Outside of the fact that it will likely lead to the downfall and extermination of human civilization, one things I hate the most about social media is it shows who our heroes really are.
For example, I was raised in the church of Gary England and, for most of my life, worshiped the hailstones he walked on. As a kid, I would rattle off his list of tornado per’cautions each night before bed, and as a grown-up, even took a pilgrimage to his town to pay tribute for his birthday. Hell, to this day I still play on his signature sign-off when I conclude a TLO article!
But then, as we know, Gary was forced out by News 9, turned to the Dark Side of the Severe Weather Force, and started using his Twitter account to spread right-wing memes and conspiracy theories, even denying the existence of global warming.
Basically, he went from a hero I worshiped and idolized to a right-wing uncle I’d try to avoid talking to at Thanksgiving.
Sadly, it looks like TV news viewers in Oklahoma’s Green County are having the same epiphany.
Last night, legendary newsman Dan Rather chimed in on Elon Musk – a self-proclaimed free speech absolutist – suspending the Twitter accounts of several prominent journalists who were covering the billionaire’s decision to ban an account that, using publicly available information, tracked the whereabouts of his private jet.
On the topic of social media exposing who people really are, until a month or so ago, I was a big fan and believer of Elon Musk, and thought his takeover of Twitter would be a good thing for the platform. Then the deal went through, he started showing his true colors and oddball behavior, and – well – let’s just say I no longer want to own a Tesla.
Although Dan Rather’s tweet was fairly innocuous and exposed Musk’s hypocrisy, that didn’t set very well with News on 6’s Chief Meteorologist Travis Meyer.
For 25 years, he and his signature mustache have been entertaining and forewarning Tulsa residents about sunny skis and severe weather. Just like Gary, he’s achieved a cult-like following.
He responded to Dan with this:
On the topic of showing a true lack of journalistic integrity, what do you call it when a TV weatherman calls a famed broadcaster “a liberal one-sided want to be,” and then tries to equate Twitter banning journalists for doing legit reporting to Twitter banning some right-wing trolls for spreading misinformation and hate speech?
I’m a Johnnie’s First-Time Caller and I’ll take your answer off the air.
Naturally, Travis’s tweet fired up the left-wing Oklahoma twitter echo chamber. They quickly ratioed the tweet and expressed their displeasure, with some claiming they’ll never watch him again.
I guess this reminded Travis that he should probably pull a Gary England and wait until Griffin Communications forces him out of a job before exposing who he really is on Twitter, and at the very least, get a burner account. He deleted the tweet, leaving it to only exist in screenshot infamy.
Let's look at it one more time:
Anyway, I guess I’ll conclude this report and get back to doom-scrolling Twitter while I still have an account.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
