the big hate
Paul Krugman worries about the main-streaming of ultra-right-wing nuttery vis-a-vis the likes of Glenn Beck. I mentioned this a while back actually. Things will get worse before they get better.
by Erik Kain · June 12, 2009
Paul Krugman worries about the main-streaming of ultra-right-wing nuttery vis-a-vis the likes of Glenn Beck. I mentioned this a while back actually. Things will get worse before they get better.
Erik Kain
Erik writes about video games at Forbes and politics at Mother Jones. He's the contributor of The League though he hasn't written much here lately. He can be found occasionally composing 140 character cultural analysis on Twitter.
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From CNN Business:
New York (CNN Business)Sheldon Adelson, the chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands and a major donor to Republican politicians, died late Monday following complications related to his cancer treatment, his company said. He was 87.
Adelson took a leave of absence from Sands last week to resume treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which his aides first disclosed in late February 2019.
(Featured image is "Some birds hanging out at the Sands Casino in Atlantic City" by iirraa is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Comment →In the wake of the violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by scores of President Trump’s supporters, a lone researcher began an effort to catalogue the posts of social media users across Parler, a platform founded to provide conservative users a safe haven for uninhibited “free speech” — but which ultimately devolved into a hotbed of far-right conspiracy theories, unchecked racism, and death threats aimed at prominent politicians.
The researcher, who asked to be referred to by their Twitter handle, @donk_enby, began with the goal of archiving every post from January 6, the day of the Capitol riot; what she called a bevy of “very incriminating” evidence. According to the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, among others, Parler is one of a number of apps used by the insurrections to coordinate their breach of the Capitol, in a plan to overturn the 2020 election results and keep Donald Trump in power.
(Featured image is "A radio tracking device on a Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug) at the Cotswold Falconry Centre" by Anguskirk and is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Comment →From Twitter Safety:
After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.https://t.co/CBpE1I6j8Y
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 8, 2021
(Featured image is "Free Bird" by Ennev and is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
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It has long been my take that this is a symptom of a deeper problem and is not, in and of itself, the problem.
If anything, I’d compare Beck and those guys to anti-Colonial types railing against the Colonists.
I suspect a healthy return to Federalism would solve this problem (it would give a location to which one could “leave it” if one did not “love it”).
Indeed, it will get worse before it gets better… because a healthy return to Federalism ain’t in the cards.Report
Not to discount your worries but does the mainstreaming of Glenn Beck et al, actually matter when today, one can get all the conspiracy theory craziness anyone needs from talk radio, websites, blogs, etc… (Ron Paul supporters?)
Isn’t Beck’s presence simply a recognition of a market/demand for his commentary amongst people who think legitimacy belongs to their views and not necessarily the views that are on cable (ala the liberal media bias) or in major papers?
Alas, at this point, I wonder what – if anything – can be done.
I will say, however, that I agree with the Mistress of HuffPo when she argued that outlets that aspire to journalistic integrity should stop moderating uncritical discussions between opposing sides as though each point of view is equally valid.
Ultimately, I think I’m as worried as you, but I can’t help but feel that Paul Krugman’s concerns amount to journalistic/punditry NIMBYism.Report