Huffington’s innovation in journalism was simply a microcosm of what the ruling elite wants the labor market in America to become. Mainstream journalism is full of whores working for cheap pay. Under Huffington, the whores mostly worked as voluntary slave labor. This is where they want the rest of us, and it is highly apropos that the principle mouthpiece of the ruling elite would be the first area to see the change.

I can’t wait to see the windows of the NY Times building covered in plywood. It will be a day to celebrate. While I’d rather the mainstream media dies due to competition from genuine news sources that serve the people, if sleaze merchants like Huffington can pound a nail into their coffins, that’s all for the good. Now let’s boycott Huffpo and the rest of the corporate media as we should have been doing from day one. Ditto for Kos and other fauxgressive sites.

Arianna Huffington is and always has been a neocon. 
She has said on numerous occasions that the job of
government is to promote business, and business will in
turn take care of the people. The only difference is
that since she started HuffPost, she has been wearing
progressive/populist clothing.  I quit reading HuffPost
some time ago when it became apparent that she was
actually the opposite of what she claimed.  Now, that
point should be clear to anyone who is paying
attention.

I have to say that I poke around the Hpost site. I
often link truthdig stories there. The number of
comments that site generates is impressive.

We need C.Hedges to nudge us back to reality now
and then. Thanks.

I posted this truthdig story there just now, I’ll
be curious to see if the censors over there block
it.

Though I have not once looked at Huffington Post since it was sold to AOL, I
must admit that I did have a daily glance over the headlines there for several
years, much the same way I look at the covers of the tabloids in the
supermarket. There is a grim delight in casually examining periodically the
passing circus of Western “culture.” Like examining a dog’s stool occasionally
just to know that he has no parasites, one is curious but cautious about
becoming too involved or too public about it.

It is indeed ominous the way this princess singles out for ridicule and public
display the most vulgar and violent acts of white or straight men. The way she
finds new and bizarre Christian nuttiness to mock in each issue is amazing.
Making money mocking the gentile herd has been a traditional past time for
Ariana’s minority community, somewhat like bullfighting, but it has always
been and continues to be a dangerous game.

The moment I heard that Huffington was connecting with
AOL to the trash.  In the beginning Huffington was
unique and I had hoped for its success but little did I
know that it would be a ego for Ariana and cheap
tabloid.  I have relegated it to the dump.

Bravo Chris Hedges!

This is some of the most inspiring bridge burning I’ve ever seen.

(Hyperbole alert: Of course I’m kidding. The retribution that an elitist gold-digger like Arianna Stassinopoulos is likely to rain down on Chris Hedges pales in comparison to Bobby Gates ‘and Hillary “Goldwater Girl” Rodham’s vindictive retribution on Pvt. Bradley Manning.

Chris will remain one of the most sane people on the planet. Manning? Not so much.

The next major media merger will be when Rolling Stone magazine merges with The National Review. Pecuniary misery makes for strange bedlellows, displaying the absence of all morality or ethics.

I canceled both accounts on HuffPo immediately when I read the news. I no longer want to post anything there, read anything there or help her make another fortune. I am sorry I helped her make this sale already.

postington huff reads the way arianna speaks, like the
lost gabor sister. get serious.
what barnum said. what mencken said. what the marx
brothers said, harpo most eloquently.

Hedges writes: “These men and women love the trade. They want to make a difference. … They are victims of a dying culture, one that no longer values the talents that would keep it healthy and humane.”

The same can be said about my profession - college professor.

This is absolutely correct. Providing content for free or for several pennies’ worth of ad-click revenue has become the new industry standard. And certainly as writers, we are complicit because we continue to work for paltry (or no) wages. Yet, like those workers in China, we continue to line up for this particular brand of degradation because there is always another writer prepared to step into the breach that we’ve left, even if that means they’ll receive little more than the prestige that comes with writing for a popular site. We’re all trying to make our way; we do what we believe will move us forward in our profession.

Forget health insurance and benefits, it’s become extremely difficult to find writing work that—even when cobbled together from a variety of sources—actually provides a living wage.

So, writers, as it stands, we’re part of the new proletariat…whether we realize it or not. How do we stop it? We could begin a movement that demands fair pay and works to arrest the devaluation of ideas and content that is, sadly, the inevitable outcome in this new age of blog-news and web-lite content. Certainly, with new media, spreading the word would be the easiest part of all.

I have unfortunately worked for a lot of people who are like AH:  no talent themselves, except for being great salespeople.  They convince everyone that they are best friends.  “Write for me, send me an article,” we heard AF all over the media in the early years.  This is a new public commons, we’ll all just share our thoughts, like a community bulletin board.  We’ll show the big media, we’ll create our own discussion.

