There are so many brilliant moments in James L. Brooks’s Broadcast News, but the one that always comes to mind first is when the exasperated news division chief (Peter Hackes) turns to Holly Hunter’s hyper-OCD segment producer and says, “It must be nice to always believe you know better, to always think you’re the smartest person in the room.” You see Hunter’s character, Jane Craig, poised to snap back, but then her face softens into sadness. “No, it’s awful,” she replies.
If only the American Left could experience even a fleeting moment of self-awareness like Jane’s before The Atlantic embarrassed itself yet again with a piece titled, “The Right Has a Bluesky Problem.” For those unfamiliar—which, let’s be honest, includes the vast majority of humanity—Bluesky is the progressive alternative to X (formerly Twitter).
When I first saw the headline on my X timeline last night, I assumed it must have been crafted by one of those parody pitchbot accounts that satirize outlets like The Atlantic, Slate, or The New York Times. “‘The Right Has a Bluesky Problem’? That’s a good one,” I thought.
But then the actual article—penned by Ali Breland, who is ever-so-concerned for our collective welfare—popped up in PJ Media’s Slack channel this morning.
“Not a pitchbot? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Nope.
“If X becomes more explicitly right wing” as leftists migrate to Bluesky, Breland warned, “it will be a far bigger conservative echo chamber than either Gab or Truth Social.” This, despite a recent survey showing X to be almost perfectly balanced between conservatives and progressives. Breland frets over the potential “Gab-ification of X,” which might cause “even more people with moderate and liberal sympathies [to] get disgusted and leave the platform, and that the right will lose the ability to shape wider discourse.”
The concern-trolling is strong with this one.
Breland is deeply worried that conservatives might lose their ability to engage with people who believe their voices should be silenced.
Investigative journalist Jordan Schachtel, who was “banned from the platform after a mere matter of hours” last week for stating there are only two genders, described Bluesky as “a safe space for seething left-wingers to engage exclusively with their political allies and to rage at their perceived enemies.” Worse, he noted, “It’s perhaps the most censorship-heavy and centralized social media platform there is.”
Another user, End Wokeness, had their Bluesky account banned within 30 seconds of their first post. Unsurprisingly, Bluesky has become the digital equivalent of a progressive Stasi, with self-appointed hall monitors constantly reporting each other for any perceived infractions.
What makes X vibrant today is the same thing that made Twitter great before progressive ideologues took over: everyone is welcome. Leftists may leave X, but they’re always welcome back. Bluesky, on the other hand, is a tedious echo chamber of progressive dogma. “Don’t miss out on all the well-policed fun!” isn’t the selling point Breland seems to think it is.
As Nate Silver—himself no stranger to left-leaning circles—aptly put it:
“Bluesky is the small comfort I’d been looking for,” CNET’s Scott Stein wrote earlier this week.
“No, it’s awful,” Jane Craig might reply.
