Feb 052022
 

As most people now know, GoFundMe cancelled a fundraiser in support of peaceful protesters in Ottowa that had raised ~$10M. They did so at the request of the Canadian government, who called the protests an “occupation.”

Almost immediately it was pointed out by many (notably, Elon Musk among them) that GoFundMe advertised a fundraiser for an actual violent occupation of a major US city. It had created an “autonomous zone” or “occupied zone” (by the protestor’s own words) that was entirely without any sort of law enforcement. Crime was rampant within it, several shootings occured, and at least one murder. GoFundMe also hosts at least one fund raiser for legal fees for an “activist” for this group. They also have MANY fundraisers for Black Lives Matter causes, (over $3M for BLM Los Angeles alone) which had many incidence of violence over the last two years, burning down entire blocks of cities, causing multiple deaths, and over $1B in damage in the US.

By way of comparison, as of mid-day 2/5/2022, I can’t find any accounts of notable violence during the Ottowa trucker protests. Despite a lot of hyperbole about “radicals,” and an “occupation.

The difference between the two situations is obvious to anyone that’s been paying any attention. The leftist extremists that have captured most modern institutions approve of CHAZ/CHOP and BLM, but despise the “Freedom Convoy.” CHAZ and BLM are political allies of the extreme leftists, whereas the Convoy are political foes. The government can punish the demographics they despise, and the tech companies that have already been seized are happy to comply.

The worrisome part of all this is that GoFundMe isn’t just a way to fund political activists. It’s also the method that many working-class Americans use to pay for life-saving medical procedures. According to GoFundMe, one-third of all their fundraisers are for medical costs. They have a section specifically dedicated to helping people created medical fund raisers.

GoFundMe has now demonstrated that they will withhold fund-raising tools from anyone who speaks in opposition to the ruling party’s dogma. They’ll do so without reasonable justification, purely due to ideological opposition. This is a direct threat to the ability of the financially disadvantaged to pay for medical costs and procedures.

GoFundMe seems to be within their rights to do this. Perhaps one could say the these people were foolish to come to rely on a tool that could so easily be yanked away for something this important. But it’s still morally abhorent. And it further demonstrates that the woke have no empathy and no principles. They only have tactics. Stripping away every tool for coordination that the demographic you hate has available is certainly an effective tactic, no matter how revolting it may be.

 

  14 Responses to “Capture of Tools – GoFundMe edition”

  1. I’m honestly baffled by the assertion that BLM represents the ruling party. Like seriously a movement about protesting the police is the ruling party?

    • Every respectable media outlet is pro-BLM (with the possible expection of FoxNews, but that depends on if you consider them “respectable.”) All of academia is pro-BLM. When COVID was raging, months before the vaccines had been deployed, the respected medical sources in the country said “it’s more important to protest than to worry about COVID, ignore all those restrictions if you’re protesting.” Last year corporations poured $21B of odnations into BLM and related anti-racist non-profits. Public-facing corporations use social justice in their advertising. The White House is explicitly pro-BLM, as is the ruling majority party of the House and Senate. States that are controlled by far-left groups are slashing police and no longer enforcing many laws.

      Yes. The currently in-power political party, as well as the elite institutions of our society (in media, academia, and science) are all pro-BLM.

      • Typically police are funded at a local level not a state level. I’d be curious what examples you can cite of major funding decreases. https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2021-city-budget-police-funding/ Suggests that there haven’t been cuts I would see as slashing the budget. Maybe you have reason to think Bloomberg is lying though. Joe Biden is cited in the same article as being opposed to decreasing police budgets. I think there is a difference between paying lip service and being in support.

        Just like Biden promised to make healthcare affordable but hasn’t actually followed through.

        I’m curious which laws you’re unhappy with seeing go unenforced. Selective enforcement has been a thing for basically all time so it’s a question of which laws are being enforced not whether some are going unenforced. If you’re referring to a decrease in enforcement of laws against petty theft I’ve heard a lot about this but haven’t actually seen many numbers cited. One prominent example cited is an increase in train robberies in California which has been blamed on lack of enforcement but happens to have come after with a massive decrease in the number of personnel employed by the rail companies being stolen from.

