"... holding onto a media environment that stopped existing a decade ago. A party that thought Barack Obama’s cultural cool would last forever, and that young voters were table stakes. A party fundamentally mismatched with the task at hand. While we prattle on, concerning ourselves with those who already agree with us, the right has built an information machine aimed squarely at opt-out voters — people sick of traditional politics. Right-wing partisans, much like opt-out voters, don’t trust the mainstream media or Hollywood. They seek out alternatives. This helps generate demand. This demand is met with supply: a network of influencers, personalities, podcasters and TikTokers who both inflame their bases
and push messages into nonpolitical subcultures.... They present right-wing cultural narratives on every issue set —
and push messages into nonpolitical subcultures.... Meanwhile, the center-left’s attention and viewership is generally pointed squarely at the traditional press. Opt-in voters are more likely to trust mainstream institutions, after all. This leaves us relying on a news media industry that is neither a partisan ally
nor reaches the voters we need. Our online ecosystem can’t sustainably thrive.... It leaves Democrats unable to influence the culture that really matters today...."
Writes Rob Flaherty, in
"If You’re a Voter Reading This, This Essay Is Not About You" (NYT).
You got so much help you never learned to do for yourself. So sad!
ADDED: It's weird how the phrase "and push messages into nonpolitical subcultures" appears twice. I don't think it was intentional repetition, so I take it to mean that Flaherty is both careless in his writing and genuinely afraid of the phenomenon of messages pushed into minds. The nefarious "influencers, personalities, podcasters and TikTokers" are out there generating "narratives" — "on every issue set" — and pushing that material into vulnerable people. There's no sense that speakers have attracted listeners who will actually think and form preferences. That is, there's no sense that the "opt-out voters" are human beings worthy of democracy. They're victims who wander the dark streets of the internet and are raped by right-wing misinformation.
Posts
83 comments:
Here we go again with the whole messaging. Look pal, everyone hears your stupid message. That's the trouble it's stupid! Perhaps, just maybe, change the message. Instead of Americans are dumb and we know whats good for them. Try a little shrink government, get out of americans lives and stop pushing fringe elements on for size.
This leaves us relying on a news media industry that is neither a partisan ally nor reaches the voters we need.
You clowns still need the people the media reach. Without them you'll be down there with the LaRouchies soon enough. And to argue the news media industry is not a partisan ally is an example of why the lies you tell yourself are the ones that are most destructive.
Glenn Reynolds said it 20+ years ago, An Army of Davids.
The geniuses recommended action is Astro Turf
"Part of that is, of course, infrastructure. We need to do the work the right has done to build our own ecosystem, but it won’t scale until it’s profitable. It won’t be profitable until the audience moves there, and that audience won’t move until they’ve got somewhere to go. The campaign donors who now flow money to TV ads and an army of press secretaries need to invest in getting this started, and they will need capital to keep it going. There’s plenty of smart creators in this swimming pool already, but they need resources to create, experiment and grow.
Mr D beat me to it.
Hiveminders trust toxic-Lie MSNBC
The democrat party is the party of lies.
the border is secure!
etc..
The left rely on those who are addicted to lies and hate.
"This leaves us relying on a news media industry that is neither a partisan ally nor reaches the voters we need."
If he seriously believes the mainstream media aren't partisan allies, he's deluding himself.
This is the crowd who still believes every word they hear on 60 Minutes and wring their hands when a producer resigns.
push messages into nonpolitical subcultures
The hacks, which insisted Covid was all they needed to tell us when to go to work, how to obtain schooling, what to do at the grocery store, when you could protest, who could enter the country by any means, and attending church was too dangerous, are now saying others are pushing messages into nonpolitical areas.
If truth wins out - the left are dead. They are the party of lies.
The entire party is built on lies - in every direction.
The left focus on the next scam. The next big lie - or mini-packs of termites... for their hate-filled loyalists.
