The expansive truth that Taibbi preaches will fall on the deaf ears of those in the pews who need to hear, and fall on the eyes of those who cannot see, but thank god he is in the pulpit preaching a gospel inspirationally rooted in those ancient prophets who called the powerful to account for their crimes. Amen, brother Taibbi. Continue the good work of honest journalism.
Thanks for doing this as a podcast. I had this article queued up for reading, and then it popped up on my podcast feed. It's great to have multiple ways to consume this.
I’ve been preaching “Turn it off for real” for since the mid 90’s, largely because I had the very special privilege of being trained in McLuhan and media analysis in my suburban high school.
I’m glad to see that meme spreading, but I’m not certain the best arguments are being presented.
The lies, deceit and religiosity of televised news media are superficial and obvious, so pointing at it and shouting, “Bad!” isn’t difficult to do. What is much harder to understand is the manipulation buried at the core of the medium. Television is fundamentally emotionally manipulative. The use of a camera, for instance, is a forced perspective and when permanently trained in the faces of news readers presents direct appeals to emotion in a manner so real as to be transparent; we forget we’re watching and believe we’re in dialog.
In addition to forced perspective, we’re also manipulated by edits, color and saturation, perspective (ie lens distance and focal length), mise en scene ((ie structure of the set and costume, etc), audio, presentation time, advertising and editorial context and likely a dozen other details on failing to recall.
Televised mass media can’t be avoided, it is an extension of our evolution but it needs to be understood as being as manipulative as the most twisted thing we can imagine from the past. The fact that few schools offer let alone require media studies courses has been devastating to generations of Americans, it’s akin to not understanding the dangers of chain smoking or binge drinking. The fact that our last great sage in this field, Marshall McLuhan, died over 50 years ago is equally tragic. I’ll leave you with a quote:
“Because of today’s terrific speed-up of information moving, we have a chance to apprehend, predict and influence the environmental forces shaping us — and thus win back control of our own destinies. The new extensions of man and the environment they generate are the central manifestations of the evolutionary process, and yet we still cannot free ourselves of the delusion that it is how a medium is used that counts, rather than what it does to us and with us. (Playboy,1969).“
P.s. is add, that once upon a time, NPR’s On the Media was attempting to fill this void, but because of the unbelievably powerful ideological forces that have taken over that institution and specifically that show, we’ve lost one of the few public sources of illumination on this topic. Matt, you are a lone candle in the dark, shine bright my friend.
Matt , According to the WHO consultant Dr. Andrew Hill from Liverpool University and Dr. Tess Lawrie , Bath , England , both specialists in meta data analysis , there is overwhelming proof that Ivermectin works on SARS COV2 especially in early infection . They have studied all the research ,in all the studies in the world , thrown out the bias , thrown out the poorly done studies and both have come to the same conclusion . I suggest you interview them and talk about the meta data and their findings .
Another great article, thank you. In a perfect (or at least less scary) world; your writing would be in a mainstream newspaper. as it is I sent this on to my grown children. In the hope they will send it on. We are sliding backwards down a hill while the circus is loud above us. 🥺
I agree with everything you said except the nature of the "insurrection". "Regarding the riot on the Capital building on January 6, 2021, Paul Jay of “The Analysis News” posits that it was indeed an attempted coup. When Trump’s lawsuits alleging voter fraud failed in the courts, his plan was to incite those who attended the rally on January 6th enough to storm the Capital and cause enough chaos to disrupt the certification of Biden as President by the Electoral College to the extent that his newly appointed Secretary of Defense would have the justification to declare martial law, delay the certification, and call for a new election at a later date, giving Trump more time manipulate the vote. Trump felt that he had enough support among the military and the police to accomplish this, however, 10 former Secretaries of Defense from both the Democratic and Republican parties signed a letter warning Secretary of State Christopher C. Miller not to allow the military to interfere in the electoral process, and that if they did, they could face serious criminal charges. On January 4th Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Commander of NATO published an article in Time Magazine supporting the letter signed by the 10 former Secretaries of Defense. On the same day, The Financial Times editorial board warned of a coup attempt by Trump. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, was so concerned about Trump’s mental state that he feared Trump might provoke a war with China as a distraction that he breached the chain of command and phoned his Chinese counterpart to assure him that no US military action would be taken against China without his personal authorization."
Just a heads up something is weird with the L channel in this one. Little blips where it drops in volume on the left side. Always at the same spots when I replay so pretty sure it’s not my equipment.
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU. I have a folder full of unread articles ‘substacks read later’. You have always been my favorite journalist since your Wall St exposé of the Vampire Squid. I hope some of the others I subscribe to will follow your lead. I listen whenever I am physically doing something else, feeding the animals, driving, etc! You could have a following as big as Joe Rogan!!! AND I am giving a gift for the first time EVER! Drinks on me!!
The expansive truth that Taibbi preaches will fall on the deaf ears of those in the pews who need to hear, and fall on the eyes of those who cannot see, but thank god he is in the pulpit preaching a gospel inspirationally rooted in those ancient prophets who called the powerful to account for their crimes. Amen, brother Taibbi. Continue the good work of honest journalism.