        If there’s other laws you hear are going unenforced I’d be curious to hear about it preferably with sources.

        • > I’d be curious what examples you can cite of major funding decreases.

          I was thinking of Denver, where I live, which did reduce police funding in 2021, slightly. It looks like almost every city that did vow to cut funding has gone back on that promise, though. And Denver is increasing funding again in 2022 as well. So it looks like we have avoided that pitfall.

          I note that you pulled out only one item from a lengthy list, and didn’t comment further, so I take it’s now obvious to both of us that yes, the ruling class in America is pro-BLM.

          re unenforced laws –
          https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/17/magazine/george-gascon-los-angeles.html
          https://abc7news.com/chesa-boudin-san-francisco-crime-sf-organized-theft/10869696/
          https://www.axios.com/riots-cost-property-damage-276c9bcc-a455-4067-b06a-66f9db4cea9c.html

          • I’m much more interested in actions than words. Thus, I focused on the actions in my reply.

            But sure let’s go through your full list:
            > Every respectable media outlet is pro-BLM (with the possible expection of FoxNews, but that depends on if you consider them “respectable.”)
            I have mixed feelings about this. I think there’s a case to be made that they are especially because pro-BLM is very hard to define. News media is generally pretty opposed to defunding the police for all they say they support BLM.

            > All of academia is pro-BLM.
            Again I’m not sure what pro-BLM means here but if you mean that academia is the origin point for many studies into systemic racism and that there’s an academic consensus that systemic racism exists and is a problem in America and around the world then yes I’d agree.

            > When COVID was raging, months before the vaccines had been deployed, the respected medical sources in the country said “it’s more important to protest than to worry about COVID, ignore all those restrictions if you’re protesting.”
            Again I’ll concede this. I do think that BLM protests in general for fairly good at wearing masks consistently and were largely outside which reduces the risk of spread but those are mitigating factors and I agree it was a bit of an odd choice. That said, it’s not like them coming out against the protests would have stopped the protests.

            > Last year corporations poured $21B of odnations into BLM and related anti-racist non-profits.
            I don’t know where that statistic came from or how it’s defining BLM adjacent causes which makes it very difficult for me to evaluate these things. I also don’t know what percentage of corporate donations it represents. That said I’ll concede this point.

            > Public-facing corporations use social justice in their advertising.
            I think a lot of this is just having more diversity in their ads but there are definitely more explicit examples.

            >The White House is explicitly pro-BLM, as is the ruling majority party of the House and Senate.
            Ok, they’ve definitely said that but what have they done? The democrats have failed to pass voting rights legislation despite all their supposed support of BLM. There also hasn’t been police reform legislation at a national level. In the very article, you cited it says that Joe Biden is opposed to reducing police budgets. The democratic party as a whole has made a habit of blaming defund the police for their electoral losses. Their support is definitely not unequivocal. I think it’s also a little dubious to claim that there exists a ruling party in the senate given how deadlocked it currently is.

            >States that are controlled by far-left groups are slashing police and no longer enforcing many laws.
            I already responded to this.

            I guess it all comes down to what supporting BLM means.
            To me it means supporting criminal justice reform.
            To me it means supporting voting rights legislation.
            To me it means taking steps to correct the systemic racism in our government and society.
            On the whole, I don’t feel like the groups you’ve cited have done very much on those fronts.

            As for the articles you sent the first one seems to talk about a reduction in sentencing not a lack of prosecution. It also notes that this particular DA is taking a much more extreme stance than the majority of other progressive DAs.
            The second refers to petty theft which is the one I admitted has seen reduced enforcement in my previous comment.
            The third doesn’t seem to refer to enforcement at all just to the costs of riots. Notably, it claims that rioting in over twenty states over 13 days did between 0 and 25% more damage adjusting for inflation than the riots in one city over 6 days back in 1992. That isn’t exactly selling me on the damage being unprecedented.