But she didn’t mention that after soliciting free labor for hundreds of people, she was going to sell the products of their labor and enrich herself.

I hope somebody sues.  I keep waiting to hear how much of that $300 million is going to the writers.  And who are these people who keep writing there?  I guess it’s people who know they won’t be published anywhere else, because most of the press is so right-wing and idiotic, and they fear that if they are not published they will be forgotten.

It’s funny.  It’s like the blacklist of the 50s but without the armies of censors.  It’s a corporate censor instead:  don’t publish those people or we’ll withdraw all the advertising, the investment money and your media will fold.  So now we have a large gathering of all the blacklisted writers, but instead of ghostwriting for a low wage, they write for free and AH takes all the money.  “Dah-link, write for me dah-link, you must send me an article.”

Michael Scott:  “Mr.” Gerard wants Mr. Hedges to be sure his readers understand that Egypt’s massive success—so far—has been due to the strategy and tactics of nonviolence which Mr. Hedges has so long vaguely alluded to, without much-needed specific information being given to his readers (most of whom have no experience with it, and many of whom are only too ready to talk about the “inevitable necessity of the use of force.”
  Mr. Hedges has a great deal of influence among Truthdig readers.  Along with his advocacy of nonviolence, he actually tried it out in Washington a few months ago along with some 100+ other brave individiuals.
  There is significant difference between 100+ and hundreds of thousands.  We need to begin to understand why that difference.  Egypt offers an excellent and rare chance to investigate the answers.
  Instead, Mr. Hedges, in his first column after the Egyptian protests, chooses to expatiate on Arianna Huffington’s financial ventures.  That seems to me to be more or less irresonsible.  Having spoken of Egypt before (as you reiterate) only makes his omission more glaring.
  Rant or no rant—to summarize, we Americans need to learn much more about nonviolent strategies and tactics and why alternatives to violence offer a better method of reform than shooting—or, as in Palestine, going up against a viciously armed regime with sticks and stones and an occasional rocket.
  Very few people could help us learn more.  Hedges is one of them.  I rest my case.

Chris, you are a journalist in the tradition of I.F. Stone, which the highest accolade I can think of.  When the “betrayer” sold HuffPo, I commented that she had sold out and betrayed her readership.  My comments were censored.  I immediately switched to Democratic Underground.  I have attempted to get my account at HuffPo canceled, but have received no response to my request.  If we all leave HuffPo, then AOL Time Warner will have bought an empty bag.  I encourage all progressive people to leave immediately.

I think I had heard about Huffington for years and finally was wondering why she was so vehement a supporter for male circumcision while decrying its female counter part. I admit this was dumb of me not to see through her.

She carries this ignorant and class culture double standard. She exploited the very people who made her wealth. How is this any different from what Capitalist do, have done and continue to do.

Ten years ago I began working at a Daily, fixing the computers that the reporters and editors and artists used. After a few years I was quite shocked at the general lack of interest in fact, truth, or even analysis. There was plenty of innuendo and opinion, but it seemed to me that, just as the flood of photographers who arrived after the movie Blow Up, there was a raft of ill-suited typists who wanted to find the next Watergate. When a new reporter was assigned to cover town board meetings - Zoning, Building, Selectmen, she complained that this stuff was just boring and not news. I told her she was supposed to be the watchdog over these groups so they didn’t do things in secret for personal gain, and she had to learn what they did. She had never heard the term “Fourth Estate” nor did she know that her profession is protected in the Constitution.
Your article is on target and very sad. I read a book which mapped out this eventuality entitled “Chain Gang”. Unfortunately the Daily I worked for was purchased by Fidelity Corp as I was reading the book. What should have taken at least a few more years happened almost instantly. Wages were frozen, workloads increased, efficiency experts counted keystrokes and fired people who typed too much! (like the proof reader and typesetter who entered the legals. She was told she should use her mouse and shortcuts more. She Was re-hired when the paper began to have lawyers at the coffers due to missing notices).
The odd thing is that era spawned 4 new weekly newspapers using ex-employees who were let go. They were LOCAL reporters. They learned the names and the backgrounds of those they reported on. AND their ad revenue outstripped Fidelity’s in their area almost from day one.
How this could be extrapolated to the internet age is beyond my expertise but imagine a local site for local news done locally. Local advertisers for actual small businesses like nail salons and diners and auto service stations could actually compete and focus their reach. Fidelity lost great amounts of revenue because a nail salon on Marblehead, MA. was not interested in the “package Deal” which put their name in towns 100 miles away.
But I ramble. The Middle class is gone. The Liberal President turns out to be 75 degrees right of right center, and we have turned into a nearly total Fascist-corporatist Empire. People used to think that Michael Moore was a really radical nut. Turns out even his predictions were off.

