OOTS
David RobertsI know I've said this a trillion times but I have to say it periodically to keep from going insane:
The right ran a huge, well-funded, & ultimately successful campaign to completely take over political media & the infosphere more generally. This is by far the most important political development...
... of that last half-century, upstream of virtually any other problem that you can identify, and yet in mainsteam political discourse we *never talk about it*. It's the biggest, most salient political fact of all, just sitting there, looming, and no one fucking speaks it aloud.
Every day, I talk to earnest liberals who describe to me, in great detail, problems that have resulted from this ... but they won't name the cause! "Turns out, all the sudden the public is obsessed with trans girls trying to play sports." Oh? Any thoughts about why? Any at all? No? No thoughts?
"The public has lost trust in government and come to think that everyone involved is corrupt."
Oh? Interesting. I guess they just concluded that through their own comparative study of gov't efficacy? Or was it something else? Thoughts? Anyone?
This problem -- the RW takeover of media -- is like fucking Voldemort or something. He Who Cannot Be Named. People seem to think they'll burst into flame if they discuss it. It's baffling. I've accepted that I'm going to live & die without ever understanding why this is.
Jeff Miller (orange hatband)@volts.wtf "Rupert Murdoch" as Hastur the Unspeakable.
Thomas Beagle@jmeowmeow @volts.wtf Rupert Murdoch is a super-villain. Pass it on.
Minotaurs at Work@volts.wtf Because it sounds like a conspiracy theory, even if it's a provably correct one. It's also pretty hopeless, those who hoard the most wealth are not going to advocate for its redistribution (the foundational belief of the left wing), are they? It's difficult not to fester in the conclusion that, in a capitalist system where wealth defines success and reach, the right wing will always win. Without the Eastern Block, they're not even afraid of a Workers' Revolution anymore!
@volts.wtf Every accessory issue, whether it's trans people or pizzerias, is simply a way to get the working class to fight something that isn't the owning class. Ford did this in the 20th Century by promoting antisemitism amongst its workers so that distrust and infighting would trump any unionisation effort. Minorities as sacrificial lambs for the protection of the malignant owners of the world. But once you start delving, it's so difficult to have any hope, so I usually avoid it.
Chris@volts.wtf i mean... the reason nobody talks about is because the RW media are also extremely aggressive and happily destroy any critics, and also then won't report on it!
Cass M 🇨🇦 
@volts.wtf I think there are 2 elements. One is RW is heavily linked with religion in the US so if anything is said the accusation of being anti Christian rears it's head. The other is liberals can agree on some aspects in a mild form because nothing is perfect.
FoolishOwl@volts.wtf There's the takeover from above, with the consolidation of media empires, Rupert Murdoch, etc.
And then there were the networks of fascist activists who disrupt any forum that isn't aggressively moderated.
We knew, in the "blogosphere" era, that Newt Gingrich's wing of the Republicans, Frontpage Magazine, among others, were actively coordinating attacks on liberal and left bloggers. They had newsletters where they discussed talking points which they'd spam widely.
WesDym@volts.wtf I think people are afraid of sounding like conspiracy nuts, and I can understand that.
Everyone should watch the first episode of 'Century of the Self', to understand the science behind modern political propaganda.
Then read three works by David Brock: Confessions of a Right-Wing Hit Man (Esquire mag), Blinded by the Right, and The Republican Noise Machine, which detail the GOP media operation since Nixon's time.
Brendan JonesMight I suggest different framing? The rich took over media. The very rich are generally right wing, yes, because being very rich requires a lack of empathy. But it’s not like a bunch of poor right wingers got together to take over media.
The rich took over media to push for (de)regulation to further increase their wealth and entrench their power, both economic and political.
And I place the blame squarely at the foot of capitalism, especially our current brand that allows for massive and increasing inequality of wealth.
A familiar story, but I think two facts complicate it. One, this notion that rich people are ruthless self-interest maximizers, & only reference ideology instrumentally, as a way of getting what they want, is nonsense. These dudes are in the same epistemic bubbles as the base!
And two, may rich people are left wing. There are lots of wealthy donors to the Dem Party and surveys tend to find that they are *farther* left than Dem normies, not the reverse.
Daanlo@volts.wtf thank you for writing this. I fully agree (and am also going insane about it).
We (the non right wing) failed to see that this is an orchestrated attack and hence failed to act on this.
We (the non right wing) failed to see that this is an orchestrated attack and hence failed to act on this.
Paco Hope@volts.wtf I agree. And I would add that I think there’s left-leaning wealth that is sitting on the sidelines because there’s no one to give it to. If you are very liberal, the democrats look like republican-lite: all the capitalism, half the bias. It feels wrong to reward them for doing the wrong things, just slightly less harmfully.
Lsamuelson57@volts.wtf
Lewis Powell: "Letter to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce", 1971. Originally intended to be secret, it eventually came out.
He proposed buying and controlling media, attacking higher education as well as other processes intended to push public opinion rightward.
Powell went on to be a Supreme Court justice.
Robert Bork in the1980's defanged antitrust enforcement, encouraging the merger and acquisition spree that continues today.
All intended to limit power of citizens.
CynBlogger™️Resists Tyranny!@volts.wtf
Well, along with the corruption of SCOTUS, the Citizens United debacle, Project 2025, giving Trump immunity, and the complete inundation of funds/influence from the Billionaire Boyz!
Well, along with the corruption of SCOTUS, the Citizens United debacle, Project 2025, giving Trump immunity, and the complete inundation of funds/influence from the Billionaire Boyz!