More from @page88

Virginia Heffernan

@page88

26 Feb

My piece on the great Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the dread...cancel culture.

latimes.com/opinion/story/…

I promise you the 1957 "Howl" obscenity case has lessons for how to adjudicate 2021 cancelations.

1. Words have no fixed meaning. California v. Ferlinghetti contains this fr/Oliver W Holmes:

"A word is not a crystal, transparent & unchanged, it is the skin of a living thought & may vary greatly in color & content acc. to the circumstances & the time in which it is used."

Read 14 tweets

Virginia Heffernan

@page88

26 Feb

Purim is pure hilarity

Boooooo

Haman gets ratio‘d into dust and everyone shows up for the ratio

Read 6 tweets

Virginia Heffernan

@page88

18 Feb

If you’re all like Biden is boring it’s time to start thinking about how $2 trillion in cash and prizes packs a better punch than tweets and insurrections

💰💰💰💰💰💰💰

And if you’re a traumatized child of the 70s panicking about inflation know that even dour sullen economists say the inflation lambs are not crying Clarice!

How about post stimulus we start tweeting help wanted signs for jobs with A+ benefits and our paid taxes and new electric vehicles

That will get Twitter hopping again

Read 5 tweets

Virginia Heffernan

@page88

15 Feb

https://twitter.com/danielsgoldman/status/1360963238427578372

This is the real dynamic. Trump’s rivals, of course, get threats — but also: allies seen as disloyal, whistleblowers, witnesses, victims, journalists.

So many now get death threats from MAGA brownshirts. And there’s a noose & an insurrection that says they’re serious.

https://twitter.com/danielsgoldman/status/1360963238427578372

Schiff has said that his GOP colleagues know Trump is dangerous but can’t cross him for fear of a mention on Hannity. That is both (a) profound cowardice and (b) a reality. It is very, very demoralizing & frightening to endure the death-threat pileon from even one mention on Fox.

Even if the brownshirt campaign is minor—we’re not talking Pelosi-level—& you have nerves of steel, there’s the relentless insults, the rape & torture imagery, the doxing, the threats to kids, the *credible* threats that require police, the attacks on your livelihood.

Read 6 tweets