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1) Patriots in control … of A24
When indie studio A24 released the trailer for its first blockbuster Civil War, people were perplexed for many reasons. Why were California and Texas, diametric American opposites, on the same side? Why was Jesse Plemons again playing a neo-Nazi, like who is his agent? And just why, why was Hollywood … of all places, liberal Hollywood, creating an epic about the kind of national divorce the right is screaming for every day?
And just how would they demonize conservatives with it?
Well, the last question has a clear answer. They don’t. Patriots are finally in control of the movies.
On the QAnon message board Great Awakening, a poster who went to an early screening couldn’t stop raving about the movie, calling it proof the tide has turned.
“Watch it. Day One. I don’t usually recommend Hollywood Movies. However now I’m truly convinced that White Hats are beginning to run Hollywood. It was not what you expect. It shows you how terrible, how horrific, and how much a scourge an actual civil war would be. You see American Cities, Streets, Suburbs, bombed out. Cities are both warzones and refugee camps. People starving to death. Full blown out warzones in the big cities. Burnt Out JC Penny’s, hanging corpses from Streetlights, defaced billboards. You see the Rebel Military factions, militias, gangs, and people just trying to get by. This was one hell of a movie. I can’t stop thinking about it.”
It could even be a message from the eponymous poster himself, Q, who once warned against a great American divide.
“I now understand why Q said ‘No Civil War.’” The movie, the poster claimed, was so jarring, that anyone would understand the conspiracy’s message and fear.
“You see America implode on itself. A literal worst-case scenario. Iconic American Cities in complete chaos. People killing for a sandwich. Refugee Camps for American Citizens.”
And while, according to the poster, former President Donald Trump isn’t used as a boogeyman in the flick, antifa is.
But even more shocking, the poster appreciated how the press was portrayed.
“While they mention they are from NYTimes and Reuters they also say those organizations are about dead. I.E. in the movies universe Mainstream News collapsed. Journalists are being hunted down. Putting it from the MSM Pov actually was clever. I know it sounds strange, but they stayed neutral.”
But despite the poster’s enthusiasm, not everyone agreed.
“Don’t feed the dying Hollywood beast, let it suffer. This movie and its timing is obviously not made for MAGA; it’s fear-mongering anti-trump propaganda,” said one.
Added another, “White Hats are beginning to run Hollywood… Thanks, I needed a laugh this morning.”
2) Bluesky’s big bully moment
Bluesky users are relishing their newfound clout on the site after a mass of people pushed NPR to change their social media framing of a story.
The X competitor built a unique base by keeping the site invite-only for a long period, only recently opening it up to everyone. Posters on it have worked to cultivate a forum that isn’t a clone of the mess of trolls X has become, even bullying a Jordan Peterson impersonator off the site.
Now, they’ve set their sites on making sure media outlets understand their readership on the platform.
The saga kicked off when NPR published a piece about the mayor of Baltimore in the wake of the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse, saying he’d been called a “DEI hire” by the right.
In recent months, right-wingers have glommed onto any person of color in any position of authority, calling them unqualified diversity hires. This criticism kicked off after the mayor, Brandon Scott, held an anodyne press conference in the wake of the collapse.
The attacks were entirely meritless, especially given that a popularly elected official, picked by a mass of people, can’t be a diversity hire.
Though NPR was attempting to flag and criticize the insults, users on Bluesky still criticized the framing.
Said one reply to the post: “Hold on, I need to go look up something about how Baltimore’s mayor is determined … Okay, so, it transpires that Mayor Scott was elected by the people of Baltimore in an election held in 2020, meaning that the characterization of him as a ‘DEI hire’ is inaccurate in the entirety.”
“Wouldn’t be NPR if they weren’t uncritically repeating a right wing slander in their headlines,” said another.
But, in the wake of backlash on the site, NPR eventually deleted its post and replaced it with a new headline, which users celebrated.
“One thing that is cool about bluesky, you must agree, is that big media gets bullied into getting more correct on this platform which has happened with WaPo & today with NPR.” cheered a poster.
Responded another, “y’all really bullied (complimentary) npr into changing a shitty headline to be more accurate? hell yeah, good job!”
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