It’s been long ago that I stopped going to the Huffington Post, after many times they blocked comments I made, many totally reasonable but blocked, and I stopped them from sending me their daily “news” letter.

For Mario Ruiz I have this comment;
Eres un PUTO de mierda!!

Why don’t the bloggers and writers just leave? Once you discover you’re working for the Devil and continue to do so, if you get screwed, who’s fault is that? Since most are working for nothing anyway, fuck Arianna and take your blog elsewhere. She’d get the message, I’m sure.

hello. nobody cares what this guy writes. i feel the
pain from pirating writers, and uncompensated crusaders
for justice. truth is these Web packages are trending
towards local community reality, as opposed to your
denial of the complete failure of national journalistic
excellence in thwarting the globalist agenda.

I can’t help but agree with Mr. Hedges. For one thing, my own commentary was rebuked by Huffington for what I believe was my suggesting they do a little more emphasis on real troubling issues and less celebrity. There was nothing detrimental or bombastic in my remarks, yet I was surprisingly rebuked. They refused to print it! I considered that very strange coming from a publication that prides itself in honesty and integrity and who calls its forum open. It is sad as to what has become of real news and the now obvious disdain for it. Once Reagan restructured the FCC in allowing giant conglomerates to gobble up independent broadcasters, the death knoll to real journalism had rung. Like teachers and unions, real journalism and journalists seem to no longer have a place of regard or respect in the ever growing corporate state. Since this new and often virulent state wishes only for billionaire to be compensated, it comes as no surprise. After all, why pay real reporters and journalists? All they do is expose the corporate state for the dirt it does.

A site full of tabloid material and a few articles from
the NYT to give it some sort of veneer of legitimacy.

Sounds like he’s describing Truthdig.

If you are sick of the ‘rich bastards’ always winning,
look to Egypt.  They got at least a start on figuring
out the answer.

There is progressively less money for truly egalitarian projects as rich forces bring a redistribution of income from poor and middle class to rich. Even the current tax situation has the middle and lower classes paying the bulk of the taxes and even subsidizing rich oil companies.

There is a great deal of money funding right-wing think tanks which subsidize the right-wing trash that people like Ann Coulter put out, buying up many copies and giving them away.

Let’s face it. Hate speech, right-wing dribble, rancor and lies (on Fox Noise) is subsidized. Independent progressive thoughts and writing is not. The rich want other voices to die so that they will prevail.

Democrat, Ronald Reagan, no, Republican, actually both. He fought for the rights of actors as a Democrat President of the Screen Actors Guild. Then he drank the Kool Aid and fired thousands of air traffic controllers. I always suspected Huffington to be a bit of a player, some what like Bill Maher, who makes him self out to be a Champion of the small guy. It’s crap, these people are out to get their slice of the pie, the bigger the better.But one should not loose all hope. There are places and people sharing and giving. Equality, is still noble. Perhaps not in everyday life situations, but in our hearts. Remember if something looks to good to be true, it probably isn’t. Arianna Huffington is in it for herself, and perhaps a few close friends. Facts is facts.

Lary Waldman
Qualicum Beach 2/2011

Chris, where are you, really?
You go on and on for months about the cowardice of the left not engaging in nonviolent resistance, and even try a little of it yourself.  Yet when Egypt turns out in tens of thousands of peaceful protesters, you have not a word to say?
  You moan about the decay of journalism, yet do not bother to tell your readers how this peaceful protest sustained itself—from its leaders having studied nonviolence at an institute in Serbia who survived the Melosovic era?  You prefer to use precious time and space fulminating on the greed of Huffington rather than exalt the vast community
of care and cooperation that made the Egypt protest sustainable for weeks?  You did not hear the cries of “peaceful!  peaceful!” that held people back from retaliation when violence reared its ugly head? You did not give credit where credit is due?
  Huffington and her antics are utterly insignificant compared to one Egyptian child sitting on his father’s shoulders holding up a flag.
  Where are you really, Chris?

