Another great piece from you Matt. And the problem is, as you well know, today Dr. Seuss gets placed next to Mein Kampf while legitimate critics are silenced, but where does all of this end? I’m sure you recall exactly how odd it was for people like you & me to converse with highly intelligent, very cool Soviet citizens. I was constantly aware that you could cut their self-censorship with a knife, which I found chilling & profoundly sad. I reiterate, Americans have no concept of what an awful place we are stumbling towards.
your "Sovietization" piece dovetails with the feeling i had when I saw a recent New York Times Special Edition cover of Biden and Harris in a Mt. Rushmore pose with the caption "the history they've made, the future they will inherit." https://www.amazon.com/York-Times-Biden-Kamala-Harris/dp/1547854448 ....my immediate thought was: "propaganda Soviet style"..."the history they've made"? they just got elected! aside from Harris being the first "woman of color to be elected vice-president" they haven't made any history at all yet. "The future they'll inherit"? high-sounding, portentous words that, try as I might, I cannot make any sensible meaning out of. How do you "inherit" the future? This on the heels of Time magazine's similarly monumental "Persons of the Year" cover...with a similar historic "changing America's story" blurb really disheartening that it has come to this (and i voted for Biden/Harris)
"Sovietization" is the perfect description. While watching the gushing TV coverage of the first day of COVID vaccinations, I felt like I was watching a parody of the Soviet News Agency TASS from 1981. The frightening part is that while most Russians knew it was all bullshit, most Americans I speak to actually believe this crap. It genuinely seems like the Twilight Zone.
Every so slightly off topic, but not, I've been pondering with interest the approaches of both Matt and Glenn Greenwald and thinking about the history of progressivism in this country. Of course, in the 60's, liberals were civil rights activists and fighting for the first amendment and the free expression of ideas most notably in Berkley. All long overdue and necessary. And I've concluded that people like Matt and Glenn were so used to feeling like fighting for those issues aligned more with the Democrat party than the Republican. Which made sense at the time. I occasionally get attacked on here for being in an echo chamber and for this binary thinking, which is really not true. Though it may sound like that at times. AS a libertarian I used to think liberals (not far leftists) contributed things to the balance of our existence. I was reluctantly for abortion (I'd be happier if it was before a heartbeat unless the life of the mother was at risk and appalled at the brutality, nauseated at these people CELEBRATING such a thing up until the moment of birth?), for gay marriage (before we started having biological men beat little girls in high school), and I was certainly for free speech and civil rights. I was a fiscal conservative so thought of myself as a libertarian. ISH. (Since I was fine with national parks and a few things.)
But I feel sorry for people like Matt because I think they were so used to thinking of the Democrat party as the one for free speech, they really didn't see that leftists were headed here all along. As both a student and adjunct professor, it was clear pretty early (or admittedly, as a conservative, I was paranoid about it) that they were headed right where they are now. I think they (Matt and Glenn) see the threat is presently from the left, but they don't see that the ideology of big government almost necessitated loss of freedom and it was so clear they had become the thought police as early as the 80's--and that they were pushing and shaming squishy Republicans down that road, and by the time I was teaching at university, they were literally brainwashing our youth and shutting down the free expression of ideas.
This is probably why I now sound more binary than I once did. Ronald Reagan said if totalitarianism took hold here, it would come from the left. And that seems so obvious to me just because they always believe they have the moral high ground, they believe in big government and controlling people -- something they love. And now they believe anyone who doesn't think like them are haters, supremacists, or Nazis. Seeing this happen, moved many of us farther right -- or that is not accurate -- farther ANTI-left, which is not the same thing. If I saw the right behaving like this as they once had, I'd be just as opposed to them.
I have an annoying friend who always believes the religious right is the same threat to America as the far left has become. As someone who is anti-organized religion (though spiritual), that always seemed ridiculous. Our constitution and the very nature of our country prohibits state sponsored religion--socialist fascism? Not so much. The danger was clearly from the left as Reagan had said.
And another side note -- leftists claim that churches are discriminating against gays. That is really a ludicrous position. They are discriminating against that behavior, just like some churches ban dancing or drinking -- both legal as are gay relationships. You don't see people suing them for not allowing people to dance! For years, people just found churches that represented their beliefs. Gay people can attend any church; their behavior will not be supported in some of them. But people should have freedom to believe as they choose as long as they don't force someone else to. BTW, if I ever do go to a church, it's the Unitarian church that Jefferson, Thoreau, Emerson, and whole host of people believed would one day be the religion of the land -- and who of course, welcome gay people.
