit like a Gen-X Donald Trump, a billionaire brat who makes business and personnel decisions based on arbitrary whims or wounds to his Mars-sized ego. My time on Twitter lately, I have witnessed this man dig himself deeper, with every tweet, the man takes an "L".  Not to mention the whole suspension of at least eight journalists on Thursday without any warning. 

The move came after Twitter suspended about two dozen accounts, including 20 year old college student Jack Sweeney, who was behind @elonjet, which tracked the billionaires private plane. Musk claims the journalists engaged in "doxxing", despite the situation not quite meeting the terms definition. Flight data for aircraft from Musk’s shiny multimillion-dollar Gulfstream G650 jet to commercial planes has long been public. His actions have certainly sparked criticisms on both sides of the Atlantic. Silencing prominent voices is prompting regulatory heat. Musk fancies himself an advocate for "Free Speech", yet evidently on the contrary, its quite the opposite. 

In Other News

• This season of respiratory sicknesses rivals some of the worst on record.

• Brittney Griner headed home from the U.S. military base where she had stayed since her release from a Russian prison, and pledged to rejoin the W.N.B.A.

• The executive at the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX who told regulators about wrongdoing is also a Republican donor and a restaurateur.

• President Biden plans to appoint Joe Kennedy III as special envoy to Northern Ireland.

• Russia fired dozens of missiles at Ukrainian power stations, forcing millions into the dark and cold in subfreezing weather.

What to Read/Book Club

I thought this may be a fun way to share with you all what I'm currently diving into as far as leisurely literature. A great way to start is with this short read:

It explores Fisher's concept of "capitalist realism", which he describes as "the widespread sense that not only is capitalism the only viable political and economic system, but also that it is now impossible even to imagine a coherent alternative to it." The book investigates what Fisher describes as the widespread effects of neoliberal ideology on popular culture, work, education, and mental health in contemporary society.

In Conclusion

Thanks for reading! Keep an eye out for future newsletters, follow me on Twitter if you already haven't! As always, I appreciate you supporting the newsletter, I appreciate your interest in making the world a better place! 

Quote of the Day

"Ten thousand times has the labor movement stumbled and fallen and bruised itself, and risen again; been seized by the throat and choked and clubbed into insensibility; enjoined by courts, assaulted by thugs, charged by the militia, shot down by regulars, traduced by the press, frowned upon by public opinion, deceived by politicians, threatened by priests, repudiated by renegades, preyed upon by grafters, infested by spies, deserted by cowards, betrayed by traitors, bled by leeches, and sold out by leaders, but notwithstanding all this, and all these, it is today the most vital and potential power this planet has ever known, and its historic mission of emancipating the workers of the world from the thralldom of the ages is as certain of ultimate realization as is the setting of the sun.” --Eugene V. Debs Union leader, co-founder of IWW, presidential candidate