I saw an old white women driving around B-town with a giant bumper sticker mocking Musk as a "felon".
He's a felon - because he is cleaning up the left's corruption? You bet.
I'd be more inclined to give weight to an argument like this if the author did not lard it up with counterfactuals like the bolded text here:
This leaves us relying on a news media industry that is neither a partisan ally nor reaches the voters we need.
I don't believe that he really believes the paper he is writing for, the MSNBC and CNN "news" channels, PBS and NPR are really not "partisan allies" of the Left. They actively helped his last campaign! They all conspired to hide Biden's infirmity and did their best to obscure Harris's vapidity, including editing her answers to make them sound like real answers and the huge "coincidence" we discussed last week in which not even one news personality asked Harris about her trans policies.
This leaves us relying on a news media industry that is neither a partisan ally nor reaches the voters we need.
And,
a network of influencers, personalities, podcasters and TikTokers who both inflame their bases and push messages into nonpolitical subcultures....
STILL not getting it. Each of these statements has a truth and a falsehood. In the first, he's either lying or delusional when he says the traditional media isn't a Democrat ally. In the second, I think he's probably just projecting when he talks about a "network" of influencers that the American Right (as he sees it) has reached.
Yes, there is a nexus in the Venn diagram of influencers to which politicians and thought leaders on the Right have reached out - people who appear on The All-In Podcast may also appear on Rogan and Triggernometry and B. Shapiro and Megyn Kelly and Carlson and so forth. But it's not a "network." There's no right-leaning JournoList. And the libertarians don't agree with much about the social cons or the policy/econ wonks or the free-speech free-thinkers, and vice versa. They're "aligned," to the degree that they are, only in that they each have a point of view that's been suppressed and/or wildly mischaracterized by the Democrat-ally media.
So he's STILL trying to make it about the process of getting the message out rather than about the content of the message.
I should note that I commented before reading other comments! Not trying to be repetitive (but succeeding nonetheless).
The Democrat party IS COVID. The democrat party is a forced untested Jab. The Democrat Party is the Open border. The democrat party is MS-13. The democrat party IS Adam Schitt.
The Maybelline Marxist and old Crotchety millionaire Bernie are flying high on $50,000/hour private jets to scream about the "Oligarchy!".
LOL - pathetic.
Who can read that heavy phrase "push messages into nonpolitical subcultures" and not immediately think of progressives inflicting their politics on sporting events, black churches, every goddamned awards show for the arts, the allegedly non-partisan WHCD, the boy scouts and girl scouts, sororities, the ONE baker in CO unwilling to do gay shit...
It's an infinite list.
"inflame their bases"
Yes, any alternative to the slow motion fire sale of our good jobs to globalist capitalists seeking out the coolie-est coolie wages overseas is an infection.
I love the part about how the mainstream press isn't partisan on the side of the democrats. It's like saying that Johny Most wasn't a partisan for the Boston Celtics. "Look what they are doing to Bird!" and every time a Celtic hit a foul shot, his call was "and justice prevails."
Once again democrats blame their problems on the messaging means and not on the message. Their message sucks but they can’t or refuse to see that. Also, note how republicans are right-wing but they are center-left. Bullshit! The left is far left and the right is now more center-right - thats why Musk, Rogan, and others support republicans now.
If only there were a way for the Democrats to get control of social media and declare everything they dislike "misinformation" and have it banned and freeze your bank accounts if you repeat the "misinformation."
That or find their own "Joe Rogan."
It's all project with them. Talk about pushing your message into non-political subcultures, they got Rosanne fired from her own TV show for political WrongThink.
The only message the Dems have today is to hate and oppose Trump. That's it. Losing message.
"They're victims who wander the dark streets of the internet and are raped by right-wing misinformation."
Ha. Thanks for the laugh.
Tl;dr: "Fish denies that wetness exists."
