democracy, die in darkness.
this post was submitted on 06 Jan 2025
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Initially, when Bezos bought it, reports out of WaPo were Bezos was only interested in digitization and such. Now, this election, he full bore wants Democracy to die in darkness.
For the younger crowd, WaPo wasn’t just an old newspaper, it famously broke the Watergate news that led to President Nixon’s resignation.
So Bezos killing this particular newspaper, especially on the eve of Authoritarianism, is more significant than with any of the other old school newspapers of our country.
I suppose in some ways it’s good in that it’s an open demonstration of how Presidents Musk & Trump are going to control the news that reaches our eyes going forward.
Jokes on them though. I get my news from a skeezy cast of streamers and podcasters most definitely bankrolled by the Kremlin.
Well of course but they’re jacked right?
And just try telling me you haven't 100x'd your supplement game thanks to SkeezeCast.
Which is exactly how Trump ala Musk got elected. Now WaPo will be the same kind of news source as those
Old enough to remember when it was exciting to read WaPo because it was just a notably higher level of journalism than most other papers. It became a side hustle for bezos and now a mouthpiece for agendas. Crappy rag.
Presidents Musk & Trump
This is really insulting to the real President: Musk.
This is an excellent summary of something I've failed to explain to younger folks. Thank you.
I used to like the journalism here, but I think I'm fine supporting this post. Any recommendations where to get good and truly honest journalism these days?
I suppose in some ways it’s good in that it’s an open demonstration of how Presidents Musk & Trump are going to control the news that reaches our eyes going forward.
People will forget though...just like they forget about everything else and leave it out of their thoughts about anything moving forward (e.g. Citizen's United, the 1/6/21 coup attempt, etc.).
According to conservatives it was no coup. I wish I was joking.
In some cases it’s not forgetting, it’s never encoding the information to memory on the day it happens.
History is written by the winners...who are chosen by the press.
I cancelled my Prime subscription today, after 15 years. Just don't want to contribute to that man anymore. Fuckin sociopaths ruining the world.
Thanks for the reminder to cancel, I was barely using it anymore anyway. Eat shit, Bezos.
I've been boycotting Amazon for over a decade on account of their shameless tax avoidance and evasion, the way they treat workers and even suppliers and the abuse of dark patterns on their website.
For those paying attention it's been painfully for more than a decade that Bezos is a total sociopath with not a shred of Ethics or Morals.
This now is really just the emerging to visibility of another totally predicable natural reflection of that man's sick sociopathic views when it comes to other human beings and entrenching of his top-parasite position in this society.
Billionaires taking over one private major news outlet or social media platform at a time. Scary developments.
You think this is a recent phenomenon...?
First time it's happening so frequently that I'm aware of. 🤷♂️ I'm under 40, don't live in America. I don't blame myself for not knowing. Seems like I should be ashamed for not knowing though, or?
Throughout history wealthy people have always owned all media outlets and used them as their own private propaganda outlets.
I suppose you might believe in the "free" press or the "independent" media. Well those are just concepts and not reality.
I would suggest watching Good Night, and Good Luck to start to see modern journalism for what it is.
I suppose you might believe in the "free" press or the "independent" media. Well those are just concepts and not reality.
🤷♂️ I don't know what I believe in regarding those concepts. In Sweden we have something called the "Public Service", which is tax funded media which is supposed to be independent from anything. I trust it. It definitely does a lot of criticism against the government when warranted, in the news and comedy programs and wherever.
But I'll keep those movies(?) in mind and maybe watch them some time. Sounds educational!
Either way, it doesn't sound great that power hungry billionaires are right now buying up news sources and social media platforms. I don't care whether it's happened before or not, I care that it's happening right now. 👍
The US spends the least out of just about every country for public media.
I think your disinterest in the history of media ownership will probably prevent you from understanding what is happening now. Trying to understand what is happening without context of the past is not a good strategy.
They didn't realize Bezos thinks "Democracy Dies In Darkness" is a GOAL.
You don't become a billionaire without being a psychopath
You can inherit it from a psychopath.
There's a good chance you'll inherit the pathology as well
I'd trade my chronic anxiety for psychopathy, tbh
For Bezos it's a speedrun
Sure, it's shitty. But it's been owned by the rich for the purposes of manipulating public opinion on the owner's whim for a long time.
Katherine Graham and her family owned it previously. Good buddies with the likes of Kissenger and the Reagans, exposed Watergate, but also said "We live in a dirty and dangerous world. There are some things the general public does not need to know, and shouldn't. I believe democracy flourishes when the government can take legitimate steps to keep its secrets and when the press can decide whether to print what it knows." to a room full of CIA spooks.
All the other major media outlets are the same, some wizard pulling the strings from behind a curtain showing you things they want you to see and suppressing the things they don't.
And corporate social media has gone the same way. Reddit, Facebook, Twitter... All pulled and prodded by algorithms to make sure you only see the truth they want you to.
The only difference between this and 1984 is that it's mostly corporations rather than the government. There's no truly independent and unbiased news to be had.
Oligarchy.
In all fairness, newspapers as Personal Propaganda Outlets for the very rich isn't something new and has a long tradition.
What's was new (but clearly we're beyond that by now) was the effort at many levels in the mid/later XX century and early XXIs one to pass them as genuine independent newspapers with actual journalistic integrity.
If it's owned or controlled by a single individual, a small number of individuals or a group of individuals all from the same social background (The Guardian being a good example of the latter, being entirelly controlled by a small section of the English upper middle class and upper class), its going to pretty much just be a disguised loudspeaker for their voice, "making opinions" to support that which furthers their interests.
I stared at this way too long trying to figure out why it said "whatever you say, Mr Beast"
Serious question: Why do people constantly post comments like this?
Serious answer: Elaborate and I'll tell you where my head was at