            • >They provide tools, they don’t go around deciding who is worthy of using those tools and who isn’t pure enough to touch them. Or rather, they didn’t do so before

              No, I’m not. I am however willing to spend a couple minutes researching your assertion here. Which is why I know it is false. GFM has publicly stated their opposition to anti-vaxxers and indicated they will not be hosting anti-vaccine campaigns since at least 2019.

              https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/22/18277367/gofundme-anti-vax-campaigns-remove-pledge

              This isn’t even the first anti-vaccine campaign they have pulled in the last few months.

              https://www.businessinsider.com/gofundme-takes-down-fundraiser-for-anti-vaccine-mandate-lawsuit-2021-10

              Outside of the anti-vaccine community GFM has removed funding for many campaign based on the people in charge not liking the campaign in question. You really might want to look at their terms of use.

              Maybe there are hard core libertarian crowdfunding sites with the anything goes mentality you advocate for, but GFM is clearly not one of them.

              And given their stance on funding people spreading deliberate misinformation goes back several years, it seems less likely GFM ended the “Freedom Convoy” campaign because the government told them to GTFO, as this goes to a pattern stretching back at least as far as the Trump administration.

            • I’m having a hard time deciphering if Eneasz is just not keeping up with legit news sources or only dipping into censored bubble on occasion.

              I usually listen to The Bayesian Conspiracy at real time speed to better absorb the discussion…

              but I’ve been listening to The Mind Killer at higher speed to avoid absorbing too often fox news style hot takes that seem obviously factually incorrect, from my twice a week check-ins with NPR, PRI, and CBC.

              At first there were interesting discussions on topics I hadn’t heard much about, but it seems on a disappointing downhill, which I tried to dismiss as maybe sharing hot takes from only reading headline to an unread article on occasion… but that only lasts so long.

              I’ve previously replied in TBC subreddit about TMK misinformation on CHAZ/CHOP which I’m more informed about as a local, who was there.

              You’re implying shootings and murders while violent police were away are unusual, as if only ever happen in places without police?

              Then the dismissive response saying nobody was really happened during Jan 6 insurrection, despite news coverage. Now the same with Ottawa insurrection?

              Maybe timestamp TMK with when you record because plenty of news reports last couple weeks citing examples of violence in Ottawa.

              Heard first on CBC, since NPR and PRI didn’t mention on days I listened until recently, but there were attacks on people for masking, claims of overthrowing government, offal oompaloompa repuglicant supporter trash making things worse attacking people for their usual skydaddy sociopolitical reasons not related to masks and covid, security footage of people going into apt building lobby with gas can to light up while blocking the door?

              Of course no group is completely homogenous, sure some people might have been legit protesting reasonable scientific requirements just because they prefer to be the ones imposing on women and minorities instead…

              But they had their chance to protest over the weekend legitimately and peacefully, it’s been 3wks now, cost the city lots of money in wasted pay on useless cops, preventing businesses from opening, getting supplies, so if anything… the GFM money should have been used to fund the convoy paying back the city.

              Anyway, sorry that turned into a wall, but it’s been building awhile, and I’ve had a lot of respect for you, so I’ve been giving you benefit of the pandemic doubt for now.

  2. Per the Washington Post the police have been investigating the “Freedom Convoy” for numerous criminal activities. But regardless, the defunded group is pushing for their right to refuse life saving vaccines, exposing people to a deadly virus and creating preventable deaths we will still be calculating the numbers of decades from now…… and the fact that GFM doesn’t wish to be party to this is somehow a bad thing?

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/01/31/canada-ottawa-protests-trucker-coronavirus-vaccine/

    Isn’t it just as possible that the people behind this decision are either higher risk or know people who are higher risk for dying from COVID, and consequently they don’t wish to raise their risks of death by funding a group arguing their lives are less important than the protesters right to be scientifically illiterate?