I came to say what’s above. They have no interest in changing the polices. They started the long game to domination and a less dominant USA during the Obama administration and fortunately enough voters caught on and it slipped away from the destructors. Minor setback, they proclaim. Get the message out next time and we’ll be back on track!
I have been saying it to anybody who will listen. You know these people whose jobs you callously ship overseas and then condemn them to retail, fast food, or gig work? They don't just disappear the way their jobs did, they still get to vote. They are not all that worried about the profitability of your investment portfolio either, if that profit comes from shipping their livelihoods overseas.
Many astute observations among today's commentariat. Nice to see that the readers of this blog see through the smoke and mirrors of the left. Also comforting to know that the left is incapable of diagnosing its problems, let alone correcting them. Of course, if they were so capable, they would be forced to become republicans and vote for Trump, so the chances of that happening are nil.
He is talking about the cult of personality. The opt-out people and nonpolitical subcultures are to him, mindless idiots who will vote for whoever the popular cool kids tell them to. Obama is no longer cool. The democrats need to find the new cool kids to tell the mindless idiots to vote for them, then they will win.
Culture has become a means to an end for these people. It's high school politics all the time now.
Again, we get the same dishonest coded language from the Democrats, plus the usual big heaping of Gaslighting.
Assumption 1 - The D"s only problem is their messaging.. Their policies shouldn't be changed.
Assumption 2 - No one can disagree with their policies unless they are evil or stupid. Or weakminded boobs controlled by "Misinformation".
Gaslight - There's a massive rightwing propaganda machine pumping out "Misinformation" and "Propaganda". The small band of brave objective truth tellers just can't stand up to this tidal wave of rightwing lies.
The exact opposite of the truth. The MSM is pumpiing out Leftwing Propaganda and lies to support the D's 24/7/365. The only way people can get an alternate point of view is to go to twitter, blogs, JRE, etc. Even Fox News is mostly Liberal/left establishment when it comes to news.
The one constant of the Democrat Party in my lifetime has been its reliance on Critical Theory (Marxism and "the personal is political") to organize themselves and enforce message discipline while pretending all their allies are actually against them. That fundamentally dishonest structure is what allows them to accuse Republicans of doing or wanting to do what they have already done or are doing secretly.
That's how we get absurdities like "Musk just wants DOGE to enrich his companies." We all know that statement means that DOGE is preventing the Democrats from continuing their scam abuse of NGOs and USAID etc. When this weenie author talks about the nefarious conservative ecosystem he's actually describing his side, how they want to push their message and influence into every corner of our lives.
"Once again democrats blame their problems on the messaging means and not on the message. Their message sucks but they can’t or refuse to see that."
That reminds me of a British female comedian from decades past who parodied the upper class tourists who believed if they spoke very slowly and clearly, anyone on Earth should be able to understand what they were saying. The Democrats have been sending their message and people are hearing them loud and clear. Tens of millions of people rejected the Democrats' message and the Democrats can't understand why. How many times does it take calling all white people racist before they reject you? How many times does it take calling normal male behavior "toxic masculinity" before they reject you? How many times does it take for killing millions of US jobs through government actions and offshoring before labor rejects you?
That or find their own "Joe Rogan."
This has quickly become a classic of the prog genre. "Why oh why don't WE have a Joe Rogan?" Makes me LOL every time!
In the cult of personality the message is irrelevant. The messengers are all that matters. Rogan is cool and people only voted for Trump because Rogan told them to. Solution, find a left wing Joe Rogan!
All that pushing is so rude. Only jerks push. I thought the action was pulling, as in Rogan and others offered a viewpoint and style that attracted their viewers who voluntarily choose that content. But if it's in the NYT then I guess I was wrong.
From today's MAGA Team Meeting: Good morning everyone, how can we inflame our base today?
Barry Sanders: “ All that pushing is so rude. Only jerks push. ”
So you’re saying god damn, god damn, the pusher?
JSM
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. I hope democrats waste time and money looking for their Joe Rogan.