So Chris:  Off and on for a year you have been chewing out the left as cowards and advocating nonviolent resistance, even up to the point of trying a little of it yourself.  Then came Egypt—and what do you have to say?  Nothing.  Absolutely nothing!  Not a golderned blinking word about the massive friendliness, the courage, the persistence of tens of thousands in the face of fear and threat.
  How does it come that suddenly you are off on the HuffPost plunder?  That is significant, by comparison? 
  Or is the key, words?  You care more about sounding off on just one more plutocratic “deal” than about promoting the truths of one of the greatest single innovative actions in modern history?  Why did you not bother to help people understand the basis of Egypt’s success (so far)?Why not tell us (since you knew the corporate media would not) that their leaders trained in Europe at a nonviolent institute founded and run by people with experience overthrowing Melovovic? Why did you not point out the community caring that flooded the protests, the natural, humane cries of “Peaceful!  Peaceful!” that warned the crowd when violence reared its ugly head?
  Nor did you bother to credit the web for its share in the “awakenings” that are trying to occur elsewhere?  No.
  Instead you fulminate about Ariana Huffington whose life is less significant than the most insignificant child who sat on his father’s shoulder and held up a flag in Cairo.
  Where are you, really?

Wow, I hope that Arianna doesn’t meet Chris Hedges in a dark alley.

The commerant has a ring round its neck, as it fishes for the fisherman it cannot swallow
the fish, so the fisherman ends up with the take. The commernt ends up in a cage with
heads and guts at the end of a work day. A free commerant on the other hand eats like
a fisherman!

I am in absolute awe of many of the comments noted above.  Wonderful
observations and analysis.  Some, quite funny, too.

Thank you Chris for your article.  Right on point.

Though Chris does seem to inspire a feeling of hopelessness since the middle class is losing all connection with the seats of power.

I am older and wonder if I am following the same plaint of seniors in thinking our nation is “going to hell”. I look back at former times and see the same rancor, propaganda, and idiocy but, though we have all that in today’s world, I do not see any checks and balances to subdue that rancor, propaganda and idiocy. Before the depression, average Americans were oppressed but they had a relatively free media (fourth estate) to reveal corruption and to call out lies. The government’s 3 branches were not as compromised as they are today, especially the Supreme Court whose majority roots for radical conservatives and business. We didn’t have a Fox Noise that is an extension of right-wing politics, is free to lie with impunity, spread propaganda and promote right-wing politics.

It used to be that majorities could control government policy but now even demonstrations in state capitols gets little attention unless it is raucous and stupid like the tea baggers.

I’ve decided that Chris is justified in his sense of despair.

Can you see the middle class taking to the streets, that is before we lose all affluence and voice in government?

Good start Chris, however, you quickly morphed.

“This latest form of “liberal” exploitation exposes yet again the liberal class for who they really are—opportunists whose operating methods are as callous as those employed in the textile mills in southern China.”

Really, Chris?

These issues of “Integrity,” and the, “Bedrock virtues of truth,” just slapped me upside the head. Trying to get my attention and make me aware of a flagrant and glaring falsehood, I suppose.

I once “Dusted off a copy of Karl Marx,” in the Library; it caused a veritable dustbowl disaster in that Library, and resulted in several cases of “Dust Pneumony.”

I was not in New York City on Thursday night at the Brecht Forum to discuss with the photographer Eugene Richards his powerful new book “War Is Personal.” If I had been in New York City on Thursday night at the Brecht Forum, I feel safe in predicting that I would be persona non grata among such elite intellects, but if I had been in New York City Thursday night at the Brecht forum I would have had no bone to pick with Eugene Richards, but I would have had a few questions for Hedges. The first being, why does he effectively serve the interests of the reactionary Right? The second would be does he advocate a lot of Marx dusting? The third would have to do with Bakunin, but by then I would be discreetly and politely ignoring every word of Marxist dialectic that he might be uttering.

Hedges raises some interesting issues. Egalitarian idealists believe that the internet should be a forum for the people, free from the contamination of filthy lucre, while others appear to believe that bloggers on the internet should be remunerated for their efforts. I’m not much of a Marx duster, but based on what I know, I’m sure that Marx would have come down on the side of remuneration, seeing as how he supplemented his income by investing in the stock market. I feel safe in assuming that Hedges is also on the side of remuneration, after all, remunerating him would be for the common good, in the long run, after everything has been blown to hell, and we have vanquished the fascists that Hedges facilitated.

