Bully For Thee, But Not For me

 You have to bear with me on this one as it was several years ago, and the actual suspected incident meant very little to me at the time. I only think this was the reason I got a lifetime ban from YouTube. 

At the time, I followed a real Chicago Outfit guy on YouTube, named Frank Cullotta. If you saw "Casino" he was portrayed by Frank Vincent. It was a fictionalized version of the Chicago mob's history in Las Vegas in the 60's and 70's. The characters were thus composites of the real people, and with different names. That's Hollywood. Cullotta was a advisor on the film, sitting at the right hand of Martin Scorsese, just as he had been the right-hand man of the real-life Tony Spilotro, portrayed by Joe Pesci. 

On YT Frank would tell stories of outfit life as he experienced it. I saw him as being as genuine as anybody else on youtubes of any sort. People tend to embellish on-camera whether they are actors sitting down with Jimmy Fallon selling a movie or 'real people' selling a story of their exploits. This is true of Special Forces guys or the gangsters who are all over YT with their tales. I like to watch this shit. It's my taste in "The Real Housewives of (Wherever)" genre that is popular these days. 

One day I got into it with a couple guys who composed themselves as local gangsters. Maybe they were, most likely they weren't. I think I already discussed in a previous post that, as a bartender and patron in several West Suburban Chicago restaurants, I met dozens of mob guys which means I didn't meet any. If you tell me you're in the mob, you are not in the mob. This is not because it's such a secret organization, but rather because you just don't have to advertise. It truly is a "if you know, you know" thing. I probably met a couple-few guys who were connected. They were the ones who didn't tell me they were. It's all in how a man carries himself. And you hear things, from certain people. You just never hear it from them.

Now, these two jamokes didn't like Frank. They were upset that I did. I don't recall a word of our exchanges that day. I only recall besting them at posting. I'm a made Ferrerman. I've got ways of dealing with trolls on-line that are frighteningly silly. But I never bully. I never threaten or swear at people. Mock 'em and block 'em is my motto. I have fun doing this shit. It should be fun. 

Well, these two mooks probably did what any street level thugs would do; they reported me to YouTube authorities. They had me clipped. Ouch. 

I can't comment or follow anyone on YT. That's it. YT let me know this a couple days later. They didn't say who I "bullied" or what I did. They just deemed me guilty. Yes, I could appeal, but then as now, who are you appealing to? A bot/algorithm probably. Why bother? If I recall correctly, YT commenters are some of the dumbest commenters on the planet. This was not a painful sanction.

I've spent a lot of time in Facebook and Twitter jail. The food is good and so is the sex. The moderation is as ridiculous on those sites as it is on YT. Sometimes it's a case of gang-reporting or just the fact that someone complained, and they like to think that they're on top of things. They clearly are not.  

Facebook is officially the old west now in their moderation since we descended into this trumpian era of *free speech*. You can tell someone to f-off on FB now. I once did 7 days for suggesting someone was "slow-witted in (their) thinking". Bullying is OK now that we have a whole White House full of them. We'll see how that changes, soon... It's not how you bully, but who.