What Hellish Freaks Will Emerge From Bluesky During Primary Season?

Can the infected be contained?

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After the election, there were a lot of headlines about how progressives were leaving Twitter for Bluesky, with Bluesky growing so fast that it might threaten Twitter. Here’s how things have gone since then for Bluesky:

Bluesky is basically back where it was before the election. I find that unsurprising; “come hang out with America’s most ardent progressives” is a sales pitch about as appealing as “let us funnel a bunch of hornets down your pants”. You know that scene in movies where an innocent young person goes somewhere dangerous — maybe a biker bar or an underground club — and there’s this sense of “do you belong here?” That’s how it feels to log on to Bluesky if you’re not a 100 percent committed progressive. You can sense AOC and George Takei giving you side-eye, people do the equivalent of handing you a potent drink and saying “chug” by posting The 12 Flags of Pride Month and glowing reviews of Greta Thunberg’s recent work. You probably won’t make it on Bluesky if you’re not prepared to virtually beat up the toughest motherfucker in the prison yard, which I think would be to accuse Mark Cuban of using harmful language that marginalizes indigenous voices.

This week, Megan McArdle and Josh Barro — two writers whose work I like — had an exchange about Bluesky. It started with McArdle arguing that Bluesky is a bubble that will distort progressive perceptions and hurt Democrats. Barro responded by agreeing that Bluesky is a bubble, but arguing that it might help Democrats by keeping the left’s most embarrassing freaks out of the public eye and out of the ears of Democrats running for office. Basically, McArdle is arguing that Bluesky will turn people into horrifically mangled mutants, and Barro is saying “sure, but the mutants will be safely locked in the basement.” It seems that something of a The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas situation is developing, and whether that will spell a utopian future or a dystopian nightmare for Democrats is TBD.