So the threat is not from the right, even though I've never agreed with most of organized religion; it's from the left. At least right now. And they are contributing less and less in terms of what we need to be a successful civilization. And the biggest reason is they are shutting down debate and ideas. Glenn Greenwald admits that right now they are the threat. Matt avoids doing that and sticks to journalism as if it isn't the left doing this. Or the progressivism itself that is the very cause of it. The platforms of each and all parties can be debated, but not if they won't allow it! So until that is dealt with, the rest is irrelevant.
But I am still grateful that Matt is writing this and I particularly think Glenn is doing great work.
Yup, as Greenwald and others have remarked: “kids in cages” has practically overnight become “migrant minors in overflow immigration facilities”, “censorship” has become (necessary/laudable) “content moderation”, etc etc. Complete insanity. How is ANYBODY swallowing this?
“I’m worried about a world in which we spend borrowed money with abandon,” he says, but “income inequality, widespread child poverty, and economic precarity are the problems of our time.”
----------
It never occurs to these people that the more money we give to government, who passes it out to their buddies, the higher income inequality goes. The fake economy of being close to those who run the literal money-making machine is taking over the real economy of beneficial transactions.
I'm sure David Brooks will be BAFFLED at why this extra $1,900,000,000,000 showered mostly on the well-off didn't fix income inequality. I'm sure he'll think the NEXT $2,000,000,000 will do it!
This Sovietization really took off after George Floyd. The Washington Post went to extreme lengths to make readers didn’t see or readily understand their own Police shooting database. Lest readers actually see that, no, actually thousands of innocent unarmed Blacks are not murdered annually by Police.
I'm currently reading Manufacturing Consent after reading Hate Inc. Now that I can see news for what it is, it's very difficult to "unsee" it, and furthermore, its unbelievable that so many people don't see it for what it is. I can't even believe people fall for the framing of arguments on FOX, CNN, MSNB, etc...
What does all of this look like in four years? Biden won't make it that long. We moved from Trumpism to Weekend at Bernie'sism. The press is doing all it can to make Biden look like the man behind the curtain, but he's a walking corpse.
It will look like Russia. Russia is what the cowardly US populace deserves. They are happy to swallow any smarmy remark about Trump and any exaggerated nonsense about Biden’s sainthood. Where is our revolutionary spirit? Where is our sense of outrage? When the NY Post story of Biden family corruption was completely stifled by mainstream media, we swallowed it. When courts refused to give fair hearing to evidence of election fraud, we swallowed it. When Biden told lies about vaccine availability, we swallowed it. When CNN made up a completely false story about a private school kid facing up to a native American, we swallowed it and didn’t care that there was no correction, much less an apology. Now we watch as the Sneeches and Dumbo are censored, and we swallow it. Russia is what we deserve.
How hard is it to write good humor about Joe Biden, anyway? The Onion ran a series on the antics of 'Uncle Joe" when he was VP, and it was hilarious. He was 'The President of Vice"! The prevailing attitude today is that if you poke fun at Biden in any way, you're actively promoting Trump, or something like that.
PS: An Onion writer who was involved in creating the Uncle Joe series apologized for it last year. You can't make this stuff up.
Outstanding and timely -- unique Matt's talents. I see many of commenters are labeling Biden administration as "left", "socialist", etc. A big error of confusing corrupt DNC oligarchs with -- "left". Why such persistent blindness? Such readers will never realize how are we being played, like a violin, by two equally repulsive oligarch groups competing for power.
Trump supporters are, of course, rightfully incensed by DNC scam of the century -- the Russia-gate hoax. But Trump was also a disaster and incompetent -- he didn't give pardon to his biggest ally - Julian Assange who unmasked decades of neo-liberal crimes, for example.
There is nothing left in Biden's administration -- just a desperate actions to survive after eking a margin thin "victory". Biden is all for $2K and immediately (3 months later it is $1.4K to some), he is all for $15/hr min (by now it should be $30+/hr) but the time (in pandemic catastrophe) is not yet now, of course, health care for all - "never"...
But the War party, on that oligarchs of both DNC and GOP fully agree, is proceeding full speed. Brutal medieval sanctions on "disobedient" countries, US military marched into Syria's oil fields the very second day of victory, Israel damages Iran oil tankers (obviously by US approval)
The recent letter by two California House "lifer" Democrats Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerney to CEO's of cable companies are truly unparalleled and represents the rise of fascism in the US -- under a guise of "fighting fascism." All these multiple attacks are clearly carefully choreographed and coordinated -- easily predicted since we should always keep in mind that there is one huge elephant in the room:
The scam of the century - the now 5-year long Russia-gate hoax initiated by Obama/Biden administration
The Russia-gate hoax and two-impeachment “entertainments” were concocted by Obama/Hillary/Biden/Pelosi, Schumer, Schiff, Maxine Waters, Jamie Ruskin, etc., etc. -- and their intelligence and DNC executives on behalf of their Wall Street and military and security industry donors, i.e., the War party
By far the absolutely highest need of Biden government and its DNC oligarch cabal is that Russia-gate immense hoax – the scam of the century -- will NOT / will NEVER be exposed.
