Puck magazine (1871-1918), the well-known political humor magazine, was at its height under original founder and creative director cartoonist Joseph Keppler. Here is a February 23rd, 1881 Keppler political cartoon depicting Jay Gould, the telegraph monopolist, and Cornelius Vanderbilt the railroad baron.
The point of the cartoon is the way those two Robber Barons – allied with like-minded newspaper tycoons whose papers were represented by the bonds around Uncle Sam’s arms and torso – abused their wealth and political influence to bind the United States (represented here by Uncle Sam) to their will.
Joseph Keppler was outraged at the power so unethically wielded by such figures to cloak themselves in righteous, philanthropic public images while in reality they – in Keppler’s words – clutched “the United States and all its institutions by the throat.”
This is similar to the way the Silicon Valley and Social Media Robber Barons of today cloak themselves in “socially conscious” public images while in reality clutching the United States and all its institutions by the throat.
The Robber Barons criticized by Puck magazine exerted their ugly influence on behalf of right-wing politicians. The Robber Barons of the 21st Century tend to exert their ugly influence on behalf of left-wing politicians. The end results are equally totalitarian. Continue reading
MARK ZUCKERBERG: I figure if I’m not capable of experiencing emotions there’s no reason that people who have less money than I do should get to experience them either. 
MARK ZUCKERBERG: I don’t understand it, so it must be Hate Speech. It would be banned for violation of community standards. 
In a way it’s fascinating as hell to be alive during this period in which America’s rival gangs of white collar criminals – Democrats and Republicans – have been forced to show their true, ugly, totalitarian faces. 
Going beyond Orwell’s much-cited “2+2=5” example from his novel 1984 the Democrats simply brush aside the impotent, bought and paid for Republican trash and go straight for the kill. 
### Facebook and Twitter should be treated like public utilities and stopped from their war on the free exchange of ideas. Ever check out how the overwhelming majority of the one-percenters at those companies donate ONLY to the Democrats? They are also giving IN-KIND contributions to the Democrats and need to provide equal time. 
The invasive and ever-expanding tentacular reach of techno-fascists like Google and others makes these totalitarians a very credible threat to political freedom and freedom of expression. 
Here at Balladeer’s Blog I write plenty of items about myths from around the world. I often mention that my blog posts about figures from the American West are along the same lines to me since I think the exaggerated tales of whatever their real-life stories were originate the same way that many religious fables do: the usual human tendency toward superstition and embellishment. 
Street Artist Sabo has earned genuine folk hero status with his guerilla art projects that he sets up in public, often under the cover of darkness, in various cities. Daylight unveils his masterpieces of dissent. Sabo takes on the subjects that too many faux iconoclasts are afraid to handle, most recently the corporate fascist Mark “Skippy” Zuckerberg. 
Since ANY Facebook user can block anybody or anything they want, such heavy-handed interference with the free exchange of ideas is as unnecessary as it is ugly. (Personally I left Facebook years ago since it’s like being trapped in the suburban barbecue from hell.) 
“WHO KNOWS ONLY THEIR OWN GENERATION REMAINS ALWAYS A CHILD.” – That quote from George Norlin has multiple layers of meaning but to me it always brings to mind those self-infatuated fools from the 1960s generation who remain perpetual children. 
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