    Additionally, while many people go on GFM asking for help with medical issues, very few are actually successful. Since the pandemic began the odds of getting the money you need this way are laughable. Ironically, if the “Freedom Convoy” fails and mandatory vaccines become common, the people in need of medical help on GFM might be better off. So, the better question might be, what is more important for GFM’s priorities, helping those in genuine need of help or giving money to scientifically illiterate protesters demanding the right to endanger the lives of societies most vulnerable.

    • Aye, the governemnt is trying very hard to find a reason to crack down. Last I heard, they’ve managed to issue a single-digit number of misdermenors to protestors. No buildings have been set on fire. The single act of grevous violence was perpetrated by an antifa lone-wolf *against* the protestors. And yet the govt says this is an “occupation” and told GFM to GTFO.

      > pushing for their right to refuse life saving vaccines

      Yes, they are stupid. I believe people have a right to be stupid, even if it means they hurt themselves. For example, I occasionally drink alcohol. I’ve even done a few drugs!

      > exposing people to a deadly virus and creating preventable deaths

      They expose people who refuse to get the vaccine to a deadly virus. Those people have already decided to take that risk. For everyone else, who has trivial access to free vaccines, these people are as dangerous as any random human that might be carrying any random disease.

      > the fact that GFM doesn’t wish to be party to this is somehow a bad thing?

      Yes. This is a capture of tools effort by a totalitarian ideology. I’ll post more about it later. But in short – discrimination and exile based on these sorts of stances is extremely harmful to society. Would you be worried if supermarkets refused to do business with jewish people, because they don’t wish to be a party to Zionist expansionism? If banks refused to do business with gay people, because they don’t wish to be a party to demographic collapse? If construction companies refused to do business with people who have advanced college degrees, because they don’t want to be a party to racism?

      > Isn’t it just as possible that the people behind this decision are either higher risk or know people who are higher risk for dying from COVID, and consequently they don’t wish to raise their risks of death by funding a group arguing their lives are less important than the protesters right to be scientifically illiterate?

      No. We already know why they are doing this. Suggesting otherwise is blatent disinformation.

      > what is more important for GFM’s priorities, helping those in genuine need of help or giving money to scientifically illiterate protesters demanding the right to endanger the lives of societies most vulnerable.

      Are you under the impression that it’s GFM is who is providing this money? They don’t fund anyone, in “genuine need” or not.

      I am not surprised that literacy-tests are back in vogue for anyone wishing to exercise political speech, though. :/

      • > Yes, they are stupid. I believe people have a right to be stupid, even if it means they hurt themselves. For example, I occasionally drink alcohol. I’ve even done a few drugs!

        And if you decided you had a magical immunity to the effects of alcohol or these drugs, got in your car and went for a nice relaxing drive you would be guilty of endangering peoples lives and be at risk of facing to serious legal consequences. Your right to be stupid ends with you, it does not entitle you to put others lives at risk. Which brings me to your next point.

        > They expose people who refuse to get the vaccine to a deadly virus. Those people have already decided to take that risk. For everyone else, who has trivial access to free vaccines, these people are as dangerous as any random human that might be carrying any random disease.

        This is false as a question of basic fact. Vaccines are not, despite many anti-vaxxer doublespeak claims, a magical cloak of protection against COVID. Especially for the immunocompromised and people with pre-existing conditions that put them at higher risk. As such, the “Freedom Convoy” is literally claiming their right to scientific illiteracy supersedes the rights of societies most vulnerable to a reasonable degree of safety.

        I get it, claiming that the “Freedom Convoy” is only taking risks with their lives and the lives of other scientifically illiterate people makes it a lot easier to argue in their favor. This does not change the fact that societies most vulnerable are at a much higher risk of dying as a direct result of the “Freedom Convoy’s” actions.

        >This is a capture of tools effort by a totalitarian ideology.

        No, as I just said, it’s a question of public safety. Businesses have every right to refuse to work with organizations pushing an agenda that is literally guaranteed to kill people for no reason other than the members hate science. This is in no way equivalent to refusing to work with someone based on race, creed, religion or sexual orientation.