This represents a new phase of US domestic politics -- nothing "left" or "socialist" there...
Love it, Matt. My husband sees Biden as a tired old used car salesman. I agree. Would you really buy something you needed to drive you and your loved ones safely from Joe Biden? I think not. “I know you're here to buy an SUV you can afford - and my fellow American, I feel your pain. You lost your small business, your kids gained thirty pounds and fell back two years during the school lockdown, but this SUV will transport you to another world when you take it for a spin and the tires blow out and you roll over a cliff. Hey, all your pain will be gone. I say that as a good Catholic.” But the mainstream media is now made up of used car salesmen - or salespeople, too. Would I buy a used car from any of these journalists? No. And maybe I'm overly optimistic but I think a lot of people will wake up to the lemons they bought from the mainstream press.
This can't be surprising, Matt. In every one of these articles, there's always the disclaimer of "I'm not a Republican, but..." or "I'm not a right-winger, but...", as if being Republican or right-wing would automatically disqualify someone from having a cogent opinion on various happenings in this country.
Naturally I have to add my own disclaimer: this isn't an endorsement of right-wing or Republican politicians and policies. Clearly the right has supported some bad people and policies in recent years, but they certainly don't have a monopoly on bad ideas, politicians, and policies. And I'm not sure why it's divisive to say that.
As a descendent of Russians who escaped the pogroms in the late 19th century on one side and Nazi Austria and Germany on the other side, to find America, the land of the free (and the free press), in four years this looks very bad. Conceptually it's very disheartening to see so many immigrant's descendants from these eras of incredible censorship and propaganda embrace an America turning its collective back on the personal freedoms that made this country a beacon of light for their ancestors. Collective amnesia is one of our favorite past times but, to quote a great line from the recent classic film Death of Stalin, "I’ve had nightmares that made more sense than this."
The Sovietization of the American Press
Another great piece from you Matt. And the problem is, as you well know, today Dr. Seuss gets placed next to Mein Kampf while legitimate critics are silenced, but where does all of this end? I’m sure you recall exactly how odd it was for people like you & me to converse with highly intelligent, very cool Soviet citizens. I was constantly aware that you could cut their self-censorship with a knife, which I found chilling & profoundly sad. I reiterate, Americans have no concept of what an awful place we are stumbling towards.
your "Sovietization" piece dovetails with the feeling i had when I saw a recent New York Times Special Edition cover of Biden and Harris in a Mt. Rushmore pose with the caption "the history they've made, the future they will inherit." https://www.amazon.com/York-Times-Biden-Kamala-Harris/dp/1547854448 ....my immediate thought was: "propaganda Soviet style"..."the history they've made"? they just got elected! aside from Harris being the first "woman of color to be elected vice-president" they haven't made any history at all yet. "The future they'll inherit"? high-sounding, portentous words that, try as I might, I cannot make any sensible meaning out of. How do you "inherit" the future? This on the heels of Time magazine's similarly monumental "Persons of the Year" cover...with a similar historic "changing America's story" blurb really disheartening that it has come to this (and i voted for Biden/Harris)
"Sovietization" is the perfect description. While watching the gushing TV coverage of the first day of COVID vaccinations, I felt like I was watching a parody of the Soviet News Agency TASS from 1981. The frightening part is that while most Russians knew it was all bullshit, most Americans I speak to actually believe this crap. It genuinely seems like the Twilight Zone.
Every so slightly off topic, but not, I've been pondering with interest the approaches of both Matt and Glenn Greenwald and thinking about the history of progressivism in this country. Of course, in the 60's, liberals were civil rights activists and fighting for the first amendment and the free expression of ideas most notably in Berkley. All long overdue and necessary. And I've concluded that people like Matt and Glenn were so used to feeling like fighting for those issues aligned more with the Democrat party than the Republican. Which made sense at the time. I occasionally get attacked on here for being in an echo chamber and for this binary thinking, which is really not true. Though it may sound like that at times. AS a libertarian I used to think liberals (not far leftists) contributed things to the balance of our existence. I was reluctantly for abortion (I'd be happier if it was before a heartbeat unless the life of the mother was at risk and appalled at the brutality, nauseated at these people CELEBRATING such a thing up until the moment of birth?), for gay marriage (before we started having biological men beat little girls in high school), and I was certainly for free speech and civil rights. I was a fiscal conservative so thought of myself as a libertarian. ISH. (Since I was fine with national parks and a few things.)