Re the claim that the right is politicizing the non political. Is there any part of the NYT that is not under political supervision? Maybe Wordle? Maybe a Wordle enthusiast knows the answer.
So much for the claim at WHCD that they were "misled" about Joe's decline. Hell, Ray Charles could see through that B.S.!
In D.C, descend to 200, turn left is too difficult to obey?
In Colorado, active military "security" for underground gang nightclub will NOT go unpunished. See Below.
https://x.com/billysandytodd/status/1916670470557929581
Give a man a paper to wrap fish....
Anyone who rolled their eyes at the previous post about influencers is in Flaherty's camp. Luckily, Trump understands where the zest is. Vance does, too.
The Democratic message is one of hatred. That's a hard sell.
The Democrat party/Democrat media industrial complex is so corrupt - they tell their hive-mind loyalists to commit acts of violence, intimidation, harassment and vandalism against Tesla owners, and Tesla dealerships.
That IS the Democratic Party.
The democrat party exists solely to promote and protect the interests of an exclusive governing class that's generally comprised of college-educated white urbanites who, by virtue of their leftwing credentials and sentiments, are deemed entitled to easy, well-paying careers in government, media, academia, and the nonprofit world. The people they're "failing to reach" (but whom Trump is doing well in winning over) consist of those who are basically shut out of the club, people who are expected to scratch out a living as at-will employees in the private sector, growing food, building houses, selling insurance, etc. This model is only sustainable for the dems to the extent they can maintain the illusion that they're doing a solid job of running the country. However, people are realizing in ever-greater numbers that schools are failing, "experts" are often disastrously wrong, journalists are often lazy and dishonest, housing costs and crime rates are both way too high, and the only groups that seem to benefit from dem governance are members of the dem governing class itself and illegal aliens. Clearly, the problem here isn't dem messaging, it's the fact that the party is really more like a criminal gang or an entrenched oligarchy than an organization that legitimately seeks to represent the interests of wide swaths of the country's population.
"This leaves us relying on a news media industry that is neither a partisan ally nor reaches the voters we need" Well half correct. The media is partisan and their ally. Pure BS
It's weird how the phrase "and push messages into nonpolitical subcultures" appears twice. I don't think it was intentional repetition
When I read it the first time, I saw it as the entire intention of the article, and it harkens back to the desire to control speech. The message is too clear and tightly worded to be careless. Have you heard anyone else write or speak with this phrase? Google found only the article and this thread. If you isolate and search only on "nonpolitical subculture", you get a few more hits. It seems clear that the rare usage of this term is by people who claim certain areas are "nonpolitical" yet seem to want to make them political.
"They're victims who wander the dark streets of the internet and are raped by right-wing misinformation." Truth.
Tribalism and territorialism. Democrats have politicized a lot of different groups, making the personal the political. If you aren't in one of those groups, they expect you to remain unpolitical, unconcerned and uninvolved. So, "Call Her Daddy" can get involved in politics. Benny Drama can get involved in politics. Joe Rogan can't -- not if he makes Republicans look good.
The reality is that there is much parallelism in what the two sides of the political spectrum have achieved in the media world. It's true that the Old Media supports the Democrats, but conservatives have been able to get around that by building their own media. Progressives haven't been lapse in developing their own competing sources in the New Media, though. Republicans have also been able to make inroads among influencers (the New New Media) in the last 5 years. That's because Biden failed so miserably. His influencers lost credibility, and Democrats lost the ability to recruit new ones.
Raped and impregnated... and denied an abortion....
"Opt-in voters are more likely to trust mainstream institutions, after all."
there's a typo in the above sentence.
SHEEP is spelled SHEEP, not "Opt-in voters"
Sure, jim. Then how come it's the Democrats who keep screaming like Ned Beatty in Deliverance?
You know, jim, you guys are always calling anything promoted by the "right wing" so called, but are always short of examples when called upon. Why is that?
Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean . . .
