Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/08/23/former-cia-operative-valerie-p.html
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Best idea I’ve heard in a long while. 86 45 !
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A dollar says she gets banned by Twitter before Trump does.
Another dollar says it will be for something inane, like… using Twitter to propose buying Twitter, for the explicit purpose of denying one specific person access to Twitter.
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Lets start a gofundme and chip in to buy congress. Why not? Everyone else is.
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This is an incredibly daft idea.
Let’s say that this funding campaign works (?!) and some entity (Valerie herself? Will she keep it afterwards?) buys Twitter and kicks Donald Trump off.
What happens next? Trump shuts up and never speaks again? Do you think this is likely? Or Trump seeks out some new haven (Gab?) and (and this is the best part) that new haven gets instant hyper-publicity.
What, you think that all the journalists who have made it their job, basically, to watch, hawklike, for the next stupid thing Trump says and then report on it will just ignore him if he’s on some other social network? Don’t we all read the article on the latest outrage about Trump? Can you afford to ignore him, even? Twitter bans don’t remove someone from the executive.
This idea’s one saving grace is that it cannot possibly work.
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It will work perfectly, and make Valerie rich, as intended.
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I am giving her the benefit of the doubt and assuming that she is 100% honest in her intent.
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From the first update:
“We have a long way to go to reach our ambitious $1b goal, but don’t worry! All proceeds will be donated to Global Zero, an incredible charitable organization I’m so proud to support. I won’t be keeping a penny of these funds personally. Instead, all donations will be put toward organizing the public against nuclear war and stopping Trump’s dangerous escalation of the North Korea crisis — before it’s too late.”
Does this mean GoFundMe.com works differently than Kickstarter and charges you for your commitment even if the goal is not reached?
I’ll take a box of Thin Mints and a box of Peanut Butter Patties, for a good cause.
It’s hard to guess whether tRump would demand that his understaffed, demoralized government agencies bring pressure on Twitter to cooperate, or just point his army of lawsuit flinging legal talent at Plame to keep her busy for a few decades. Or both…
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Yes, that’s one of the primary differences between the two platforms. That’s what makes it appealing for charities; if you fall a little short of the goal you set to fix the roof on the youth center then you don’t have to scrap the whole effort and start over.
Correct. I checked their FAQ for just that and you get charged, guaranteed.
So if I get this straight, if it doesn’t get to a billion (it won’t, obviously) within a time limit, all the donations will go to Global Zero which, according to Give Well and the like is a newish 501.3-c whose main policy goal is the elimination of all nuclear weapons. Which is something I’d love to do as a terminal goal, but am against as far as a tactic is concerned.
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If Plame Wilson really wants this to succeed she needs to team up with Matthew Inman and some how involve cats.
I dunno.
Apart from the impracticality (what’s the largest amount ever raised on GoFundMe? And why would you trust anyone with $1B? [update: just read the bit about GlobalZero. I have no opinion about them.]). This seems like it’s treating a symptom that’s actually helpful, rather than the problem that needs to be solved. Drumpf’s regular tweetsplosions are useful reminders of how insane, narcissistic, and hateful he really is. I think that turning off that channel would just make it easier for folks to pretend that what’s currently going on the White House is normal and productive.
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Thanks for clearing that up for me.
Still, I wonder if other people would be more willing to donate larger amounts if they only got charged if the goal was met. In this case, I definitely would be willing to donate substantially more.
Yes, twitter is broken, especially when it comes to bullies like #45. But, even if this plan would raise $1B, there are still several problems? Is $1B enough to buy twitter? Even if it is, you can’t fix the problem simply by kicking off a few bad guys. Some serious thought around turning twitter into a non-profit and creating a foundation around it might work, but even that has ni guarantees.
Fundamentally, I think this is just a publicity stunt so that Plame-Wilson can fund her other charities. It feels a bit underhanded, IMO.
As a Democrat I feel this is a terrible idea. Sure, his tweets embolden our adversaries. But he’s also hemorrhaging evidence to Mueller. I think that’s a good trade.
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