Pull the Plug, Leave X
On Nov. 22,1938 Park Commissioner Robert Moses attempted to use WNYC in an effort to grab power in the public housing arena, where he previously had no jurisdiction. But Mayor F. H. La Guardia stopped the move.
Moses biographer Robert Caro described the moment when La Guardia literally pulled the plug on Moses’ effort to promote his own proposals over the mayor’s renewal plans:
“As he spoke, there right in front of him, attached to the lectern, was a WNYC microphone and, looking down below the stage, Moses could see two WNYC technicians sitting at a table full of broadcasting paraphernalia busily twiddling the dials and going through all the motions of technicians make a broadcast. When they saw him glancing down at them, they made him a thumbs-up signal to indicate that all was going well…
“… just as he was coming to the end of his speech. The Park Commissioner, who had believed that he had been speaking for the past forty-five minutes to tens of thousands of New Yorkers, learned that he had been speaking to only two hundred –the two hundred right in front of him. The WNYC microphone in front of him was dead. Someone ordered WNYC to cut his program off the air–and must have ordered the technicians to go through all the motions necessary to conceal this fact from him. And glaring down at them as they made still another thumbs-up gesture, he realized that only one man would have thought of that touch.”
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It’s great that Caro’s “The Power Broker” is having another moment to celebrate 50 years. I read it two decades ago, and now watching, listening, and reading all the coverage about it over the last few months has made me want to do another read. This time I may go the audio route! I also recommend the podcast 99% Invisible which has been doing a monthly read along with great guests.
This anecdote also had me thinking about today’s incoming Trump administration and how to deal with it. So much about Trump and the new right can be described as trying to “own the libs”. What happens if we just pull the plug on him? Obviously we fight like hell when it comes to things the administration is actually doing, but if the people he hates just ignore the “tweets” (Truths) I do wonder how much better it would be for all of us? Look at the people on X freaking out about users going to Bluesky. They are angry because they spend their life attacking people they don’t like, so if those people leave they have no purpose. So while it’s hard to ignore the actual President, we can pull the plug on the online right by just leaving X.