Opt-in voters did not notice that mainstream media lost their credibility by misrepresenting Hunter's laptop, Covid or Biden's mental acuity.
The Right didn't create a information machine. People who chose to opt-out of mainstream media, looked to other sources. Joe Rogan, Megyn Kelly, Dave Rubin and a bunch of other people aren't The Right, they are just thinking for themselves.
It's not the Right's fault that, "I'm against everything Trump is for", isn't a persuasive party platform.
Via Data Republican:
(MSM(D)/Soviet press - to dutifully ignore)
"Hunter Biden: The Burisma-💰➡️USAID Pipeline!
Thanks to @MarcoPolo501c3
for the help with emails.
On July 9, 2014, an email to Hunter Biden floated the idea of Burisma becoming a "partner" with USAID.
By October 25, just over three months later, Burisma had secured a role in the USAID Municipal Energy Reform Project in Ukraine. Hunter received a thank-you in an email.
USAID would ultimately allocate $16.5 million to this project.
Hunter Biden was deeply involved with USAID. He is also seen in other emails making connections with USAID appointees and even being asked for advice on appointees and resumes."
The political analysts think the Right's opinions were created by political groups and their recent messages. For most of us, we've had these opinions about our institutions for years if not decades, with many of them going back to classic liberalism which had some of the same distrust. It's been a message in years of reports, results, movies, books, media and our own experience, so when the new government comes in and verifies our suspicions, it does not take much to accept it.
The left do have abortion. Their most important issue. Even when abortion is placed in the Colorado Constitution - allowing abortion on demand up until the time of birth... the left are upset and clueless about it. You know - all the rape going on, and no recourse.
jim said...
"They're victims who wander the dark streets of the internet and are raped by right-wing misinformation." Truth.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This sorta reminds me of the old Bob Wills lyric ...
That's my gal
She's the one who did it
She began to like it
She just couldn't quit it
The notion that the "center left" does not push into non-political realms but that the "right wing" does? Projection on an IMAX scale.
NYT's got the sads because we don't understand the moral necessity to lie.
Larry J said...
"This leaves us relying on a news media industry that is neither a partisan ally nor reaches the voters we need."
If he seriously believes the mainstream media aren't partisan allies, he's deluding himself.
I've often wondered if these people actually believe what they're saying or they're just saying it to appease their witless followers. I keep going back and forth.
This guy is still living in "they aren't hearing our awesome message" era.
It's now an article of faith that Musk found billions of fraud in social security, including payments to 120 year olds.
Sitting around waiting for my neighbors to quit their mc-jobs and go back to work digging clean-burning anthracite.
How many of you dumped money into trump meme coins?
I think that the author may see some of the problem they face, but is too close to it to understand it. Times are a changing, and they don’t see it. They are used to certain media outlets, probably most notably, the NYT, and everyone below them taking that as the only news fit to print, and printing. Very top down. And thus, probably more fascist than Marxist, but leftist, never the less.
Older generations have been consuming news this way for most of their adult lives. When I talked to a good centenarian friend of mine, lifetime Republican, right after the 2020 election, and when she asked about what I thought of it, and I responded that there had apparently been massive, very visible, election fraud, she called it “crazy talk”. After most of 80 years of her getting her news one way, she wasn’t about to change. The NYT (or, in her case, the Chicago Tribune) said it didn’t happen, so, in her mind, it didn’t. And there is one comment or at Reason/Volokh who routinely calls me a liar, and thinks I should be disbarred. He confidently states that things didn’t happen, because his NYT centric world view refused to report them.
But younger, as well as less elitist, news consumers find the NYT led worldview stifling. And the younger they are, the less that they believe it. And by the time the election occurred last year, a lot of the cool kids had come out and very visibly and publicly rejected a top down version of the news. And, it is unlikely that if they reject it at 25, they will accept it at 45.
