I cannot begin to describe the anger I felt watching this interview. In the world of journalism, integrity is severely lacking. Matt is a shinning exception. I trust his reporting completely. His central argument concerning the files holds true and absolutely WILL stand the test of time. Matt and his colleagues have exposed a deeply disturbing system by which the US government and several quasi-governmental agencies are leaning on Twitter and likely other social media platforms to censor speech and/or propagandize online discourse. Medhi Hasan should recognize this or cease calling himself a journalist, full stop. That being said, I will nitpick. I wish Matt had done a better job redirecting the debate to the aforementioned core issue. Also, it is reasonable, on the margins of the debate, to question Elon Musk’s motives. Again, this is NOT at the heart of the reporting. In addition, I wish Matt had weighed in on the censorship of Modi critics on Twitter as well. I suspect he would find this odious in agreement with Hasan. It is indeed odd that Matt hadn’t prepared for this line of questioning. Lastly, Matt, if you’re reading this, this community loves you, believes in you and desperately, DESPERATELY needs your reporting.
I trust Matt as a journalist but I am not Matt and I know Russian history and Russia's autocrats and the Russian Empire. I know America has no sense of history and know that America rejected liberal democracy after vigorous debate and decided on a constitutional republic.
Let us start with the Doh Re Me and Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language.
Samuel Johnson was the English CONSERVATIVE philosopher and gave you the words of the founding documents. He was a theocrat because theocracy was the British Empire under The Toleration ACT of 1689 which made the Empire democratic and placed limits on the power of the non Church of England Religions. The Quebec Act of 1774 gave Roman Catholics equal rights. That was the principle reason for the demand for full sovereignty.
The American revolution was revolutionary because it was liberal and said the old order could be overthrown.
Matt is wrong about the metaphysics of the the Russian attempt at Empire and America has no idea of what is to come. The liberal democracies do not desire American, Chinese or Russian hegemony they want is sovereignty. For many of us China, America nor Russia are desirable. For me this is 1776 not a clash of civilizations. That is why we fly the maize and blue. We want to chart our own course.
May I be permitted to respect both Matt Taibbi and Mehdi Hassan.
Perception informs reality.
I am a Jew and Christendom has always used our blood in its temple sacrifices whether it be Orthodox or Catholic or Protestant. Can I take exception to Crusaders as a team name because for Jews it has always been an excuse for a slaughter.
And Jesus continues his weeping.
I see little difference between the Russian Orthodox Right and the American Christianist Right but I do see Ukraine as an ancestral homeland from before Philip of Macedonia and Alexander the Great.
Why as a paid subscriber does clicking--from the app--join tje conversation to what looks like a paywall that prohibits my viewing or participating? What am I paying for, Substack?!
I described Mehdi Hasan as an "Attack-Chihuahua-on-crystal-meth" in my Substack piece yesterday, which characterization I believe is accurate; I only regret that the title of the piece wasn't "Mehdi Hasan is a Twit." The "Blue-Anons" are a cult, so a carnival barker/preacher like Hasan will always play to their prejudice, bias. I think Matt did a more than credible job given the hostile format. I should say that at the beginning of the Twitter Files, I was a bit suspicious of Musk's motives, that he was trying to frame Taibbi in such-and-such a way, which seems to be what has happened. Folks like Musk like to have their cake and eat it, too.
I cannot begin to describe the anger I felt watching this interview. In the world of journalism, integrity is severely lacking. Matt is a shinning exception. I trust his reporting completely. His central argument concerning the files holds true and absolutely WILL stand the test of time. Matt and his colleagues have exposed a deeply disturbing system by which the US government and several quasi-governmental agencies are leaning on Twitter and likely other social media platforms to censor speech and/or propagandize online discourse. Medhi Hasan should recognize this or cease calling himself a journalist, full stop. That being said, I will nitpick. I wish Matt had done a better job redirecting the debate to the aforementioned core issue. Also, it is reasonable, on the margins of the debate, to question Elon Musk’s motives. Again, this is NOT at the heart of the reporting. In addition, I wish Matt had weighed in on the censorship of Modi critics on Twitter as well. I suspect he would find this odious in agreement with Hasan. It is indeed odd that Matt hadn’t prepared for this line of questioning. Lastly, Matt, if you’re reading this, this community loves you, believes in you and desperately, DESPERATELY needs your reporting.
I trust Matt as a journalist but I am not Matt and I know Russian history and Russia's autocrats and the Russian Empire. I know America has no sense of history and know that America rejected liberal democracy after vigorous debate and decided on a constitutional republic.
Let us start with the Doh Re Me and Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language.
https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=liberal
https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=conservative
https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=democracy
https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=Theocracy
Samuel Johnson was the English CONSERVATIVE philosopher and gave you the words of the founding documents. He was a theocrat because theocracy was the British Empire under The Toleration ACT of 1689 which made the Empire democratic and placed limits on the power of the non Church of England Religions. The Quebec Act of 1774 gave Roman Catholics equal rights. That was the principle reason for the demand for full sovereignty.
https://mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1034/quebec-act-of-1774
The American revolution was revolutionary because it was liberal and said the old order could be overthrown.
Matt is wrong about the metaphysics of the the Russian attempt at Empire and America has no idea of what is to come. The liberal democracies do not desire American, Chinese or Russian hegemony they want is sovereignty. For many of us China, America nor Russia are desirable. For me this is 1776 not a clash of civilizations. That is why we fly the maize and blue. We want to chart our own course.
May I be permitted to respect both Matt Taibbi and Mehdi Hassan.
Perception informs reality.
I am a Jew and Christendom has always used our blood in its temple sacrifices whether it be Orthodox or Catholic or Protestant. Can I take exception to Crusaders as a team name because for Jews it has always been an excuse for a slaughter.
And Jesus continues his weeping.
I see little difference between the Russian Orthodox Right and the American Christianist Right but I do see Ukraine as an ancestral homeland from before Philip of Macedonia and Alexander the Great.
Was Jesus an anti-Semite?
Why as a paid subscriber does clicking--from the app--join tje conversation to what looks like a paywall that prohibits my viewing or participating? What am I paying for, Substack?!
I described Mehdi Hasan as an "Attack-Chihuahua-on-crystal-meth" in my Substack piece yesterday, which characterization I believe is accurate; I only regret that the title of the piece wasn't "Mehdi Hasan is a Twit." The "Blue-Anons" are a cult, so a carnival barker/preacher like Hasan will always play to their prejudice, bias. I think Matt did a more than credible job given the hostile format. I should say that at the beginning of the Twitter Files, I was a bit suspicious of Musk's motives, that he was trying to frame Taibbi in such-and-such a way, which seems to be what has happened. Folks like Musk like to have their cake and eat it, too.