Professional Judy signs up to Gettr: “As Twitter disappears up its own reality-denying ideological rectum it has become more and more authoritarian.”

You know the feeling well. You’re about to send the tweet but that gnawing feeling in the back of your head starts. You stop to think. Will this be the tweet that gets you put on the naughty step and started on the journey to being banned? Have I crafted the tweet in such a way that communicates what I want to say but also doesn’t fall foul of the rules? What words are forbidden? If I say he can’t be a lesbian will that trigger a sanction? Will I be targeted by the reporting mobs hoping to trigger the AI to remove my tweet? Can it be taken out of context so it can be said to mean something it does not?

What you’re about to tweet doesn’t look controversial, it’s a view that most people would agree with, but who knows if it is reported how it’ll be viewed by the ideologically captured Twitter moderation team? Will they view your tweet about the well understood and uncontroversial fact that lesbians are female homosexuals as hate speech? What if you use the correct sex pronouns to describe a man like Eddie Izzard? What if you correctly point out that females who claim to be non-binary in order to gain access to male-only saunas are still females and are encroaching on single sex spaces for men?

As Twitter disappears up its own reality-denying ideological rectum it has become more and more authoritarian, its rules deliberately vague and its application of the rules inconsistent. As a user you’re left in a state of limbo and the relationship with Twitter that most people on there have, who haven’t lost their marbles, is one where Twitter has taken on the role of a coercive partner. Even the process of sanction is designed to humiliate, where you’re forced to go through the process of deleting the tweet (even though they’ve deleted it already) before you can start the countdown to getting access to your account back. I have had to delete tweets where I said that a male cannot be a lesbian or where I said that I think rape porn is bad even though I know both statements are true and that stating them is not an act of hate.

Which brings me to Gettr. As we’ve moved into 2022 it appears that Gettr is having a bit of a moment. Joe Rogan recently announced to his 7.9 million followers that he’s joining the service following Twitter’s overly aggressive censoring, Suzanne Moore has opened up an account, and thousands of gender critical people have joined the social platform and are relishing the opportunity to say controversial things like “penis in vagina sex is not gay sex” and “men cannot become women”.

Even though they have for years been telling us to sod off and find another platform if we don’t like Twitter, the response from the blue rinse army has been predictable. According to the unwashed, Gettr is nothing but a neo-Nazi far-right echo chamber. To be fair, yes there are some pretty in-your-face homophobes on Gettr who think we’re lower than scum and responsible for the deaths of millions because we won’t sleep with the opposite sex; sure they’re kind of retro with their deep love for Jesus but I do think the Queers who say more or less the same things on Twitter would get on really well with them, particularly as both groups believe in metaphysical claptrap like souls.

As the platform grows and more and more lifelong politically homeless left-wingers from around the world join the platform, it will become less of the echo chamber that Twitter is and more a space for the free flow of ideas. The hate will be challenged by robust debate, arguments on both sides will be made, and with its increased character limit, nuance will be easier to convey. This was how we won them the last time around. Maybe the Queers should give it a go?

As the platform grows and more and more lifelong politically homeless left-wingers from around the world join the platform, it will become less of the echo chamber that Twitter is and more a space for the free flow of ideas.

I would suggest though that for a cohort so utterly self-obsessed it’s rather worrying that none of the gender cult stops to consider if there’s something wrong when all that it takes to make someone a neo-Nazi is a belief in freedom of speech, a view that rape services should be service user-led, and a conviction that the hard won sex-based rights for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals are not up for debate.

Will Gettr stay as it is? During an interview with Andrew Doyle the CEO of Gettr Jason Miller was clear that Gettr is unlike Parler which was a free-for-all that quickly became a target of actual Nazis, foreign powers who hate free speech (China and Russia), and left-wing bots flooding the platform with material in order to get it shut down. Miller explains that while Gettr does have a robust moderation policy, and indeed needs to in order to survive, he promised that as long as you’re not doxxing, promoting unlawful activities, threatening physical harm, or abusing people on racial or religious grounds, your right to political free expression will be preserved.

The proof of the pudding is always in the eating and I guess we’ll see how long Miller sticks to his promises, but for now it sure does feel good to be able to post the basic truth that transmen are female and can’t be gay men and that you can’t change sex without the fear that will be the tweet that sinks your account for good.

Twitter is a near monopoly in the social media space in which it operates and acts accordingly, throwing its weight around and abusing its users. I think Gettr looks like the most serious contender that Twitter has had in some time, and if Twitter’s share price is anything to go by maybe alienating over 50% of your customer base isn’t the best strategy for long term sustainability.

Remember MySpace? No, me neither.

You can follow Professional Judy on Gettr here.