Remember the Joe Rogan interview, that may have been what broke the election open. Trump went on Rogan, and stayed on message, throughout their long podcast. What Dem politician could have done that? Harris didn’t go on, very likely because they knew that she couldn’t last 5 minutes unscripted, and definitely not over an hour. Vance could do it, but not her VP.
I can remember when we were told not to trust anyone over 30. Then we were over 30, then over 60, and are told to believe the sexagenarians, septuagenarians, and even octogenarians, on the Dem side. The younger, and the less elitist, demographics just laugh at them. The NYT, etc, are just too slow and stodgy. We all know pretty much what they are going to say before they say it, and it’s almost always a news cycle or two behind alternative media. Or at least behind Trump and cohorts.
No wonder they are panicking - their reader/viewership is (literally) dying off, and they can’t see a viable way of remaking themselves, probably because they are trying to adopt techniques that work in a bottom up, organic, information world, while maintaining their top down control.
"There's no sense that speakers have attracted listeners who will actually think and form preferences."
On places like Reddit, leftists participating in discussions about shows like MASH and All in the Family still can't handle the concept that the shows' clear portrayal leftist ideals may have been one of the causes of the rightward turn the country soon took.
"center-left?" Does he really think he's kidding anybody or is he so stupid that he believes that crap? Rhetorical question - we all know the answer.
Here's another one, Marty: "This leaves us relying on a news media industry that is neither a partisan ally…"
Incredible.
i know right
There’s something going on here, but you don’t know what it is — do you, Mr. Flaherty?
It's now an article of faith that Musk found billions of fraud in social security, including payments to 120 year olds.
The payments to those 120+ year old recipients have in fact been halted, saving the Treasury something like 50 billion a year. We will soon find out if they were going to real people or not.
No doubt if there are thousands of previously unknown supercentenarians who were collecting a Social Security check but are now cut off, we can count on a parade of them being thrust in our faces by the news media and the Democrats (if I may be redundant.) If they do not appear, we'll know for sure that Musk was right and we were being swindled.
Progressive Democrats have an implacable urge to see themselves as emancipators, yet they prefer to lead by brute dominance, by hook or by crook, thinking of themselves as inspirational. But for those they would dominate, those are perennial 'victims'.
When they are telling you what they think of the masses, you are seeing their beliefs, however bizarre and misguided they appear.
The major issues of today are complicated. I try to refrain from reaching conclusions based on the all the shouting people. I don't listen to or read most journalists as they typically don't have much subject matter expertise. And they tend to push narratives above all else.
I'm old but I recently discovered podcasts. What a wonderful thing they are! All kinds of subject matter and long, interesting discussions with people who aren't journalists, but are in most cases, subject matter experts. They make me think, which is what I'm looking for, so I can make informed decisions for myself.
I've tried to get my more liberal Trump hating friends to explore the world of podcasts and challenge themselves to explore different points of view. But wow, it's like pulling teeth!. They are so trapped in their hatred of Donald Trump that they just simply refuse to take a peek. It's sad really. I hope that I never get so caught-up in a political dogma that I lose the ability to think for myself.
"I don't think it was intentional repetition, so I take it to mean that Flaherty is both careless in his writing and genuinely afraid of the phenomenon of messages pushed into minds."
He's only afraid of it when dissenting messages are promoted.
"The nefarious "influencers, personalities, podcasters and TikTokers" are out there generating "narratives" — "on every issue set" — and pushing that material into vulnerable people."
That's what Hollywood and the MSM have been doing. How deplorable that anyone else should use the same tactic.
"There's no sense that speakers have attracted listeners who will actually think and form preferences. That is, there's no sense that the "opt-out voters" are human beings worthy of democracy. They're victims who wander the dark streets of the internet and are raped by right-wing misinformation."
This echoes the disrespect that Ben Rhodes communicated when he was quoted in the New York Times Magazine deriding the D.C. press corps and boasting of how he created an “echo chamber” to market the administration’s foreign policy.
