Weekend Red Pills 💊
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Howzit, Private Eye?
Another crazy week is behind us. We made it to Saturday.
Do you read your Saturday morning red pills in bed? Or do you get up, make some coffee, grab a Danish, and THEN take your red pills?
We all have our weekend routines. I check my emails as soon as I awaken. (Bad habit, I know.)
I’m always happy to see the News Detectives Weekend Red Pills in my inbox.
Not because I can’t wait to read them— I’ve already read them. I’m just happy to know they delivered to you. :)
One news item not in today’s red pills involves Mr. Douglas Mackey.
Remember him? We looked at Mackey’s guilty verdict in the April 1st, 2023 Weekend Red Pills. If you don’t recall—Mackey was the first ever “meme trial.” I came across this “meme” today that reminded me of his sentencing today.
I noticed something when I pulled up the past article on Mackey's guilty verdict and his recent sentencing of 7 months in prison.
The headlines portray this as a case of someone getting sent to jail for making memes.
But there is a little more to the story.
Mackey did more than make some memes—he led a coordinated campaign to tell Hillary Clinton supporters to vote by text.
Now, we can talk about free speech. We can debate Mackey’s right to create “satire” or comedy.
Unfortunately, the Justice Department is looking for any hook to go after people for “election interference.” Yes, Mackey was found guilty without evidence that what he did swayed a single voter. And Clinton supporters made similar posts encouraging Trump supporters to vote by text—yet those folks received zero consequences.
I don’t know—in hindsight, I think there’s a lesson here.
In the future, if you consider yourself a “truth warrior” or whatever you do online to make a difference—stop and think about how to go about influencing people.
In hindsight, what Mackey did seems stupid and juvenile.
Does he deserve jail time? No. I don’t think so.
We need to effect change with more forethought. Better strategy. High Standards.
We love memes on Saturdays (as paying Private Eyes know). Mackey didn’t meme. He told people to vote by text. That’s not a creative meme—that’s a fib couched in parody.
The mighty memes are the truthful ones.
Cheers,
Matthieu
P.S. If you want to get all the red pills you can swallow every week—hard news not found in the fascist media matrix, politically incorrect sports, entertainment stories that pop the Hollywood bubble, and lots of memes, glorious memes! — consider becoming a paid subscriber.
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