Twitter competitor “Parler” is currently #2 in the news category on the app store. Parler has been around since August, 2018 but has been gaining significant traction in recent weeks. Overwhelmingly right wing in regards to political orientation, Parler is becoming a refuge for those falling victim to Twitter’s increasing censorship. Twitter has already banned Roger Stone, ALX, Infowars and several other prominent voices and outlets over the last couple of years. President Trump’s favorite meme maker – Carpe Donktum – was recently banned from the site while National Pulse editor Raheem Kassam was suspended.
Twitter has also started to meddle with President Trump’s tweets. A number of the President’s recent tweets have been quickly slapped with disclaimers while leftists can say whatever they please. The site’s terms of service – which outlaws doxing and violent threats – is not held to any standard. Doxing and threats are routinely made on Twitter with only the most egregious cases having action taken against them.
You can openly support vandalism, doxing and extreme rhetoric on Twitter so long as you’re playing for the right (left) team. Almost all news, trends and Twitter-centric personalities lean heavily left to the point where the bulk of conservatives just don’t even engage. If you do engage, you will be dog-piled and doxxed. It’s happened to me before and it’s happened to anybody that’s ever stuck their neck out there.
So we know that Twitter is a cesspool. We know that fighting Twitter wars is useless and will only land you in hot water. So if Parler is the alternative, how can we ensure its success?
For starters, any successful Twitter competitor cannot be expressly political. As of right now, Parler is essentially just right wing Twitter. It’s an older demographic in this early stage and almost all of the top news on the app is Trump related.
If Parler wants to be a legitimate competitor to Twitter, we can’t make everything on there political. While news and politics have been integral to Twitter since the company launched, they of course aren’t everything on there. There’s plenty of shit posters, memes and people who are on there just to tweet about sports. There needs to be an “NFL Parler” just like there’s an “NFL Twitter”; unofficial subsections of the social network for specific interests and followers.
The app will be dominated by right-wing/Trump influence at first, but if Parler can branch out, and Parler users make the effort to do so, there is potential to capture 2012 Twitter vibes. While always very left-leaning, Twitter wasn’t always so ideologically radical and biased. Cancel culture was born and cultivated on Twitter and it only happened because they have a monopoly. By the time Twitter showed their true colors, there weren’t any viable competitors.
If people find out that there’s a place where you can post slightly “edgier” and more controversial content than on Twitter, a place more like Twitter pre-Trump, Parler may grow.
So how can this be done? Simply be a normal person. Talk politics, have a set of balls, but also talk about other interests. Post thoughts and funny shit as you would on Twitter. Unlike Twitter, nobody is out to get you on Parler. There’s nothing to be afraid of in posting your real identity so long as you’re optical, which leads to the next point.
If Parler wants to avoid the fate of Gab, there needs to be an optics check. Gab quickly became known as a refuge for Twitter’s more extreme cast offs and honestly looked like a DailyStormer board. There’s no need for that type of shit. There’s no need to post the n-word or kamikaze post, because what does that do? How does that advance your ideology and give your movement credibility? It doesn’t and should be rooted out.
Remember, the key to a successful Twitter competitor is getting “normies” to migrate. It might take a long time, but nobody is going to want to be a part of a purely political, right wing social network. They especially won’t want to be a part of it if they perceive it as far right. This needs to happen organically and the fact that several established right wing pundits are already signed up for Parler is a good thing.
Lastly, I’d like to speak to the groypers specifically. I totally understand why the vast majority in our movement are afraid of exposing their name and face. People will come after you, it will be stressful and you could lose your job. There are real consequences, so I understand the desire to post behind a fake identity and avi.
But if we are to take things to the next level and make this a legitimate political movement, we can’t be afraid to put a name and face to our views. We need to stand for what we believe in with our real identities, we just need to be optical about it.
The fact of the matter is that cancel culture has peaked. You can still be cancelled, but you’ve really got to give them a reason. Nobody is going to cancel you for retweeting Nick Fuentes or openly supporting Donald Trump. They’ve cancelled so many people to the point where companies aren’t as quick on the trigger and again, the one’s who have to worry are those who get in the weeds.
That doesn’t have to be you. The culture war can only be won if normal, everyday people organize and stand up against the increasingly radical mob. Something like Parler is a first step towards that. It’s a clean slate to create whatever we want. If Parler can stay optical and diversify, there is a legitimate chance at success when President Trump inevitably joins.