Taibbi wields his pen with panache, and I've enjoyed some of his columns. But he also suffers from what the French call a "déformation professionnelle". In this Glenn Show podcast, he blurs the distinction between the US government and the media to the point that a listener could come away with the feeling that it was the New York Times that ordered the invasion of Iraq. Similarly, there's much to criticize about Russiagate, but trying to connect it to Russia's current invasion of Ukraine is a desperate stretch - in the Procrustean sense.
Lamentable though the Iraq war was in hindsight, equating it with Russia's invasion of Ukraine is the stuff of dorm room BS sessions, and not befitting a serious thinker. The US was not trying to absorb Iraq into our own nation. The US did not act alone in that war (The UK was there too, and in the initial stages, so were Australia, Italy, Spain, Denmark, and Poland). The US did not specifically target Iraqi civilians. The US did not try to hunt down international journalists covering the conflict. Zelensky can hardly be compared to Saddam Hussein. The motivations for the wars were completely different. Etc. etc.
I do worry that Taibbi (like so many others in the alternative media world) is liable to fall into the trap of being a professional contrarian. Last summer, for instance, he wrote a few puff pieces about Bret Weinstein, that utter charlatan. (A charlatan for whom, I might add, I once had quite a deal of respect.) Did Taibbi ever revisit that topic, I wonder? Ah, perhaps it was Tiabbi's participation in "Ivermectin-gate" that led Putin to invade!
matt grew up a lefty and they always need to fight back the instinct that no matter how much they come to realize how wrong they were they need to portray whataboutism and equating some faux pas with massively corrupt notions…i love that he has come around but please show me one article where someone of the left turning doesnt have to signal to their formerly left constituency that they are still in their corner to some degree…they cant just cross over to objectivity and sanity
Thanks for your thoughts; I basically agree. I think one of the reasons I feel so disappointed in Taibbi (and also Glenn for pushing the Russiagate issue) is that I recognize that they're bright talented men. It feels intellectually cheap and unworthy of them.
explain…you dont think the russiagate thing was massively divisive to our nation and the most corrupt political crime in our history? or am i missing your point? i hope it is the latter
Taibbi wields his pen with panache, and I've enjoyed some of his columns. But he also suffers from what the French call a "déformation professionnelle". In this Glenn Show podcast, he blurs the distinction between the US government and the media to the point that a listener could come away with the feeling that it was the New York Times that ordered the invasion of Iraq. Similarly, there's much to criticize about Russiagate, but trying to connect it to Russia's current invasion of Ukraine is a desperate stretch - in the Procrustean sense.
Lamentable though the Iraq war was in hindsight, equating it with Russia's invasion of Ukraine is the stuff of dorm room BS sessions, and not befitting a serious thinker. The US was not trying to absorb Iraq into our own nation. The US did not act alone in that war (The UK was there too, and in the initial stages, so were Australia, Italy, Spain, Denmark, and Poland). The US did not specifically target Iraqi civilians. The US did not try to hunt down international journalists covering the conflict. Zelensky can hardly be compared to Saddam Hussein. The motivations for the wars were completely different. Etc. etc.
I do worry that Taibbi (like so many others in the alternative media world) is liable to fall into the trap of being a professional contrarian. Last summer, for instance, he wrote a few puff pieces about Bret Weinstein, that utter charlatan. (A charlatan for whom, I might add, I once had quite a deal of respect.) Did Taibbi ever revisit that topic, I wonder? Ah, perhaps it was Tiabbi's participation in "Ivermectin-gate" that led Putin to invade!
matt grew up a lefty and they always need to fight back the instinct that no matter how much they come to realize how wrong they were they need to portray whataboutism and equating some faux pas with massively corrupt notions…i love that he has come around but please show me one article where someone of the left turning doesnt have to signal to their formerly left constituency that they are still in their corner to some degree…they cant just cross over to objectivity and sanity
Thanks for your thoughts; I basically agree. I think one of the reasons I feel so disappointed in Taibbi (and also Glenn for pushing the Russiagate issue) is that I recognize that they're bright talented men. It feels intellectually cheap and unworthy of them.
explain…you dont think the russiagate thing was massively divisive to our nation and the most corrupt political crime in our history? or am i missing your point? i hope it is the latter