About
I’ve created The Mark Meckler Show community, because Dave Rubin said I should. If you don’t know Dave…subscribe to his podcast and join his community…you’ll love it…I never miss an episode. And it’s only partly true that I set up a community here because Dave told me to. Dave is a friend, and has been a pioneer on the “intellectual dark web,” promoting free speech and the radical idea that we can and should have respectful conversations with people with whom we disagree. And he is building Locals.com so that we can do just that.
We’re also building Locals.com to get away from big tech censorship that’s crippling the ability of folks like us to communicate online.
Do you trust Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or any of the other internet giants with your freedom of speech? We don’t either. They are the new censors and speech police. And they are coming for all of us. So we need our own platform to wire around them, and encourage real communication, regardless of your beliefs.
Personally, I’m sick and tired of the trolls, the lunatics and the horribly mean people that find their way into my social media feeds. It’s not healthy for society, it’s not healthy for me…and it’s not healthy for you either. So, we can complain about it, we can disengage, or we can do something better. We can be something better. Locals.com and this community are just such an attempt. Call it an experiment in rebuilding community. And this is my part.
I’m opening this place (called a “Local”) so that people who are kind and mutually respectful can build an online community together, engaging in dialogue and debate, with respect for others. This is how I try to live my life, both politically and personally, but it’s getting harder and harder to do this online. The trolls, bots and nasties make meaningful engagement rough. So along with Dave Rubin, we’re trying something different. By making this community subscriber exclusive, we are asking for you to have a little skin in the game. And that’s likely to keep the nasties out. Since the community site and app aren’t open-platforms like Facebook, etc., we won’t get lost in a conflicting, impossible to understand Terms of Service. Our perspective is that you can post pretty much whatever you’d like here as long as it’s legal by United States law.
With that in mind though, this is our community and just as you and I wouldn’t invite just anyone into our homes, we don’t want just anyone in here either. Building a real community online is going to take some effort on our part, and we’ll start with a few, common-sense guidelines. I know you get this stuff already or you likely wouldn’t be here, so forgive me for stating the obvious:
- Keep conversation respectful, without personal attacks.
- Don’t endlessly blow up other members’ feeds. If someone isn’t responding to you, let it be. Be better than the trolls.
- Please use your real names with your accounts. Let’s build a real community of real people here. I’ve made many friends and connections online, but never with anonymous avatars. This is a place to be who you actually are.
- Don’t post pornography, graphic images or anything like that. We’ll use the “I’ll know it when I see it” policy.
- If you are here just to wreck the place or bring chaos, we’ll delete your account. We are trying to clean up the conversation. You’ll get a warning or two, but that’s it.
- I don’t stand by or endorse everything said here. Possibly even some of the things I say! Part of our approach is the recognition that even serious things can be funny. So let’s not take ourselves too seriously.
- Feel free to post things that aren’t purely political! Food, family, sports, and of course dogs (okay…cats too). I love the political stuff…but life is much more than that.
- Bring your new ideas to the table. Don’t just respond to my posts, post some of your own thoughts and ideas, too! I’ll do my best to comment back on your stuff as well.
- Please Know our system isn’t perfect and isn’t for everyone, and that we’ll evolve with you. Dave started this place, and I’m joining him to transform community on the internet. It’s a big task, but it’s worth it. Maybe we’ll succeed…maybe we won’t. But someone’s gotta try!
- Most importantly, have fun.
Mark Meckler
I grew up in Los Angeles, went to high school in the San Fernando Valley (in the days of the “Valley Girl”), played football, listened to Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, and drove a van. Even wore puka shells at some point. I went to college at San Diego State (because it was the number one party school in the nation), where I was a punk DJ with an occasional mohawk and a badass studded dog collar. I still have the collar, though because of a private settlement agreement with my wife of 26 years who allowed me to keep it as a memento, I’m no longer allowed to wear it in public. After getting a degree in English (with at least one class I can remember in Science Fiction as Literature), I had no idea what to do with my life, so I went to law school. Yep…I crossed to the dark side and became a lawyer. C’mon now, enough with the boos and hisses. I learned a lot of great stuff in law school. For example, I learned that if a human thumb ends up in a pouch of chewing tobacco, the manufacturer is definitely liable for negligence. Can’t say I’ve ever had to use that case in real life, but it’s true, and it was definitely memorable and amusing. I got engaged in politics about ten years ago at the start of the “tea party” movement. Some say I’m one of the “founders” of that movement back towards free markets, limited government and fidelity to the Constitution. I’m proud to have played a role, but those sentiments existed in the public mind before me. I did help found Tea Party Patriots, which grew into the largest tea party organization in the nation. So, I helped give the movement a place to grow and a public voice, and that made me a public figure. I’ve been on all the networks, the cables, the radio shows, etc. I’m not impressed by any of that, and you shouldn’t be either. The fact that anyone would listen to me is as shocking to me as it probably is to you. But the world is a funny place. Ultimately, politics in a non-traditional sense, became my full-time gig. In 2012 I founded Citizens for Self-Governance to focus on taking power from DC and giving back to regular people in the states. In 2013 I founded the Convention of States Project, because the only way to take power from DC and give it back to the people is by using Article V to call a convention and take the power. (www.ConventionOfStates.com) Lord knows, no one in DC is voluntarily giving up the power. Along the way, I helped raise a million dollars to give away to grassroots groups, and I helped to arrange a nice little class action suit against the IRS to slam those federal thugs for targeting my friends in the tea party movement. The IRS ultimately had to fork over $3.5MM. Yeah…we ain’t afraid of no stinkin’ government. Today, I lead the Convention of States Project, which has well over 4 million supporters spread across every congressional and state legislative district in the nation. It’s the largest, self-governing grassroots army in history, and we damn well are going to take this country back from Washington DC and return it to the people. I’m a God fearing, Christian Jew, who loves guns, big trucks, big horses, all sorts of music, food, art, culture and most importantly, my wife and kids. And don’t forget dogs. Life without dogs? I don’t think so. Levi and Gideon are my Great Danes, and damn good back-up to my guns in a pinch. You might meet the dogs first if you should happen to try to get into the compound without notice and permission. They are very friendly…except when they aren’t.
Life is short. If you can’t have fun doing something…then don’t do it. I know I won’t. We’ll also encourage folks to get involved in the community, and in real activism. You can listen to podcasts, and participate online, but there’s online one way to save America, and that’s by getting off your butt and fighting for her.
I’ll finish where I started. Dave Rubin is a great guy. Locals.com is a great idea. If you love America and all she stands for, and if you love free speech, you’re gonna love it here. I’ll be hanging out here when I’m online…which is a lot. Join the Community and make yourself heard. Thanks for supporting the Mark Meckler Show Community.
Community Guidelines
Please respect the following community guidelines to maintain an enjoyable environment:
- Keep conversation respectful, without personal attacks
- Don’t blow up other members’ feeds. If someone isn’t responding to you, let it be
- No pornography
- Keep out behavior that could be seen as trolling/spamming
- Relax, be yourself, and enjoy