260 Nate Silver’s Indigo Blob Fallacy

Oops Elon did it again

With Mark Zuckerberg’s latest capitulation to Trump-a hostage video where he vows to end fact checking on Facebook-like clockwork Nate Silver wrote a post. Honestly I didn’t even need to read it to know what it would say-unpredictable Nate is not.

He tried to wind the reader up a little with his framing: “I don’t really trust Zuck/Meta. But..”

But I knew where was going even before reading the “But…”-that he would support it.

.

Nate Silver on X: “I don’t really trust Zuck/Meta. But it’s long overdue to get rid of designated fact-checkers and “misinformation” types and just do journalism. https://t.co/2k1htVUjJI” / X

Indeed, we’ve seen a lot of “anti anti Trump” people on both the Far Right and Far Left the last few years and in this same vein I didn’t need to read this article to know that Silver is “anti anti misinformation.” That he for some reason sees the very idea as cracking down on free speech. I guess Xitter parlance misinformation-or disinformation-is good, actually

I mean “do journalism” where? On Facebook? Is that actually journalism? Recently Elon Musk has been declaring that his Xitter is where journalism happens. One change Musk made pretty early when he took over Twitter-turning it into Xitter-was to phase out hyperlinks-he actively doesn’t wantn people to click on links. Part of that may be he doesn’t want people to leave Xitter-sure. But I strongly suspect it’s also part of his larger ideological agenda-he wants people on Xitter to take what they read at face value without trying to, uh, fact check it?

But Silver is one of those Elon loving pundits-another notable example was Noah Smith-probably Yglesias?-who celebrated when Musk took over Twitter as being salutary for “free speech.”

He wrote a long post welcoming Musk’s purchase as a way to break up the wascally “Indigo Blob.”

(1) Twitter, Elon and the Indigo Blob – by Nate Silver

Unstoppableangie: “I wake up and I found out that Facebook blocked several of my older posts who had jokes or news about the dictator in chief. I am Italian. I know a lot about fascism. Congrats America.” — Bluesky

Mark Zuckerberg calls for the “repopulation” of the “cultural elite class” in Joe Rogan interview

ProChoice Mike: “Trump literally threatened to put Zuckerberg in prison but SURE the Biden WH was the one engaging in political retaliation” — Bluesky

(2) Molly White on X: “The world’s richest man has joined a growing chorus of right-wing voices attacking Wikipedia as part of an intensifying campaign against free and open access information. Why do they hate it so much? https://t.co/QjZhwmYSkx” / X

(2) Mike Masnick: “Also, realizing that literally as Zuck was going on Rogan whining that Biden staffers had cursed and threatened Meta, he was in the middle of negotiating to pay Trump $25 million to be let “into the tent” two months after Trump promised to put him in prison for life. www.techdirt.com/2025/01/16/r…” — Bluesky

Nate has such a bizzaro perspective

I mean why would anyone be “focused on Trump” based on the first 10 days of his 2nd regime?

BLACK FAMILIES AGAINST TRUMP on X: “So much for FREE SPEECH!😂🤡 I knew that Apartheid South African was a liar!!! The only ones to fall for his lies were MAGA! #MAGAMorons “DO SOMETHING” “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau” “The Dow” “Trump and Trudeau “10,000 National Guard “10,000 Mexican” “Trump and Elon” https://t.co/5IXOpO6CvN” / X

Anonymous: “Musk suspended (@anonopsse.bsky.social) after it helped expose his coup collaborators at DOGE.” — Bluesky

(2) ProChoice Mike: “The “free speech absolutist” Nate Silver’s response to Elon Musk suspending an account for exposing Musk’s coup against the US Government.” — Bluesky

(1) Josh Sternberg: “In 2016 the NYT ran multiple front page stories page about the grave national security risk of Hillary Clinton’s server. Today’s front page, and nary a mention of the successful “plutocratic coup” (said by a sitting House member) or “constitutional crisis (said by a sitting Senator) unfolding” — Bluesky

Under Musk censorship requests increased on X. Musk has approved at least 83% of all censorship requests by authoritarian governments. In some cases, such as in Saudi Arabia users have been executed for their posts.[19][20] Musk has also been reported to have been in regular contact with Vladimir Putin since 2022, which has drawn national security concerns from US officials. [21]”

Epstein’s connections with covert efforts to influence U.S. politics, including Trump’s election – Spooky Connections

Elon Musk Says Team Behind CBS’s ’60 Minutes’ Deserves ‘A Long Prison Sentence’

ProChoice Mike: “Do Matt Taibbi, Nate Silver, Shadi Hamid or Glenn Greenwald feel “rueful?” I doubt it” — Bluesky

Or Noah Smith?

jamelle: “i am mystified by the influence of noah smith, among the most ignorant and incurious people i have ever seen on the internet. just a total dummy.” — Bluesky

Excellent trolling by Seth Abramson

ProChoice Mike: “Graduate level trolling by Seth Abramson. Pretentious hacks like Noah Smith and Nate Silver take Seth questioning Musk’s alleged genius personally as they consider themselves part of Musk’s white male technocratic elite who should run society.” — Bluesky

(1) Nate Silver on X: “Characteristics: * Very focused on Trump * “Always on alert” ethos * Animated (sometimes verging on polemical) rather than wry/subdued; “hot”, not cool * Assumption that the audience is on one’s side; vibe is commiseration, not persuasion It’s not my style, but it’s popular!” / X

If you’re trying to understand what the #Resistance wants in a Dem candidate it’s precisely “hot” over “cool” we want a firebrand not a technocrat

Put this in chapter Roger Stone

(1) Nate Silver on X: “A bigger global risk than disinformation is that idiots who think disinformation is a bigger risk than nuclear war, AI or climate change still have a lot of power and influence.” / X

Ironic for Jain to be accusing Chris Murphy of no substance-as there's very little substance in his theater criticism. He's so technocratic in his perspective. Murphy does tap into the #Resistance energy. In Silver's parlance we want someone "hot" NOT "cool" unlike Jain AND Silver

— ProChoice Mike (@vichyregime2.bsky.social) 2025-03-09T14:23:24.538Z

ProChoice Mike: “If you’re trying to understand what the #Resistance wants in a Dem candidate it’s precisely “hot” over “cool” we want a firebrand not a technocrat bsky.app/profile/vich…” — Bluesky