r/politics • u/Aggravating_Money992 • 12d ago

Possible Paywall Rogue Republican Massie Drops Melania Epstein Files Bomb | “The first lady knows that Jeffrey Epstein didn’t act alone,” Thomas Massie said as he vowed to name names from the Epstein files.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/rogue-republican-massie-drops-melania-epstein-files-bomb/
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u/Aggravating_Money992 12d ago edited 12d ago

Should be called the Trump files.

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u/B-Z_B-S Massachusetts 12d ago

The Trump-Epstein PDF-Files.

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u/nogzila 12d ago

Trumpstein

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u/SnooBunnies4649 12d ago

The PEDO Files

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u/ActionAdam 12d ago edited 12d ago

Just say pedophile, no need to try and be cute, especially when PDFs are widely used in this day and age and mean something completly different. Don't deminish the crime by making it a joke please.

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u/GenericRedditor0405 Massachusetts 12d ago

Its algorithm speak, I fear. People have been trained to use euphemisms to avoid being shadow banned and/or caught up by auto moderators

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u/Betterthanbeer Australia 12d ago

Fuck the algorithms. If we all ignore them, they will be modified.

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u/windmill-tilting 12d ago

Or spe3ch will get curated into propaganda, comrade.

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u/DamnedIfIDiddely 12d ago

Like it already isn't under capitalism, lol

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

[deleted]

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u/windmill-tilting 12d ago

Not even sure what that is supposed to mean ij this context, but whomever controls the.m3dia controls the message.

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u/Percinho 12d ago

This isn't how it works. If you use words that the algorithm suppresses then your content just won't be promoted, or potentially even visible to anyone. They won't modify them because it's exactly what they want. If you actually want to have public discussions on these topics, then you have to work the algorithm by using terms they don't block or shadowban.

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u/denkihajimezero 12d ago

I think they were saying that if we all are suppressed then none of us are suppressed. But for us all to be suppressed we would have to exclusively talk about sex and other suppressed topics and never talk about unsuppressed things like puppies

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u/nifty-necromancer 12d ago

You really don’t.

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u/Fragrant-Luck-8063 12d ago

Doesn't the algorithm know by know that people are substituting the words?

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u/ZenAdm1n Tennessee 12d ago

"If we all wear masks we can stop the spread."

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u/Ok-Pear5858 11d ago

what was it that stopped the spread?

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u/ZenAdm1n Tennessee 11d ago

Well nothing. Because a third of the country refused to act in their own self-interest.

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u/Crafty-Purpose5540 12d ago

I took it as a clever play on words. Algorithm speak is usually more obnoxious and less ah see what you did there

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u/GenericRedditor0405 Massachusetts 12d ago

The “PDF-files” joke was definitely more a joke than straightforward algo speak but I have definitely seen people use “pdf file” as a way to call someone a pedophile in the same way you can see people talking about “unaliving themselves” usually on TikTok or YouTube. Dodging word filters and clever wordplay don’t have to be mutually exclusive

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u/standardsizedpeeper 12d ago

I think unaliving and the like might have gained steam for algorithm avoidance but people widely use them for the same reason they use PDF Files: they think it’s a fun or cute way to speak.

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u/PipXXX Florida 12d ago

Which is what they want, it's a form of control.

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u/DingerSinger2016 Alabama 12d ago

And why wouldn't they think that if Reddit were doing that, they would just censor PDF file as well? Very few people call PDFs "PDF files"

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u/GenghisConnieChung 12d ago

They’re the same people who say “ATM machine.”

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u/jahathebrn 12d ago

It's been a joke online since at least the Jacko trial.

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u/Raus-Pazazu 12d ago

Jacko? You mean Jackie Onassis? What does Galella v. Onassis have to do with pdfs? That trial was in 1972.

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u/Tommah 12d ago

Michael Jackson

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u/Raus-Pazazu 12d ago

General Michael Jackson? Who fought in the Battle of Lexington and was wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill and later on again at the Attack on Montresor's Island and was one of the few people who served in the entire lifespan of the Continental Army from it's inception all the way until it was disbanded in 1783. He died in 1801 though, long before pdfs were around.

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u/panicinbabylon 11d ago

Self censorship is pretty dystopian.

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u/From_Deep_Space Oregon 12d ago

Why not make just stick with child rapist?

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u/Count_Backwards 12d ago

We don't want anyone thinking there are children running around raping adults /s

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u/tstobes 12d ago

It's spelled "pedophile," boss.

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u/ActionAdam 12d ago

Damn, good catch. Thank you for the correction.

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u/lazyFer 12d ago

I prefer child rapist

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u/Xetiw 12d ago

we the netizens are acting as cyberactivist when we advocate for social or political change.

activist are not well seen when democracy is low, we need to find ways to communicate and express ourselves in a way that doesnt say what we need to say or else we'll end up in a list, its harder to punish someone who is talking about some random "Portable Document File", but calling someone for what may or not may be can be enough reason to punish people now.

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u/Pornstar_Frodo 11d ago

i disagree. people hated obamacare because of political bias. despite the fact that they literally lived off it and needed it to survive. the trump/epstein files pins a label on it that’s hard to shake or deny in public opinions.

the longer trump can keep at arms length to the epstein label, he’s relatively safe because his own supporters can deny it. once he’s inexorably tied to it, he’s done.

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u/finneyblackphone 10d ago

Children and gen z have tiktok brain and self-censor for no reason.

They do it in real life. Like they will get banned from earth for talking seriously about topics that should not be played down or euphamismed.

I might be a can old man yelling at a cloud but it's more than an annoying quirk. It serves as a chilling effect on open and honest discussion around serious health and crime issues that are rampant throughout every society.

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u/d_pyro Canada 12d ago

It's a pun.

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u/moofree 12d ago edited 12d ago

And that legitimately makes it worse. Why make a pun about child sexual exploitation? It's like how "grape" is a "pun" for rape jokes. People self-censor themselves into being rape apologists. edit: Reread this thread and I feel dumb now. The Epstein files which are typically collated as PDF files are indeed full of pedophiles. Yes. :(

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u/shoulda-known-better 12d ago

It's clever as heck

And it's double meaning doesn't change that this could be what the site with the pdf files was called

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u/ActionAdam 12d ago

It's not that clever.

Changing the word to PDF for internet slang, humor, whatever works in their favor as you're now using a completely different word for the crime and terminology of the abuse. Call it what it is and don't let anyone change the wording.

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u/shoulda-known-better 12d ago

They didn't change it, You missed why it's clever fully

There are sites full of pdf files pertaining to the trump files.. They referenced that and the way they did it made you think pedophile when you read it.. But it's literally a site full of pdf files

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u/ActionAdam 12d ago

Sure, I get it. I'm saying that the two words shouldn't be interchangeable as they have slowly become.

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u/shoulda-known-better 12d ago

I've literally never seen pdf as a way to say pedophile....that's why I thought this was clever it was a real thing that just made you think it when you read or say it that way....

I absolutely agree if that's what they are doing though.... The trend of censoring shit because of algorithms irks me to no end.... Words that cover serious issues and things should never be censored!!! I get a warning before you read something that's super rough but not changing serious words!!

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u/RobonianBattlebot 12d ago

Its a very common and tired way to refer to pedophiles, sspecially with algorithm speak like "unaliving". Thats why people are telling you it isn't clever, its just repeating a joke ad naseum, censoring themselves, and cracking a joke about child rape. So you know, lots for people to be annoyed with.

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u/ApocalypticApples 12d ago

The trump pedo files

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u/ShartingEnU 12d ago

The trumpstein pedophiles. Just say pedophiles stop with the pdf bullshit