But I feel sorry for people like Matt because I think they were so used to thinking of the Democrat party as the one for free speech, they really didn't see that leftists were headed here all along. As both a student and adjunct professor, it was clear pretty early (or admittedly, as a conservative, I was paranoid about it) that they were headed right where they are now. I think they (Matt and Glenn) see the threat is presently from the left, but they don't see that the ideology of big government almost necessitated loss of freedom and it was so clear they had become the thought police as early as the 80's--and that they were pushing and shaming squishy Republicans down that road, and by the time I was teaching at university, they were literally brainwashing our youth and shutting down the free expression of ideas.
This is probably why I now sound more binary than I once did. Ronald Reagan said if totalitarianism took hold here, it would come from the left. And that seems so obvious to me just because they always believe they have the moral high ground, they believe in big government and controlling people -- something they love. And now they believe anyone who doesn't think like them are haters, supremacists, or Nazis. Seeing this happen, moved many of us farther right -- or that is not accurate -- farther ANTI-left, which is not the same thing. If I saw the right behaving like this as they once had, I'd be just as opposed to them.
I have an annoying friend who always believes the religious right is the same threat to America as the far left has become. As someone who is anti-organized religion (though spiritual), that always seemed ridiculous. Our constitution and the very nature of our country prohibits state sponsored religion--socialist fascism? Not so much. The danger was clearly from the left as Reagan had said.
And another side note -- leftists claim that churches are discriminating against gays. That is really a ludicrous position. They are discriminating against that behavior, just like some churches ban dancing or drinking -- both legal as are gay relationships. You don't see people suing them for not allowing people to dance! For years, people just found churches that represented their beliefs. Gay people can attend any church; their behavior will not be supported in some of them. But people should have freedom to believe as they choose as long as they don't force someone else to. BTW, if I ever do go to a church, it's the Unitarian church that Jefferson, Thoreau, Emerson, and whole host of people believed would one day be the religion of the land -- and who of course, welcome gay people.
So the threat is not from the right, even though I've never agreed with most of organized religion; it's from the left. At least right now. And they are contributing less and less in terms of what we need to be a successful civilization. And the biggest reason is they are shutting down debate and ideas. Glenn Greenwald admits that right now they are the threat. Matt avoids doing that and sticks to journalism as if it isn't the left doing this. Or the progressivism itself that is the very cause of it. The platforms of each and all parties can be debated, but not if they won't allow it! So until that is dealt with, the rest is irrelevant.
But I am still grateful that Matt is writing this and I particularly think Glenn is doing great work.
Yup, as Greenwald and others have remarked: “kids in cages” has practically overnight become “migrant minors in overflow immigration facilities”, “censorship” has become (necessary/laudable) “content moderation”, etc etc. Complete insanity. How is ANYBODY swallowing this?
“I’m worried about a world in which we spend borrowed money with abandon,” he says, but “income inequality, widespread child poverty, and economic precarity are the problems of our time.”
----------
It never occurs to these people that the more money we give to government, who passes it out to their buddies, the higher income inequality goes. The fake economy of being close to those who run the literal money-making machine is taking over the real economy of beneficial transactions.
I'm sure David Brooks will be BAFFLED at why this extra $1,900,000,000,000 showered mostly on the well-off didn't fix income inequality. I'm sure he'll think the NEXT $2,000,000,000 will do it!
This Sovietization really took off after George Floyd. The Washington Post went to extreme lengths to make readers didn’t see or readily understand their own Police shooting database. Lest readers actually see that, no, actually thousands of innocent unarmed Blacks are not murdered annually by Police.
I'm currently reading Manufacturing Consent after reading Hate Inc. Now that I can see news for what it is, it's very difficult to "unsee" it, and furthermore, its unbelievable that so many people don't see it for what it is. I can't even believe people fall for the framing of arguments on FOX, CNN, MSNB, etc...
This is why I subscribe.
What does all of this look like in four years? Biden won't make it that long. We moved from Trumpism to Weekend at Bernie'sism. The press is doing all it can to make Biden look like the man behind the curtain, but he's a walking corpse.
