G-Mail and Censorship ...
Yea! I'm a Somebody! I've made it into the Big League! G-Mail and Yahoo Mail censor me!
So, the other day, Joan, a girlfriend of mine for 4 1/2 years, sent me an E-Mail and Google put it into my Spam Box. Why? Because she forwarded to me one of my Substack E-Mail Posts, perhaps about CoVid-1984, with a note regarding something else, maybe getting together for a dinner or hike or something. And if you think that’s bad, I forwarded that E-Mail to myself and Google sent it to my Spam Folder (i.e., Google protecting/censoring me from myself). More recently, my sister, whom I’ve been corresponding with since whenever E-Mails began, told me she was not receiving my E-Mails regarding important family matters. She found they were all going into her Spam Folder (she is on Yahoo Mail).
On the Other-Other hand, when recently typing a G-Mail to a friend, in which I mentioned my latest Chanterelle Mushroom foraging expedition, I was distracted by an incoming E-Mail: Google sent to my In-Box, not Spam Folder, an advertisement from an online grocery offering Chanterelle Mushrooms.
So, bottom line, I do not trust G-Mail. I do not trust that when I send E-Mails that they all get through; nor can I trust that I will receive all E-Mails sent to me.
I could move all my E-Mail correspondence to my ProtonMail account and then not worry about incoming E-Mails being censored (i.e., sent to my Spam Folder where finding them is like looking for a needle in a haystack). But that might lead to further censorship of my out-going E-Mails to others on G-Mail or Yahoo Mail. And it’s probably not reasonable for me to get EVERYONE I correspond with to move to ProtonMail or StartMail.
Perhaps, maybe I if I just remove the auto-footer on my E-Mails saying,
You can view my articles at:
TimEllison.Substack.com
then the probability of my out-going E-Mails being received by others will increase?
And I wonder, how many of the people who subscribe to my Substack E-Mails receive them in their In-Boxes, rather than Spam Folders?
I’ve written a number of postings about Censorship and Propaganda with respect to science1. Many years ago I became aware of Censorship on Youtube with respect to the “Climate-Science” Narrative; but with CoVid-1984, the Propaganda and Censorship have been turned up to 112. In California Gov. Newsom just signed legislation where doctors can have their medical licenses revoked for spreading CoVid-1984 “misinformation”. And you wonder why more people don’t speak up …
So, bottom-line, Google is not my friend, offering me all these free services … at least not a Trustworthy Friend. I’m rather their product. (If it’s free, you are the product).
I used to be able to say:
Me and Einstein; or
Me and Galileo (the mere heretic3)
But now I can say:
Me and Malone (quite alliterative); or
Me and Steve Kirsch; or
Me and RFK, Jr. (doesn’t quite have the same ring); or
Me and a whole shitload of other guys (and girls, don’t want to get censored or cancelled while speaking about censorship!) writing anti-narrative articles.
Of course if I keep writing, and maybe get (a bit) crazier and (a whole lot) funnier, maybe, just maybe, someday I could say:
Me and that fellow Hoosier4, Kurt Vonnegut!
See e.g.:
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/we-own-science-un-official-admits-they-partner-google-control-search-results. See this imbedded youtube video about how at the WEF (World Economic Forum) the U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Communications says how they have partnered with Google and “Own the Science”:
I like to joke that Galileo, one of my hero’s (why does grammatically-incorrect hero’s look right, and heroes not?), is a mere lightweight heretic. Heretics, even convicted heretics such as Galileo, must merely question a single tenant or belief within a larger Dogma. An Apostate, however, rejects the entire Dogma, Zeitgeist or Belief System.
I remember reading one of Kurt Vonnegut’s books, Cat’s Cradle, in which he had all sorts of made-up names, e.g. a made-up religion called “Bokononism”. At some point in this book the protagonist (I hate that word — people would use the word in my college English Literature classes and I thought they sounded so elitist) mentions being on a plane and having a conversation with the person next to him and discovering that they were both “Hosiers”. So I went back several times and re-read the book from the beginning, trying to find out where he introduced the group, sect, or religion called the “Hoosiers”. Couldn’t find it. And he never mentioned it again in the book. This was a Big Mystery for me for many years until 1983 when I moved to Indiana to work at the I.U. Cyclotron Facility! Then I not only learned about “Hoosiers”, but also Bobby Knight. The Lab Director, Dan Miller I think was his name, was the University Rep to the NCAA board or something, so I got to see the Hoosiers and Bobby Knight from a really good seat!
Just heard from a Subscriber -- my E-Mails go to his "Promotions" Box. I didn't even know there was such a box (I use Mozilla's Thunderbird to download my E-Mails to my computer).
Now I think I need to go onto the web and check my E-Mails there, and check all the boxes I didn't even know I had!
So, who are the Hoosiers.
Or is it a joke on *who*.