As we mentioned last night, there have been pretty significant layoffs over at Media Mutters Matters, one of several organizations dedicated to silencing conservative voices and to preserving left-wing media bias. To expand on that second point a little, their goal is to constantly claim that left wing media is too conservative to give fellow left wingers ideological cover. Then those left wing media types can say ‘sure, Media Research Center says that our story ‘Did Donald Trump Actually Drink the Blood of Orphans?’ was a bit biased against the Republican side, but Media Matters argued that we actually were conservative because we didn’t investigate whether or not those orphans were transgender.’ This works on the macro level, when defending organizations accused of bias, and probably on a micro level, helping to defend individual reporters.
So, seeing these layoffs led to more than a little schadenfreude on the right, much of it incredibly righteous. We are particularly sympathetic to Jim Treacher (see the previous post).
But Kyle Mann, editor-in-chief of The Babylon Bee, is different. He is compassionate. He is ready to offer these former Media Matters employees a new job and we think his plan is as brilliant as it is kind:
1. We hire all the fired Media Matters writers at @TheBabylonBee
— Kyle Mann (@The_Kyle_Mann) May 23, 2024
2. We tell them it's a serious journalism job
3. We have them keep writing the same stuff they were writing before
4. Profit?? pic.twitter.com/NxCys4UtwS
One possible flaw in the plan: Did they believe the last job involved serious journalism? Like, really?
Other than that, a flawless plan.
And, of course, Defiant L’s had to make fun of one Media Matters crybully:
Life comes at you fast. pic.twitter.com/t89McZkl8P
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) May 24, 2024
The picture is a little cut off, but it is a video of the same Twitter/X user posting a video celebrating the firing of Tucker Carlson.
Even Libs of TikTok and Elon Musk got in on the fun:
Karma is real
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2024
LOTT and Defiant L’s are using a screenshot of this post:
Bad News: I’ve been laid off from @mmfa, along with a dozen colleagues.
— Kat Abu (@abughazalehkat) May 23, 2024
There’s a reason far-right billionaires attack Media Matters with armies of lawyers: They know how effective our work is, and it terrifies them (him).
The not-so-subtle claim is that these layoffs happened because of Elon Musk/Twitter/X suing Media Matters, which we previously covered here. The gist of the suit is that Media Matters personnel claimed that hateful posts were appearing on Twitter/X next to advertisers and team Musk/Twitter/X basically argued that Media Matters were manipulating algorithms on purpose to produce that result. Therefore, Twitter/X sued for essentially business defamation. Here’s reportage on Media Matters’ president thumping his chest over the suit before it was filed:
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Still waiting on the promised "thermonuclear" lawsuit that Elon Musk said he'd file first thing this morning, Media Matters president Angelo Carusone doesn't appear too concerned in his latest statement.
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) November 20, 2023
"If he sues us, we will win." pic.twitter.com/Os9ldcyysD
Now, to be fair, it is far too easy for people to file frivolous suits that burden freedom of expression in modern America. But we aren’t convinced that the Twitter/X v. Media Matters suit is one of those frivolous suits. Furthermore, Media Matters’ plain intent when running the original article was to harm Twitter/X precisely because Twitter/X allows more freedom of expression than most platforms. This is overall part of a left-wing jihad to try to limit freedom of expression by trying to destroy, diminish or discredit Twitter/X. Of course, Media Matters is free to say we shouldn’t be free—we in America are literally free to advocate for this country being turned into a dictatorship—but it’s hard to sympathize with an organization that is actively attempting to silence Americans complaining that they are being silenced in retaliation for their attempt to silence us.
As for the problem of frivolous suits that burden freedom of expression, we suggest two simple reforms, and we welcome any critiques of them—perhaps in the comments.
First, whenever a lawsuit on its face or in practice, is designed to punish a person for expression, then the courts should follow a strict rule of loser pays. Malicious actors file malicious suits in part because they know that even if the defendant wins, the defendant will still lose money having to hire lawyers, etc., and if they know they would foot the bill, their calculation and behavior would change.
Second, we think that a lawsuit based on expression should have to be required to survive a motion for summary judgment before they get access to discovery. There is a lot of complexity in that statement, and we don’t want to spend several pages explaining in detail what an important shift that would be. But one of the problems with abusive litigation is that they can impose huge costs on people and companies through discovery, a process where you are supposed to give documents and testimony to benefit the other side. And how do you get discovery? Just be willing to write any kind of B.S. you want in a complaint and as long as you tell a story that adds up to a proper legal action, you get to torment the defendant with discovery requests. And what this author is saying is that before a plaintiff can turn a defendant’s life upside down this way, they should be required to show they are able to provide some evidence to support each part of each complaint. It doesn’t have to be absolute proof in our proposal, but at least force them to provide some evidence. This author has defended cases that went all the way to trial where the plaintiff or the prosecutor literally provided absolutely no evidence on an element of a crime or civil cause of action, and the judges found for the defendants—but only after their lives had been turned upside down.
