Beware the Free Lunch

I have spent years lambasting social media.

There's no doubt it is a sewer occupied by keyboard warriors who feel their digital anonymity gives them license to act in a reprehensible way.

That's a danger, particularly for young people or those with self-esteem issues. However there is another side to social media that I am beginning to enjoy.

I dumped Facebook some years ago. Their censorship, tracking and orwellian control was enough to say I don't want to be a part of it.

There isn't much to like about the censorship on Twitter either.

They rig results, arbitrarily ban people and don't support free speech.

That's normally enough to turn me off but I've actually found a way to make it work to my advantage.

You see, there are some really smart business and finance people who use Twitter to share useful information.

The secret is to identify those people and block or mute the losers trolling with the intent to cause angst. I've muted hundreds of leftist losers, and people of all political stripes who are simply rude.

I'm sure they keep hollaring away in their digital echo chamber but I don't see or hear their poisoned thoughts.

Instead, what I get is an insight into some great minds at work in our world.

I hear from Jordan Peterson on a daily basis. I gain political insights from the likes of Craig Kelly and Ross Cameron. Caleb Bond and Gideon Rozner keep me informed of the freedom agenda and other experts share their wisdom on investing.

There are also specialist accounts that share wisdom exclusively from books. They publish quotes like this from The 48 Laws of Power.

There's another which serves as a daily reminder of the writings of one of the great characters and entrepreneurs of our time, the late Felix Dennis.

Don't get me wrong. Social media is still a sewer and it hates conservatives.

I would never build a business or rely on the tech oligarchs for my income.

However, once you screen out the raw sewerage, there are a few informational gems left behind in the muck which can benefit your area of interest.

That said, eventually we'll all have to choose a side in the tech space.

It looks inevitable that outspoken conservatives will eventually be banned or canceled from many of the existing digital media platforms.

If they don't want to be left in the lurch, having an independent platform of your own will be critical to communications. That's why I built the Confidential website on a stand alone open-source software platform.

We now have the ability to host our own video and audio programs without relying on the mainstream platforms. We aim to have some new, original content in that space landing soon.

The current cancel culture debate proves that the decision to go it alone was the right one.

When I started the Confidential project, I wrote "if what you are accessing on the Internet is free then you are likely the product being sold to someone else."