Marjorie Taylor Greene speaking to millions through a “censored” mask is obviously absurd. But this is a common trope in the conspirituality influencer class. JP Sears and Mikki Willis have both posed with their mouths duct-taped in posts that get high engagement. /1

It’s a waste of time to walk them through the definition of censorship. They’re talking about a feeling: an unfamiliar friction slowing down their influencer feedback loops. /2

Conspiritualists came to prominence through unopposed and endless posting and affirmation. They were trained by the algorithms to think of their charismatic luck as expertise and moral gravitas. /3

The pandemic and consensus reality present an existential challenge not only to wellbeing, but to the way they market wellbeing, or insist that wellbeing can happen through fiat, aspirations, workshops, or organic food in jail. /4

The “censored” mask doesn’t signal that MTG can’t speak, but rather that her speech is now meaningful for its content and not just its affect. Ostensibly, this is why she was elected: to be taken seriously, which means defending a POV. /5

But if you’ve never been pressed to prove anything, if you've always Crossfitted through on pure confidence and entitlement alone, your throat may close up in that fateful moment when you are called on to explain yourself. MTG’s mask shouldn’t say “censored” but “ashamed”. /6

Just so: if JP is asked to prove his dumbass supplements work, or Willis is asked to substantiate Plandemic, they too will seize up and frame the resulting humiliation as suppression. /7

The real players in this grift are those who can monetize the lie of censorship. “I’m not going to stop speaking my truth” is now its own product. The influencer doesn’t have to to define what “my truth” is. It's consistent with not having had a product to begin with. /end