        > No. We already know why they are doing this. Suggesting otherwise is blatent disinformation.

        To paraphrase Eliezer Yudkowsky, how precisely do “we” know this? Because you said so?

        GFM says they did this based on reports by the police of violence. You say they did so because the government ordered them to. I suggested an equally logical reason. What precisely makes your argument irrefutable?

        > Are you under the impression that it’s GFM is who is providing this money?

        Ok, provide a platform to those seeking money. That make you feel better?

        As your argument doesn’t actually address my point. People seeking money on GFM for medical expenses rarely get the money they need, and since the pandemic began their odds have only gone down. So which group specifically should GFM be prioritizing. People with genuine medical needs or scientifically illiterate protesters whose actions lead to more people with significant medical needs?

        • > Especially for the immunocompromised and people with pre-existing conditions that put them at higher risk. As such, the “Freedom Convoy” is literally claiming their right to scientific illiteracy supersedes the rights of societies most vulnerable to a reasonable degree of safety.

          The immunocompromised and people with pre-existing conditions should also get vaccinated. These vaccines are not live vaccines and therefore can be safely administered to immunocompromised people. They will then be at the same risk from COVID as they are from any other respiratory virus. Yes, being immunocompromised really sucks. It’s crippling and often fatal. We have not locked down society on their behalf due to a bad flue season at any time in the past, and *for good reason*.

          > This does not change the fact that societies most vulnerable are at a much higher risk of dying as a direct result of the “Freedom Convoy’s” actions.

          No, most of the most vulnerable are not spending any time in Ottowa’s streets.

          I think you mean “some vulnerable people would benefit if vaccines were mandated,” which is true, and no one denies that. Most of those who think that these vaccines should not be mandated think there shouldn’t be a mandate for *other* reasons.

          > an agenda that is literally guaranteed to kill people

          This could be just as easily said about lockdowns and mandated medical proceedures.

          > for no reason other than the members hate science

          I think you forgot about babies and freedom. The protestors also hate babies and they hate our freedoms.

          > GFM says they did this based on reports by the police of violence.

          Yes, and we know they are lying because there is no violence, and because GFM didn’t end fundraisers for causes with record-setting, undeniable, actual violence. Stop pretending to be dumb.

          > Ok, provide a platform to those seeking money. That make you feel better?

          Yes. That is literally what I’m saying is bad. They are stripping tools from people due to their political affiliations.

          > So which group specifically should GFM be prioritizing.

          Are you high? GFM shouldn’t be prioritizing anyone. That’s the point. They provide tools, they don’t go around deciding who is worthy of using those tools and who isn’t pure enough to touch them. Or rather, they didn’t do so before, and they shouldn’t do so now.

          • I see and attempt at needed pushback, but it seems like Eneasz is not in the mindset for honest discussion, which I’m going to attribute to pandemic mental fatigue crankiness as long as I can…

            since the uninformed TMK hot takes are really chipping away at my respect for the formerly well researched and reasoned opinions.

            hope you feel better soon

            • Hi jmichael. I really respect your opinion, so I’m taking this to heart.

              > I’m having a hard time deciphering if Eneasz is just not keeping up with legit news sources or only dipping into censored bubble on occasion.

              The problem is that over the past two years I’ve completely lost faith in all the traditional news sources. I look for things that are undeniable and impossible to hide, and I write off assertions without back-up as probably lies. This makes making-sense-of-the-world much harder, and also has left me somewhat embittered to the former-legit news sources.

              > but I’ve been listening to The Mind Killer at higher speed to avoid absorbing too often fox news style hot takes that seem obviously factually incorrect, from my twice a week check-ins with NPR, PRI, and CBC.

              Unforunately I had to stop listening to NPR, which was the biggest dissapointment of all. I spent my entire life admiring them and relying on them. The way they were captured so completely was crushing.

              > At first there were interesting discussions on topics I hadn’t heard much about, but it seems on a disappointing downhill, which I tried to dismiss as maybe sharing hot takes from only reading headline to an unread article on occasion… but that only lasts so long.