Fundamentally, our system fails to understand that for many people, being sued or being charged with a crime is an upsetting event—especially for people who try their best to obey the law and do right by others. The system can be confusing and, therefore, deeply upsetting to lay people, but and for judges and lawyers, that’s just Tuesday:
Jokes and memes aside, too many lawyers and judges fail to emphasize with how upsetting it can be for ordinary people to deal with this process. Indeed, judges and lawyers owe their living, to an extent, to it. This blindness is weaponized by unscrupulous people to suppress freedom of expression to a frightening degree in this country. We think our proposals would tend to mitigate that. But again, we welcome critiques and suggestions in the comments.
In any case, let’s get back to the fun.
In response to Ms. Abu’s post, the new CEO of the Onion, Ben Collins (who is going by the name Tim Onion for some reason) quoted her post with the words ‘F—k Elon Musk’ (only he spelled out the naughty word because he is sooooo transgressive) and then replied to his own brilliant post by writing:
This is why right-wing billionaires sue people reporting on them.
— Tim Onion (@oneunderscore__) May 23, 2024
They know they can't win these lawsuits. But they also know legal fees will cripple the little guy reporting on their lies and crimes.
This is how free speech is actually chilled—vengeful dipshit billionaires.
Which led to this response:
"The little guy"? He's calling MMFA the little guy?? Look at the list of orgs that give them funding: https://t.co/oQDWKxyJ6d https://t.co/d4JcDV1bc2
— Pam D (@soirchick) May 24, 2024
Yeah, hardly the little guy. And again, Media Matters was sued over an attempt to limit all Americans’ freedom of expression. Indeed, here’s a person linking to one of their articles:
I’m blocking every advert I see now. You should, too: Anti-LGBTQ hate has increased on Twitter since Elon Musk officially acquired the company https://t.co/VU0D44WvHn
— Alain V Compassioné (@mr_modular) April 20, 2023
In the article they discuss how
The Babylon Bee was suspended in March after repeatedly misgendering U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine.
And you will look in vain for a single word condemning that decision by Twitter, on that page, or any other on the Media Matters' website. Indeed, the entire piece is a long tirade in favor of censorship, lamenting that Twitter/X no longer silences viewpoints Media Matters disagrees with. We wonder if Mr. Collins agrees with Media Matters about censoring satire and parody?
As for Mr. Mann’s plan to hire ex-Media-Matters writers to write conservative satire by writing leftist nonsense in earnest, there were reactions:
Please can this be a YouTube series also
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) May 23, 2024
If they made that pay-per-view, they could end up being very, very rich.
Real Men of Genius... https://t.co/WmseLfNXp6
— Martin O'Neal 🏴☠️ (@martinoneal1) May 23, 2024
Perhaps if they had taken their jobs as fact checkers of the media seriously, this might not have happened https://t.co/lPotVhU48l
— Pete Ezell (@Ezell1Pete) May 24, 2024
But was that ever really their jobs? Really?
The plan? We hire “journalists” to write jokes, but we tell them they’re writing important stories. They’ll never know the difference! pic.twitter.com/kvtciHJCkm
— Jason Levin (@iamjasonlevin) May 23, 2024
You need to create a shell company with a different name. So they don't know who their writing for. Call it something like Northen Policy Law Center or Americans (not bee's) against misinformation and hate because it matters. They'll never be able to tell.
— RealJohn1776 (@RealJohn1776) May 23, 2024
Details, details…
You'd go deaf from the nonstop REEEEEEEE filling the office.
— Herman P. Hunter, Author (@HermanPHunter1) May 24, 2024
That would be a problem.
The fact that Media Matters does a poor job has nothing to do with anyone getting fired.
— censorship_is_wrong (@wrong2censor) May 24, 2024
I wish Rush were around to see this.
We theologically believe he sees it, but reasonable people can disagree on that point.
Maybe pay them to move to somewhere like Joplin, Missouri, or Hayhira, Georgia, and film the culture shock as they meet real people for the first time.
— Milton Friedman Stan Account (@AndIllWhisperNo) May 24, 2024
Seriously, these are great ideas.
Finally:
Pretty sure that's what the Onion is trying without much success.
— Mark Dahler (@MarkDahler) May 23, 2024
That … would really explain a lot.
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