... hire consultants to preach at Dems to use more right-wing language. Because then that vast RW media apparatus will ... be nicer to them? Be more honest about them? I truly don't know what the theory is. www.mediamatters.org/google/right... - ThreadSky

volts.wtf • 3 days ago

... hire consultants to preach at Dems to use more right-wing language. Because then that vast RW media apparatus will ... be nicer to them? Be more honest about them? I truly don't know what the theory is.

https://www.mediamatters.org/google/right-dominates-online-media-ecosystem-seeping-sports-comedy-and-other-supposedly

Comments

volts.wtf•3 days ago

It's interesting, isn't it, that the MM report just vanished into the media ether. No chin-scratchers about it in the NYT or Atlantic. No long Ezra Klein pod about it. No talking-head roundtables on CNN or MSNBC.

The political & media elites really, really don't want to talk about it. Why?

elchopo99.bsky.social•3 days ago

its weird how "just be like republicans but not as racist" is the best message these people can come up with. or the fallback message of "dont worry, the trump fever will break at any moment and republicans will suddenly start to compromise", despite absolutely zero evidence of that possibility

bunnyjenkins.bsky.social•3 days ago

We're not talking about Tim Pool being funded by Russia, or the two charged with intimidating and manipulating voters by phone.

volts.wtf•3 days ago

One dynamic behind all this is that many members of the US political and media elite believe that the US is essentially a conservative country, that conservatives actually do have the claim to being "real Americans," and that there is something vaguely embarrassing about progressive values.

pjlm.bsky.social•3 days ago

I think it is more that they want a 60 year old tall white guy who is in business and wears a suit to be the candidate(s). And that he will politely not stick his neck too far out and be pleasantly left leaning.

dashingmd.bsky.social•3 days ago

This is a nice summary of something I’ve struggled to explain

volts.wtf•3 days ago

This is true even of lots of them who reliably pull the D lever in the booth.

sbwriter.bsky.social•3 days ago

When it comes to individual issues, polls show that American is a liberal country.

achamernik.bsky.social•2 days ago

Exactly. Actual center-left/left policies are mostly favored 60-40 or better—often far better. But policy takes a back seat to MAGA media dominance, a putrid failure of legacy media, and Dems-as-radicals “vibes” in the US today.

The *real* radicals are destroying everything we built over 249 years.

tammybeth.bsky.social•2 days ago

I have a thesis that the Civil Rights & anti-war movements in the 60's gave certain folks an opening to marry the word "liberal"(or left) to the word "radical" & folks like Roger Ailes recognized that as a leaver to move the whole of public opinion to the "only conservatives are real Americans" vibe

carynhunt.bsky.social•3 days ago

Dems are painted as weak - compromise itself has been painted as weak - by rw media for decades. Even though American values are in fact liberal, many don't want to be associated with Dems. That's because very few Dems have strongly defended traditional Democratic values or communicated stakes.

spencerwindes.bsky.social•3 days ago

I’m trying to imagine being more “pro-gun” in America, and unless we make it legal to actually marry a pistol, it’s pretty much not possible.

thejnfr.bsky.social•2 days ago

They don't really like progressive values. They are comfortable in a conservative nation, that's what feels "normal" to them.

shaynemoore.bsky.social•3 days ago

The Constitution is a progressive document. Especially when it was written.
These people are stupid.

maclauren.bsky.social•3 days ago

I can’t stop thinking about this:

ycngb.bsky.social•3 days ago

A psych article years ago said that Republican personalities tended to be swiftly reactive, with a strong lean toward disgust? These were perfect people to be exploited by Russian disinfo. LeavingMAGA has stories about former MAGAs who were genuinely terrified of "Antifa" & the "Radical Left."

pugetbob.bsky.social•3 days ago

Yeah, progressives are just too "earnest". This rubs the cynical, "savvy" pundits the wrong way.

Cautionary note: recognizing that the U.S. is *not* "essentially a conservative country" doesn't mean that the way for Dems to win elections is to move farther left.

pugetbob.bsky.social•3 days ago

A point often overlooked: when people tell pollsters that they're "conservative", they often mean "in my own personal values and lifestyle". Many of these very same people are surprisingly tolerant of others who *aren't* conservative. Live & let live.

cocosoodek.bsky.social•3 days ago

Boom. That's it. In an elegant, but maddening, nutshell. Even our own progressive leaders, particularly in the Senate, are embarassed about their own beliefs.

uwspete.bsky.social•3 days ago

Data may be bullshit. Subscribing and listening are not the same.

The right has been gaming the NYT bestseller list for decades.

observerbs.bsky.social•3 days ago

Yeah. I have posted a few times that I think Cuban, Scott, Bloomberg et al as well as people like Clooney, Winfrey, Hanks, Johanssonet al should fund a national online Newspaper and attach a few podcasts to it. Charge a sub fee for some content that middle-class Normie Dems like me would pay.

disappearinjon.wandering.shop.ap.brid.gy•3 days ago

@volts.wtf I imagine the theory is “these are neutral outlets that will promote our PoV if our messaging is better.” Which is flat-out wrong and not an honest reckoning of the last 4 decades of media changes.

ferretoftheforest.bsky.social•3 days ago

I see the value in using language weilded as a weapon of inspiration and action. A lot of RW are bolstered in false confidence by bloated reports, but on the other side of it are basically dry or doomer narrative reporting to resistance. It's a defeating position when we need heroes and hope.

ferretoftheforest.bsky.social•3 days ago

The population is inundated with reporting that is basically "well you can try to fight this" when we need direction and people to follow. Words hold power to sway, and so utilizing the influence over a narrative to inspire would go further even as a report is on something grim.

ferretoftheforest.bsky.social•3 days ago

But we need that in the blurbs and summaries because that's often the only part anyone reads. RW use this to their advantage even as they're either misrepresenting fact or overcompensating. You see it in the titles under thumbnails or the shitty GenAI slogans. I'm not saying copy their hw...

ferretoftheforest.bsky.social•3 days ago

But there's something there about how the presentation of information can be just as compelling as the information itself.

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