              I will work harder at this. My crankiness has been aimed at the side I feel betrayed by. I shouldn’t forget the first enemy is still there, and is actually a bigger threat.

              > Then the dismissive response saying nobody was really happened during Jan 6 insurrection, despite news coverage. Now the same with Ottawa insurrection?

              I have complicated feelings about Jan 6. The people who stormed the capital were, for the most part, incompetant thugs. They never posed a threat to our govt, IMO. However, they were working at the behest of Trump, who DOES pose a serious threat to our govt. I honestly consider Trump to be an enemy of democracy, and despite my normal anti-violence stance, I think this is one of the extremely rare cases were assassination might actually be justified and net-positive. Maybe.

              Regardless, the two main differences between the Jan 6 rioters and BLM (as I see it) is that

              A – Jan6 were able to achieve terror via far less destruction, because they targetted the powerful. Smashing up a single building was enough. BLM had to burn down billions of dollars of cities to acheive the same effect. They are roughly morally equivalent, though not fiscally so.

              B – BLM has the support of our society’s institutions, wereas Jan6 is opposed by them. This part upsets me, since I consider them equally harmful. I wish BLM rioters were treated like Jan6 rioters. Failing that, it would be less hypocritical to treat Jan6 rioters like BLM rioters, though I’m not sure if that’s better or worse.

              Ottawa is being treated like the Jan6 rioters in terms of who opposes them and why, despite doing even less damage and causing far less terror.

              > Heard first on CBC, since NPR and PRI didn’t mention on days I listened until recently, but there were attacks on people for masking, claims of overthrowing government, offal oompaloompa repuglicant supporter trash making things worse attacking people for their usual skydaddy sociopolitical reasons not related to masks and covid, security footage of people going into apt building lobby with gas can to light up while blocking the door?

              Can you give me any sources? I try searching for trucker violence every few days, and I’ve never been able to find anything besides nuisance claims. Last I saw there still aren’t any arrests for violence or credible claims of such. If there is any to be found, I def would like to see it.

              > But they had their chance to protest over the weekend legitimately and peacefully, it’s been 3wks now, cost the city lots of money in wasted pay on useless cops, preventing businesses from opening, getting supplies, so if anything… the GFM money should have been used to fund the convoy paying back the city.

              I agree they’re making life in the city shitty and hard, and I don’t blame anyone in the city for being pissed off. I would be too. That’s the inherent contradiction in protesting – to be heard you must cause pain, because otherwise you’ll be ignored. But causing too much pain will turn people against you. It’s shitty, and that’s the conflict.

              > Anyway, sorry that turned into a wall, but it’s been building awhile, and I’ve had a lot of respect for you, so I’ve been giving you benefit of the pandemic doubt for now.

              Thank you for chiming in. I have been feeling like I’ve been going insane for a while, but also that the world is going insane too, and I’m not sure I’m wrong. I was quiet for what felt like a long time, and I understand people being dismayed that this is coming from me. But I’m glad to have been able to have this conversation with you, it legit makes me feel more sane. The cost of saying this crap has maybe been worth it, for this opportunity. If you’d like, we can continue in email? Or DMs on reddit?

  3. Re. “But regardless, the defunded group is pushing for their right to refuse life saving vaccines, exposing people to a deadly virus and creating preventable deaths we will still be calculating the numbers of decades from now…… and the fact that GFM doesn’t wish to be party to this is somehow a bad thing?”

    Politics is precisely making judgements about what is bad and what is good.
    About half of Americans think the Ottawa truckers movement is evil.
    About half of Americans think BLM is evil.
    Yet all tech companies always come down on the same side.
    The fact that one political party almost completely controls the news media and the Internet seriously undermines democracy, WHICH REQUIRES MAKING COMPROMISES BETWEEN SIDES, RATHER THAN REFUSING TO COMPROMISE BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE POWER AND PRIVILEGE TO GET YOUR WAY.
    The fact that

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