Last of all, Flaherty's claim to represent the"center-left' is a lie. The Democratic Party, and Hollywood, and the MSM,have all been co-opted by radical leftists. He doesn't dare admit to that.
It's pretty funny to write an entire op-ed about how bad you were at your job.
"on every issue rset"
But I want to know more about the set of all issue sets that are not members of themselves.
“Raped and impregnated... and denied an abortion....“
And forced to bear handmaiden babies that are deported by Trump because scotus cancelled birthright citizenship and their raped mothers were undocumented and had to go back to El Salvador where their mothers had to produce the best Hispanic food in town or they would be preyed upon by a gang that was a rival to the gang that was going to take retribution on the rapist father who was a good man. Except the judge refused to let him out the side door when ice came cold.
and push messages into nonpolitical subcultures
Yep. I no longer watch professional sports because it was those evil rightwingers who were pushing political messages before, during and after the games.
You got me.
Progressive Democrats have an implacable urge to see themselves as emancipators, yet they prefer to lead by brute dominance, by hook or by crook
It's always risky to refer to Jordan Peterson - it's like an off switch for the brains of some. But I think what he has to say about commonalities among authoritarian types is relevant here: they always use fear and coercion to accomplish their goals.
Now, it seems that the American, and indeed the global, Left believe that they're not authoritarian because the fear they try to engender is not thanks to their own secret police but instead is aimed at the other side, and the coercion they attempt is for the poor benighted People's good. I actually think most of them do believe this (undoubtedly there are some psychopaths in leadership who know exactly what they're doing and why, but it seems likely to me that most on the Left truly believe they are not authoritarian).
In what ways is the Right trying to use fear and coercion? I'm not crazy about Trump's emphasis on crimes committed by illegal aliens, although I do understand that these are crimes that we as a country had a choice about allowing, versus those committed by citizens. And I further agree that with as many people as are in the country illegally, we have to prioritize. But it's still a use of fear to further a policy goal, and I wish it could be done - talked about, that is, not prioritized; I'm totally on board with the priorities - another way.
Is the Right using fear of American national insolvency as a means to further the goal of reorganizing our trade relationships? Or is it a defense that anyone can do the math on it and reach the same conclusion? MMT has been shown to be a pipe dream, surely*, and without it as a workable paradigm, the path we were on leads inexorably to our country going broke.
* Hey, I guess there are some who still believe in the Keynesian multiplier.
Anyway. Overall, since it appears that most Americans are not motivated to deport illegal aliens primarily by fear of the illegal aliens, but rather by economic concerns, if the Right is actually using an authoritarian technique there, it's not working on us. And I do think that truth is a defense in terms of economic policy. So I'm going to say the Left takes the biscuit for authoritarianism.
I have friends with serious cases of Trump Derangement Syndrome. The Bad Orange Man can't breathe without being accused of treason, stupidity or general malevolence. Then, since I live in Los Angeles and practiced law in the city, I have other friends--not quite TDS types but who sincerely believe in all the progressive mantras. I had lunch with one such fellow retired lawyer today.
The Dims may have a point on messaging. People do hold their political beliefs with absolute sincerity. It doesn't matter how they got those beliefs--whether it be the New York Times for progressive types or from MAGA people, or from Q Anon and the Proud Boys--or Anti Fa types. They all believe what they believe and in their respective hearts they know it's right (whatever it is for the individual).
The Dims and the Wokesters had some good innings. But now a significant part of the US populace is coughing up that political hairball. It's painful and the Dims are flailing as a result.
" push messages into nonpolitical subcultures"
An example, modern video games replace male and female in character creation with "Body Type A" and "Body Type B". .
But I doubt the author was worried about this example.
This article drips with disdain and condescension for anyone to the right of Karl Marx. Notice that conservatives are always "right-wing" or "right-wing partisans" and everyone else is center-left or progressive. I will consider what these hacks have to say when they can write an article without insulting those they disagree with.
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