Thanks for doing this as a podcast. I had this article queued up for reading, and then it popped up on my podcast feed. It's great to have multiple ways to consume this.
I’ve been preaching “Turn it off for real” for since the mid 90’s, largely because I had the very special privilege of being trained in McLuhan and media analysis in my suburban high school.
I’m glad to see that meme spreading, but I’m not certain the best arguments are being presented.
The lies, deceit and religiosity of televised news media are superficial and obvious, so pointing at it and shouting, “Bad!” isn’t difficult to do. What is much harder to understand is the manipulation buried at the core of the medium. Television is fundamentally emotionally manipulative. The use of a camera, for instance, is a forced perspective and when permanently trained in the faces of news readers presents direct appeals to emotion in a manner so real as to be transparent; we forget we’re watching and believe we’re in dialog.
In addition to forced perspective, we’re also manipulated by edits, color and saturation, perspective (ie lens distance and focal length), mise en scene ((ie structure of the set and costume, etc), audio, presentation time, advertising and editorial context and likely a dozen other details on failing to recall.
Televised mass media can’t be avoided, it is an extension of our evolution but it needs to be understood as being as manipulative as the most twisted thing we can imagine from the past. The fact that few schools offer let alone require media studies courses has been devastating to generations of Americans, it’s akin to not understanding the dangers of chain smoking or binge drinking. The fact that our last great sage in this field, Marshall McLuhan, died over 50 years ago is equally tragic. I’ll leave you with a quote:
“Because of today’s terrific speed-up of information moving, we have a chance to apprehend, predict and influence the environmental forces shaping us — and thus win back control of our own destinies. The new extensions of man and the environment they generate are the central manifestations of the evolutionary process, and yet we still cannot free ourselves of the delusion that it is how a medium is used that counts, rather than what it does to us and with us. (Playboy,1969).“
P.s. is add, that once upon a time, NPR’s On the Media was attempting to fill this void, but because of the unbelievably powerful ideological forces that have taken over that institution and specifically that show, we’ve lost one of the few public sources of illumination on this topic. Matt, you are a lone candle in the dark, shine bright my friend.
Matt , According to the WHO consultant Dr. Andrew Hill from Liverpool University and Dr. Tess Lawrie , Bath , England , both specialists in meta data analysis , there is overwhelming proof that Ivermectin works on SARS COV2 especially in early infection . They have studied all the research ,in all the studies in the world , thrown out the bias , thrown out the poorly done studies and both have come to the same conclusion . I suggest you interview them and talk about the meta data and their findings .
Love having the audio.
I would love more articles in audio form. Basically a short solo podcast which is great for commutes and during work when we can't be reading.
Another great article, thank you. In a perfect (or at least less scary) world; your writing would be in a mainstream newspaper. as it is I sent this on to my grown children. In the hope they will send it on. We are sliding backwards down a hill while the circus is loud above us. 🥺
@Matt---
The article I want to see from you is
"How Mainstream Democrats Became Authoritarians"
I agree with everything you said except the nature of the "insurrection". "Regarding the riot on the Capital building on January 6, 2021, Paul Jay of “The Analysis News” posits that it was indeed an attempted coup. When Trump’s lawsuits alleging voter fraud failed in the courts, his plan was to incite those who attended the rally on January 6th enough to storm the Capital and cause enough chaos to disrupt the certification of Biden as President by the Electoral College to the extent that his newly appointed Secretary of Defense would have the justification to declare martial law, delay the certification, and call for a new election at a later date, giving Trump more time manipulate the vote. Trump felt that he had enough support among the military and the police to accomplish this, however, 10 former Secretaries of Defense from both the Democratic and Republican parties signed a letter warning Secretary of State Christopher C. Miller not to allow the military to interfere in the electoral process, and that if they did, they could face serious criminal charges. On January 4th Admiral James Stavridis, former Supreme Commander of NATO published an article in Time Magazine supporting the letter signed by the 10 former Secretaries of Defense. On the same day, The Financial Times editorial board warned of a coup attempt by Trump. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, was so concerned about Trump’s mental state that he feared Trump might provoke a war with China as a distraction that he breached the chain of command and phoned his Chinese counterpart to assure him that no US military action would be taken against China without his personal authorization."
Thank you for reading your articles; sometimes listening is easier than reading.
Loving the audio version ♥️
Just a heads up something is weird with the L channel in this one. Little blips where it drops in volume on the left side. Always at the same spots when I replay so pretty sure it’s not my equipment.
Nice rant. Keep up the podcasts and your insightful coverage of our nation and culture in terminal decline.
Thanks for doing the podcast version of the article, it adds a lot of value to the subscription as it's hard to find time to sit down and read.
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU. I have a folder full of unread articles ‘substacks read later’. You have always been my favorite journalist since your Wall St exposé of the Vampire Squid. I hope some of the others I subscribe to will follow your lead. I listen whenever I am physically doing something else, feeding the animals, driving, etc! You could have a following as big as Joe Rogan!!! AND I am giving a gift for the first time EVER! Drinks on me!!
Really appreciate being able to listen. Thank you Matt!