On the contrary, they are demonstrably true. Trying things* your *way has resulted in a resurgence of fascism and a quasi-fascist in the White House. America has slid irresistibly rightwards until now it is on the edge of collapsing into full-on dictatorship. Giving the right wingers a platform and legitimacy only makes them stronger.
The final chapter is not yet written and if (when) Trump is defeated in the coming election, will you be claiming victory because liberals successfully suppressed voices advocating fascist ideology?
From my deep purple perch here in a small Wisconsin city, it looks like a natural extension of how both sides increasingly live in bubbles — both in their geographic homes, and in their online social worlds.
Actually, if this is really a “thing,” * it almost sounds worse on the progressive side. No one REALLY thinks Fox News is trying to be an entity “of record” (do they?), while the NYTimes does (and, deep down, is likely perceived as such even by some right-wingers who blather about the “lame stream media”).
*As you well noted, it might not really be a “thing,” just a concoction du jour. Der Trihs must represent at least a FEW folks out there, though.
…I’m wondering, what is the source/cause of this newly emerging newspeak, using words like “progressive protectionism” because words like “political correctness” have simply fallen out of favour.
The danger of the free press becoming mouth-peices for an increasingly authoritarian government should be pretty fucking obvious. The people that are engaging in what you describe as “progressive protectionism” aren’t the “relatively young”: they are the marginalised, they are the ones that have the most to lose if Trump gets re-elected, they are the people who have privilege and speak out on these peoples behalf.
It was the black writers who collectively risked their jobs to say “Running this puts black @NYT staff in danger”. It is black people that will be in the firing line if what Cotton demands actually comes to pass. It is black people and women who will be in the firing line if Trump wins again in November and the Supreme Court becomes a majority conservative court for a generation. People are literally fighting for their lives and you are treating this as a philosophy lesson.
Stop being so fucking cocky.
You disapprove of my choice of words? How trite.
Fuck off. Don’t even try to paint me as some out of touch faux liberal. Without the slightest bit of exaggeration, Trump’s re-election will be as directly consequential to me as to them.
I don’t know what you see, but what I see is the most multi-cultural uprising I’ve seen in my life. Even Rev. Al Sharpton made this observation. We should all be encouraged by the peaceful protests on such a large scale and swath of representation.
I’m treating this as an important conversation. You’re treating it as something that only those with a world view that matches your own should have a right to think about and discuss. I’m on your fucking side whether you like it or not, and I’m not going to abandon liberal ideology because you think it’s too precious to open to evaluation and questioning.
Stop being so fucking defensive.
…just say what you mean. Stop being chickenshit.
I don’t need to paint you as some “out of touch faux liberal.” Your words say it all. And Trumps re-election won’t be as consequential to you as to them. If it were we would be hearing fighting words from you, not this chickenshit pandering to government propaganda.
And the protests won’t mean jack-shit if Trump gets re-elected at the next election. The media are making exactly the same mistakes as they did in 2016. White voters are still more likely to vote for Trump at the next election than his opponent.
Bullshit. You don’t fucking care. You’ve made your mind up already. All those who disagree with you are politically correct simpletons, protectively progressive. The people who have been sounding the alarm bells about Trump and his regime since 2016 have been absolutely proven correct yet you are shtitting all over them in this very thread. Black lives matter, don’t you agree? Then you should at the very least be paying some attention to what the black NYT staff had to say about this.
Bullshit strawman. I’m not telling you that you don’t have a right to think about what the fuck you want to think about and you can discuss whatever the fuck it is you want here.
Don’t give me that “you are on my fucking side” bullshit. I’m allowed to disagree with you. I’m allowed to call you out if I think you are wrong, even if " you are on my side." I’m more than open to evaluating and questioning.
I’m not being defensive. I’m calling you out. Its asinine and dangerous to assume that Trump is going to lose the next election. Stop being so fucking cocky.
I strongly disagree. Being published by the NYT means something symbolically – that’s something that goes in someone’s resume as a boast about their writing skills. Thus there should be standards of quality (when it comes to accuracy), and IMO this piece didn’t come close to meeting what those standards ought to be.
Yes, he does, and if you’ve ever worked in an academic library–especially one open to the public–you’ve met them. Most of them are harmless enough. I mean, I’m not worried about Der Trihs. He’s just one more harmless little nutcase with his quirks and pet theories. I have spent most of my professional life in various libraries across the country, and I’ve seen the fringes wander in and out. They’re off, but they’re not dangerous. Some of them even have jobs.
They’re nobody I’d want to hang out with, though. None of them can be talked out of whatever delusions they hold, most of them are annoying as hell, and yeah, you have your creepers. I remember one whack-a-doo in California who was part of the CIA black helicopter conspiracy squad, and he used a pay phone right outside our library to phone his congressman about it–and was not particularly careful about his choice of words. I was working circulation at the time, and I’m here to tell you all that everything you’ve heard about Secret Service agents is true. Those guys are the polar opposite of spontaneous.
