America’s Right-Wing Propaganda Problem Might Be Terminal
America’s Right-Wing Propaganda Problem Might Be Terminal
America’s descent into mass delusion isn’t happenstance. The demise of courageous journalism isn’t a happy accident. Its replacement with engagement-chasing infotainment and propaganda isn’t an error. It’s a global assault on reason and informed consensus, and corporations and authoritarian bullies ...
Part of the problem is pay-gating fact based media, while right wing propaganda is wide open.
https://intpolicydigest.org/how-paywalls-are-making-us-dumber/
I've often wondered what can be done about this. It's accepted that good journalism is expensive- crews need to document, reporters need to travel, interview and investigate, writers have to write and editors need to edit. Nobody works this hard for free.
But now we're also collectively showing we don't want to pay for subscriptions, we don't want to see ads, and we definitely want the fourth column to remain independent from government funding. Effectively there are no revenue streams available that work for these organizations.
Meanwhile AI slop, propagandists and trolls are more than happy to keep publishing because they don't have the overhead of investment in truth. It seems like the ultimate lose situation and truthful, fact based reporting will eventually die completely.
we definitely want the fourth column to remain independent from government funding
“among rich countries, the United States is a biiiiiiiiig outlier [in per capita spending on public broadcasters]”
“Germany spends $142.42 per person on its public media. Norway spends $110.73, Finland $101.29, Denmark $93.16. Leave Scandinavia for Western Europe and you see the U.K. at $81.30, France at $75.89, and Spain at $58.25. Heading a bit east? The Czech Republic’s at $60.08, Estonia $55.70, and Lithuania $32.71.
Only trust the Anglosphere? Try Australia $35.78, New Zealand $26.86, or Canada $26.51. How about Asia? Japan spends $53.15, South Korea $14.93. Africa? Botswana’s at $18.38, Cabo Verde $15.22.
And then there’s the United States — which spends $3.16, per person, per year, on public broadcasting.”
Fund PBS and NPR.
I’ve wondered the same thing. I never minded ads on news articles as long as they were along the side and out of the way of what I was reading. After they started pushing the ads that spring up in the middle of the text I was reading and click-jacked a few times, I switched over to an ad blocker and never looked back. Good journalism needs to be monetized in some way, but I’m not adding another monthly subscription for a single news source and I’m not reading articles from a source that prioritizes the ads over their content the way they have been. I don’t know how we go back from here.
It’s accepted that good journalism is expensive
No. It isn't.
Even on The Left we are full of people who shit on news outlets endlessly and "help" by pulling stuff out of ad walls or to reproduce everywhere.
And the moment they see something they don't want to? Personal attacks, accusations that journalists are shills, etc. Let alone if a news outlet decides they don't want to risk persecution when they know nobody has their backs.
This battle is more or less lost. But the only hope is to push back against all the "all of this is just clickbait" stupidity and discourage people from pulling those articles out of the ad and pay walls.
Behind the Bastards does a great podcast about that. Called "How Conservatism Won".
It was an incredibly interesting piece about how Think Tanks are behind the shit show you see before us today. A literal playbook shadow written by a future supreme court justice nominated by Tricky Dick Nixon. It was well worth a listen much like most of BtB stuff is.
I'd also suggest the alt-right playbook videos on YouTube:
Might?!
a hug majority of americans refuse to learn of how people like murdoch have been fucking over the anglosphere; so you have to be patient with people just now starting to question this decades long anticipated conclusion.
It predates Murdoch. Not to downplay him. There are plenty of valid criticism of Vladimir Lenin and acolytes, as well as their imperialistic annexation of much of eastern Europe. But the red scare was/is used to unjustly smear all the non Lenin aligned left. And set the groundwork for Murdoch. He'd be much lesser in its absence.
Terminal means fatal, hopefully that's not a certainty yet.
I’m aware of what terminal means, we’ve been that since 2016
Do not despair. Nothing in politics is permanent. It may be difficult but we can solve this together. Be sure to read this article to the end where it has the calls to action. Those are all good ideas. In addition I want to mention:
One thing everyone should do is vote in every election, even local elections.
Also specifically for when it mentions public funding try calling your representative and asking for this. It does matter.
In addition also work to defund right wing propaganda by calling advertisers and urge them to stop advertising on Fox and other right wing stations. Also if you have a TV subscription make sure the package doesn't include Fox News. If it's impossible to remove Fox News call the company and ask for a no Fox option. If enough people call they may one day offer it. This step is important because Fox News gets most of its money from carriage fees.
In addition boycott Twitter/X and also Meta (Facebook/Instagram/Threads) and switch to Mastodon and Bluesky. Make sure your friends do the same.
Media literacy defeats propaganda, and that’s why we’ll always have to fight to get it, or even hear about it.
It's been a problem since Van Buren
Quality article. Worth the read
Russian Oligarchy: 1991-present
American Oligarchy:
America's left wing propaganda is right wing propaganda and the greatest trick foisted on us since the 20s is thinking we're not.
Honestly if you fall for right wing propaganda I consider you a lost cause as a human. It's really not hard to see through even as a child. If you don't have the cognitive reasoning to figure it out I don't trust your day to day decision making.
Oh say can you see By the dawn's fading light
The remains of your land
And the cruise missiles fly Through the ---------- sky
You stood up to the commies While the rest of us died
Oh say can you see by the star spangled banner
This is not a test
Wake up America and Be a good American and Buy American Pledge your next car to be American
Oh what a bunch of shit Nazi propaganda Thanks to crap like that I've got a cruise missile in my backyard
Wake up America and Be a good American and Buy American Pledge your next car to be American
Oh what a bunch of shit Nazi propaganda Thanks to crap like that I've got a cruise missile in my backyard
And the land of the free And the home of the brave