TWIG 660: Welcome to Poundtown

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What are your thoughts about today’s show? We’d love to hear from you!

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The gang did a horrible job on the LibsofTikTok / Taylor Lorenz story. Journalists should do better at getting the full story. Especially journalist professors.

The real irony is just weeks ago Taylor was in tears about being subject to the same type of behavior she just gave to Libs of TikTok.

Here’s a much more informed and balanced take from Bari Weiss’ substack TGIF: CNN+ Goes Belly Up. Libs of TikTok Soars. (substack.com)

→ Libs of TikTok: Washington Post tech reporter Taylor Lorenz, who is quickly becoming the most famous reporter in the country, got a scoop: the identity behind the anonymous Libs of TikTok account on Twitter and Instagram. Turns out she lives in Brooklyn and works in real estate.

Libs of TikTok has a simple premise: the woman who runs it finds crazy TikTok videos featuring someone on the left looking bad or unhinged and she re-posts them on her own social media feed. Classic Libs of TikTok fare would be a forever-masker going on some kind of tirade, someone who’s mentally unstable listing their “neopronouns” or a teacher talking about how he tells students that he’ll be their parent now. In a way, she’s giving the left a taste of its own medicine: A lot of mainstream news reporters earn their keep by finding the wackiest small town Republican saying some racist garble at a diner and shoving it on the front page. Ten maniacs at a QAnon rally will find ten reporters surrounding them asking for quotes. The Libs of TikTok’s founder is doing basically the same thing. It’s a cruel game, but it’s politically effective.

The specific critique against Libs of TikTok’s creator is that by highlighting the wackiest content, she’s stirring up transphobia and homophobia. The creator is definitely a social conservative who seems to be against the whole gay rainbow. But the reason she’s so effective is that a lot of the content she highlights is legitimately disturbing and makes your average gay person cringe. Everyone now talks about LGBTQ+, though in truth the LGB is a very, very different culture from the TQ+.

Last note: I was shocked by how Lorenz reached out for a comment to someone she wrongly suspected to be behind Libs of TikTok: “Is that your account? Please let me know ASAP because you’re being implicated as starting a hate campaign against LGBTQ people.” Imagine being a random woman and getting this threat from a Washington Post reporter: You’re being implicated in hate.

Anyway, it’s all looking good for the Libs of TikTok creator who has been riding the controversy and promoted her Substack. Read Matt Taibbi for one great take and Batya Ungar-Sargon for another.

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A friend (who has many labels) just sent me this opinion piece, which may or may not be related… I don’t feel qualified to comment either way.

“Libs of TikTok” is making the world more dangerous for all LGBTQI people. Although I know a lot more than that about the matter, that’s all I or anyone should need to know.

I was listening to this episode as my wife and I travelled to Louisville, KY for an awesome fireworks display. When the talk of the Zillow Gone Wild, welcome to pountown came on. I told my wife I needed to get a new sign to hang above the bed. Honestly knowing there are people in the world with my same warped sense of humor gave me a damn good chuckle.

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