It will look like Russia. Russia is what the cowardly US populace deserves. They are happy to swallow any smarmy remark about Trump and any exaggerated nonsense about Biden’s sainthood. Where is our revolutionary spirit? Where is our sense of outrage? When the NY Post story of Biden family corruption was completely stifled by mainstream media, we swallowed it. When courts refused to give fair hearing to evidence of election fraud, we swallowed it. When Biden told lies about vaccine availability, we swallowed it. When CNN made up a completely false story about a private school kid facing up to a native American, we swallowed it and didn’t care that there was no correction, much less an apology. Now we watch as the Sneeches and Dumbo are censored, and we swallow it. Russia is what we deserve.
How hard is it to write good humor about Joe Biden, anyway? The Onion ran a series on the antics of 'Uncle Joe" when he was VP, and it was hilarious. He was 'The President of Vice"! The prevailing attitude today is that if you poke fun at Biden in any way, you're actively promoting Trump, or something like that.
PS: An Onion writer who was involved in creating the Uncle Joe series apologized for it last year. You can't make this stuff up.
Outstanding and timely -- unique Matt's talents. I see many of commenters are labeling Biden administration as "left", "socialist", etc. A big error of confusing corrupt DNC oligarchs with -- "left". Why such persistent blindness? Such readers will never realize how are we being played, like a violin, by two equally repulsive oligarch groups competing for power.
Trump supporters are, of course, rightfully incensed by DNC scam of the century -- the Russia-gate hoax. But Trump was also a disaster and incompetent -- he didn't give pardon to his biggest ally - Julian Assange who unmasked decades of neo-liberal crimes, for example.
There is nothing left in Biden's administration -- just a desperate actions to survive after eking a margin thin "victory". Biden is all for $2K and immediately (3 months later it is $1.4K to some), he is all for $15/hr min (by now it should be $30+/hr) but the time (in pandemic catastrophe) is not yet now, of course, health care for all - "never"...
But the War party, on that oligarchs of both DNC and GOP fully agree, is proceeding full speed. Brutal medieval sanctions on "disobedient" countries, US military marched into Syria's oil fields the very second day of victory, Israel damages Iran oil tankers (obviously by US approval)
The recent letter by two California House "lifer" Democrats Anna Eshoo and Jerry McNerney to CEO's of cable companies are truly unparalleled and represents the rise of fascism in the US -- under a guise of "fighting fascism." All these multiple attacks are clearly carefully choreographed and coordinated -- easily predicted since we should always keep in mind that there is one huge elephant in the room:
The scam of the century - the now 5-year long Russia-gate hoax initiated by Obama/Biden administration
The Russia-gate hoax and two-impeachment “entertainments” were concocted by Obama/Hillary/Biden/Pelosi, Schumer, Schiff, Maxine Waters, Jamie Ruskin, etc., etc. -- and their intelligence and DNC executives on behalf of their Wall Street and military and security industry donors, i.e., the War party
By far the absolutely highest need of Biden government and its DNC oligarch cabal is that Russia-gate immense hoax – the scam of the century -- will NOT / will NEVER be exposed.
This represents a new phase of US domestic politics -- nothing "left" or "socialist" there...
Love it, Matt. My husband sees Biden as a tired old used car salesman. I agree. Would you really buy something you needed to drive you and your loved ones safely from Joe Biden? I think not. “I know you're here to buy an SUV you can afford - and my fellow American, I feel your pain. You lost your small business, your kids gained thirty pounds and fell back two years during the school lockdown, but this SUV will transport you to another world when you take it for a spin and the tires blow out and you roll over a cliff. Hey, all your pain will be gone. I say that as a good Catholic.” But the mainstream media is now made up of used car salesmen - or salespeople, too. Would I buy a used car from any of these journalists? No. And maybe I'm overly optimistic but I think a lot of people will wake up to the lemons they bought from the mainstream press.
This can't be surprising, Matt. In every one of these articles, there's always the disclaimer of "I'm not a Republican, but..." or "I'm not a right-winger, but...", as if being Republican or right-wing would automatically disqualify someone from having a cogent opinion on various happenings in this country.
Naturally I have to add my own disclaimer: this isn't an endorsement of right-wing or Republican politicians and policies. Clearly the right has supported some bad people and policies in recent years, but they certainly don't have a monopoly on bad ideas, politicians, and policies. And I'm not sure why it's divisive to say that.
As a descendent of Russians who escaped the pogroms in the late 19th century on one side and Nazi Austria and Germany on the other side, to find America, the land of the free (and the free press), in four years this looks very bad. Conceptually it's very disheartening to see so many immigrant's descendants from these eras of incredible censorship and propaganda embrace an America turning its collective back on the personal freedoms that made this country a beacon of light for their ancestors. Collective amnesia is one of our favorite past times but, to quote a great line from the recent classic film Death of Stalin, "I’ve had nightmares that made more sense than this."