KNEES, Prepare to JERK.

A week has passed since the Banjo Coup of 2021.

A lot of knees have jerked.

Most of those knees have jerked prematurely and in the direction of making things worse, not better.

What follows are opinions. Maybe some of them rooted in facts, as far as can be determined. More of what follows is rooted in emotion and morality, which I hope will be understood, if not agreed with.

Deplatforming. Knees jerked in Silicon Valley and in the Soggy Valley further north, as President Donald Trump was banned permanently from Twitter and Facebook and the social network Parler was booted from Amazon’s servers, as well as from Google Play and the Apple app store.

Score: Worse.

The Republican base already has evidence that their opinions are being throttled unfairly by the social media and tech giants. Now they have proof of such, in a big way.

And yes, social media and big tech have come out wrapped in the flag with one boob out so they can show the Egalite Fraternite Liberte that liberals with a small L like to show when bursting with righteous indignation.

And yes, many on the right have proved themselves assholes on social media, using tools big tech provides.

But so have many on the left. And many of other political stripes, including strongmen in the Philippines, the Middle East, and other locations around the globe. They’re still posting and tweeting. There is clear ire – only a small fraction of it justified – against conservatives on the web. And this deplatforming provides the radical right with more venom and more self-righteousness.

And it paints every conservative with that same broad brush. The knee has jerked too far.

It’s a fair question to ask: Who is next to be platformed? As social media and big tech apply their rules in an imbalanced way, it’s not clear which way the pendulum will swing next.

And people have been right, and righteous, to point out that since this is not the government doing the deplatforming, the First Amendment does not apply. That’s what scares me the most. Because if the First Amendment doesn’t apply here – and it does not – what laws will apply when it’s you, caught up in another broad brush, who is deplatformed?

I look at this Section 230 law that’s been in the news of late. If content hosts want to avoid liability for what people post on their sites and servers, there ought to be a carrot there as well for these companies to be extrajudicious and extremely transparent – and even-handed – with any content moderation they do. If it can be proved they were not, some kind of penalty should apply.

First Amendment protections are good for the government goose. Similar protections ought to be good for the social media and big tech ganders.

Whataboutism? We did THIS because YOU allowed THAT to happen, so we are JUSTIFIED in acting just as CHILDISH and IRRESPONSIBLE as you did. Or, HOW DARE YOU be upset that father did THIS when you were not at all upset when mother did THAT?

Score: Worse.

I really, really don’t want to get into this, because to get into this in any detail requires a long trip down False Equivalency Lane.

From what little I know about marriage counseling, this is the kind of trigger that counselors look at in married couples to try to identify what the hell is wrong with a relationship. I wish I knew the term for it, but basically put it’s framed as a poisonous coping mechanism meant to keep a highly dysfunctional relationship together. It’s tit for tat. I know I am an awful person, so to get back at me you should be equally awful. Or, put on its head, I know you have been an awful person because you did X, so to make the relationship balance, I get to so something equally awful in the form of Y. Because you were not sufficiently outraged at the summer riots, or at this march on the capitol back in 2018, you have no right to be outraged at claims of election fraud or the Banjo Coup of 2021.

There’s scriptural basis for what’s going on here, for those of the Mormon vein who might be reading this. And it’s not the Title of Liberty – it’s from the Book of Ether:

Ether 15:18-22 (emphasis mine)

18 And it came to pass that Coriantumr wrote again an epistle unto Shiz, desiring that he would not come again to battle, but that he would take the kingdom, and spare the lives of the people.

19 But behold, the Spirit of the Lord had ceased striving with them, and Satan had full power over the hearts of the people; for they were given up unto the hardness of their hearts, and the blindness of their minds that they might be destroyed; wherefore they went again to battle.

20 And it came to pass that they fought all that day, and when the night came they slept upon their swords.

21 And on the morrow they fought even until the night came.

22 And when the night came they were drunken with anger, even as a man who is drunken with wine; and they slept again upon their swords.

As Dr. Marvin Monroe of Simpsons fame would say, THIS IS NOT THE WAY TO GET HEALTHY.

Impeach Again, or Invoke the 25th Amendment. Knees are jerking here as well. With days left in Donald Trump’s presidency, this is a big push.

Score: Mixed.

Donald Trump is a narcissist who is struggling to deal with the fact – the fact – he lost the election. And more than 60 court cases meant to prove alleged fraud – fraud he and others began crowing about before Election Day. The call he made to the Georgia secretary of state, asking him to “find” additional votes, that’s worrisome to me. As was his behavior on January 6, playing the victim.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, folks. I have not seen any extraordinary evidence.

Impeachment and the 25th Amendment swing more to the Orange Man Bad side of things, though I can clearly see the Constitutional concerns here. But there’s a lot of moot here. Success at impeachment or removal or not, the danger folks think they’ll nip in the bud with these actions will not be nipped. They’re going to be here for years to come. President Trump and his supporters and enablers have done some despicable things. Kicking them while they’re down – even if they really, really deserve it – will give them further venom and ammunition – figurative, but maybe real, you never know – to use in the future. And they will use it.

And did he incite violence? I'm pretty sure those who stormed the Capitol were going to storm it no matter what they said. They arrived bent on showmanship and mayhem and they got it in spades. But I have read his speech. The claims for incitement, I see them. But they're weak sauce.

His reaction? Also weak sauce. Any plea to stop was going to be weak.

And likely go unheard, because, you know, his patryots don't necessarily watch the mainstream media, nor were they in a watching mood when they strolled on down. Did he inflame them? That's what politicians do, right? If this had been a righteous cause, well, he'd be cheered. And he is being cheered, by his side.

Unity. Staaaaaaaahp. Just stop asking for or preaching unity when it is CLEARLY. NOT. WHAT. YOU. WANT.

Score: Worse.

Anyone – ANYONE – who wants unity but derides calls for it from others is plaingly saying they only want unity on their own terms. That. Is. Not. Unity.

That is unilaterality, also known as my way or the highway.

If you want your own way disguised as unity, do not lie and say you want unity. Don’t. Lie.

I’m damn sick of the lies. Say what you want, which is to get your own way and for the others to shut up.

Impeachment for Realz the House Did It. Sure. Why the hell not. Let people believe it’ll kill Orange Man Bad’s chances of running again in 2024. Or take his pension away. Or make his weenie shrink. Or give him and his MOAR AMMUNITION to say the world is again them and should pity them and OH MY GOSH why did they do this to captain our captain?

Score: Worse.

The man leaves office on Jan. 20. That’s one week from today. But he is TWICE IMPEACHED, which is TWICE AS GOOD. Clearly.

Whom do you think is being damaged? The outgoing candidate, or the party calling for unity? Will impeachment suddenly make his true believers not so true, or will impeachment make you feel like you actually DID SOMETHING because SOMEONE HAD TO DO SOMETHING?

Knee, jerk. Ad infinitum.

I might agree with you one hundred percent. But it will not do to him and his what you think it will do.

Poo-tee-weet. And so it goes.