It is a philosophy lesson, and it’s one you’d damn well better learn quickly if you don’t want a repeat of 2016. Whether or not what Cotton wrote about (and he didn’t “demand” anything. He expressed his point of view.) is going to pass has nothing to do with the NYT printing it. I mean, I suppose I could admit to the theoretical possibility of some random whacko reading the NYT and being swayed by it enough to change his or her vote, but think about it, Bear: Just how likely is THAT to happen? Not very.
Again, having spent decades in academic libraries, proofreading articles for our paper (not a few by people who could tell you a thing or two about growing up in actual authoritarian regimes and would be more than happy to do so), and reading history, I’m pretty certain that NOT running that article just because of controversy would have been a hell of a lot more damaging than the theoretical–and frankly non-existent–dangers of printing it.
Must be a strange world, you live in. When one conservative writes an Op-Ed the entire country lurches to the right. When fifty liberals write scathing rebuttals, several of which appear in the same newspaper, absolutely nothing happens. How the fuck does that work?
What is it you think I’m saying that I don’t?
You have no idea how little you have to teach me about living under government propaganda.
Then non-white voters and white liberals probably should get out and vote. Not like they did for Hillary and Bernie. Like they did for Obama, and then some.
Spare me the speech about voter suppression and gerrymandering. I’m well aware. It hasn’t been that long since a Democratic president was elected. It’s entirely possible. “VOTE!”
I’ve heard them. I don’t dismiss their concerns. But I think freedom of the press, the type traditionally espoused as a liberal principle, remains more important.
So let me get this straight - When you don’t like what I have to say, you claim the right to disagree with me and have the right to tell me I’m engaging in chickenshit cockiness.
Am I allowed to disagree with you then?
My dude. You are really reaching.
*Dear Sir or Madam, please find my resume attached. You’ll notice that I have been published in the NYT Op-Ed section! Oh, by the way, I also served as a US Senator. *
…LOL.
So you think its the black writers that said " “Running this puts black @NYT staff in danger” that are going to be responsible for Trump winning again this year. Not the white people that actually vote for him. Uh huh.
What we are witnessing right now is the normalisation of the abnormal. Trump can barely string a coherent sentence together but that isn’t what makes the headlines. We are seeing a repeat of 2016. But not for the reasons you think.
You are demonstrating a fundamental ignorance of how propaganda works. Heck: you are showing a fundamental ignorance of how advertising works. There is a reason why this didn’t pass the NYT editorial standards. They fucked up. At least they admitted they got it wrong, which is more than you will be able to admit.
Millions of people support Donald Trump. Thousands of people will be swayed by Tom Cottons words. How likely is that to happen? Very likely. Its the nature of how propaganda works.
You are just a random person on the internet and I have absolutely no way of verifying your “academic credentials.” So when it comes to authoritarianism regimes I’ll defer to the experts that don’t hide behind the handle “Linty Fresh” like Sarah Kendzior, Jason Stanley, or Cas Mudde, who have been consistently predicted almost every moved made by the Trump regime since before it got into power. Step by step we have watched the Trump administration erode the norms of American democracy.
The New York Times shouldn’t have run the Cotton article not because it was “controversial” but because it didn’t meet its editorial standards. And not choosing not to run an article because it didn’t meet editorial standards is not damaging to democracy.
Running that article didn’t put black @NYT staff in danger.
Stop for a second and do the math on this.
I’ll admit to not being the master of the art of propaganda or advertising, as it’s not what I studied. You are demonstrating a fundamental ignorance of how reading comprehension works. I did not state or imply this.
. . . I’m listening . . .
…I’ve already told you this.
Your ignorance on the matter seems pretty clear to me.
No you don’t get to be “spared.” Not when you are literally putting the blame on black people for the fact that Hillary lost the last election. Simply saying “VOTE” isn’t going to win the election for Biden. You are going to have to fight for the next election. Fight every battle on every ticket. Fight voter suppression, fight gerrymandering. Because lives are on the line.
Not publishing an article that doesn’t meet editorial standards is not a threat to the “freedom of the press.” Listening to the concerns of your black staff and not publishing an article that they consider a threat to their lives is “not a threat to freedom of the press.” Do you know what is a threat to the freedom of the press? Sending the military onto the streets. Do you know what is a threat to the freedom of the press? Over the last few days there have been 319 attacks (so far) by police forces on the media. The freedom of the press is under direct attack by the forces of the state. I think your priorities are all out of whack.
What the fuck are you going on about? “Stop being so fucking cocky” isn’t a literal demand. Its calling you out for being fucking cocky. You are free to express whatever opinion you want.
Of course you fucking can. What the fuck do you think you’ve been doing up till now?
…you are welcome to express your opinion. The black staff who have to live with the consequences of the publication of the article think otherwise.
I can see now that I’m dealing with a foaming at the mouth lunatic. Please continue without me. I’m going to go out for a run and some fresh air. I’d suggest you do the same but I’m pretty sure nobody in your life has every successfully suggested anything to you that you didn’t already know.
…I didn’t do anything more than address the words that you said. That you characterize me as a “foaming at the mouth lunatic” because I said the word fuck a few times says all we need to know about the quality of your argument.
Until there actually are consequences, I shall persist in my opinion.
Sorry, BB, no. You come off as an over the top caricature of an SJW whether you use the word “fuck” or not.