The All Powerful Leviathan

Taki's Magazine ^ | 21 February 2022 | The Z Man

[arthurus]

There is a theory kicking around dissident politics that says journalism is best seen as an activity, rather than a profession. It is a form of activism that uses information, real and manufactured, to promote various agendas and ideologies. Contrary to what the media companies used to say, they are not neutral observers speaking truth to power, but power centers promoting agendas that serve their interests.

One key point in this argument is that journalists themselves no longer bother pretending they are neutral. The Washington Post still has that silly line “Democracy Dies in Darkness” on its masthead, but it now reads more like a mission statement, rather than a warning. Proof that the universe has a sense of humor is that the most aggressive opponents of free speech are the mass media companies.

[Repeal The 17th]

“...a theory kicking around...”
-
Sky is blue.
Grass is green.
Water is wet.

[Gratia]

“Sky is blue.
Grass is green.
Water is wet.”

Not really. Not even close to everyone accepts the author’s analysis. There are many, and I am one of them, who believe that the phenomenon is far more controlled and far less organic that the author thinks.

Yes, there is Inner Party and Outer Party, Nomenklatura and Apparatchiki, and the latter parts of the pairs act in a hive-like way. To that extent, the analysis is useful. (And the author is one of the most under-rated thinkers on our side, IMO).

But too much of what works its way through the hive parts happens too quickly and bizarrely to be spontaneous. There is co-ordination, purpose and anticipation reflected in the hive behavior, and that is not coming from the hive itself.

A thousand people do not wake up at 4 in the morning and decide to use the word “gravitas” for the rest of the day.