I remember seeing Al Franken and Arianna Huffington in bed on “Saturday Night Live.” They were engaged in a witty Left/Right debate. Franken won the debate rather handily, and I remember thinking that Arianna Huffington might at some point change her political perspective, but I never believed that she would become much of a Marx duster. Much to my delight, this millionaire-ess[sic] did change her political perspective, and it was good to see that her philanthropic/entrepreneurial endeavors did advance Left causes. Personally, I won’t be satisfied, or much impressed, until Hedges and Arianna divest themselves of their wealth and privilege, and give their filthy lucre to the poor. I’d join them, but I spent my filthy lucre for rent, utilities, and groceries (Not to mention a healthy chunk of filthy lucre I spent on this worthless internet connection.)

I have posted over 5100 comments on HP over the last 2.5 years. I’ve done it because, frankly, I enjoy a good argument and I spend most of my time (when visiting HP) on the comment threads….I do the same thing here. I know some of you will think I’m just plain dumb, but debating in cyber-space with people of opposing views is stimulating and refreshing. It “keeps me frosty” when I’m forced to argue politics, economics, etc. with the “in-person” dunderheads in my community (many of them conservative jerk-offs).... BUT, I’ve had to do a lot of thinking about the AOL deal and the revelations about the “management” and business practices of HP.

As some have rightly pointed out here, no-one forces us to go there (or anywhere) to post our opinions or ideas. What’s so disturbing is the fact that the core group of contributors to HP are not compensated for their material (call it “intellectual property”). It just stinks.

It reminds me of the old days when I was a cook and it was common to work for an excellent chef to gain experience and beef up one’s resume. Quite often these chefs PAID US NOTHING for the privilege of learning from them….but at least there was the potential of leveraging that experience in another restaurant for a better position or more pay. Unfortunately, for the “citizen journalists” who work for HP (work?) there isn’t a payoff down the road. In fact, as the Media become more and more concentrated in the hands of even fewer corporate masters, there will be NOWHERE to earn a living as a journalist, reporter, commentator, etc.

Then there the stupidity of AOL for paying a fortune for Hufpo. Essentially paying for a
cloud of chaotic posters who spend most of their time dissing each other.

With heavy censoring of relevant political comments to keep things entertaining.

So desperate is AOL for content after it’s own mismanagement burned through
hundreds of millions of dollars in a few short years, that it’s willing to join the parade at
any cost rather than evaporate altogether.

But how can something evaporate that never existed in the first place?

In a few short years AOL will burn through this too. Yes faux liberalism should be hated
because it stands for nothing, except creating victims to exploit that victimization for it’s
own gain.

Just as OJama used the victimization of the American people to get elected only to turn
his back on it in favor of the bankers.

Authors, the Net offers you the opportunity to become your own publishers.  You can charge for your work, or ask for donations, or try selling related goods and services on the side, or sell advertising, or some mixture thereof.  You will be in direct contact with your potential customers or clients.  If no one wants to pay to read your work, you must conclude that it is not valuable to them and find some other way of making money.  (This will not stop you from writing, of course.)  The corp(se) is dead and there is no use looking to it for the old-style job unless you want to do public relations and fluff a la Huffpo.  That is all the old zombie knows about, actually.

The Huff Post is garbage despite the rare enlightening column - there’s much more celeb-worship stories. Good to bring to light the fact that she made her money on free writers - like most liberals, she talks cool, but acts right-wing conservative (like Steve Jobs, who wears jeans like a cool uncle to the kids, but he’s all 3-piece pinstripe suit when it comes to squeezing out money from people using Apple products).

Damn straight, Chris. Your analysis of HuffPo and many of it’s peer PixelPapers is right on. I am eagerly awaiting the initiation of HedgesProse, your Daily Chronicle, in which I expect you will reveal your secret for appealing to the undereducated, uncritical, unthinking, unaware US masses without mentioning ‘celebrities’ or the latest food-fad or the newest ‘outing’ of a GOP Pol or spy-shots of a Hollywood Houri in her crotchless-thong unikini.

And, of course, since you will undoubtedly offer a munificent honorarium (or at least a substantial profit-sharing plan) to posters to HedPro, as well as all other contributors/‘reporters’/columnists, I look forward to using your payments to replace my soon-to-be worthless SS checks. Oh, and could you help all your paid HedPro staff avoid the ravages of US inflation and currency devaluation by paying us in yuan?

PS: In the interim, while you are forming HedPro, would you speak to Mr. Scheer about the concept of payment to posters? After all, what would a blog be without posters?

As a photographer who has worked for the New York Times I could not agree more with the point of view of this essay.

I cannot say I was predisposed toward such an opinion. I enjoyed working for the Times and flying all over the world working for major media outlets and advertising agencies. I fell for Obama’s charade, until he voted to give the telecommunications industry immunity. That was a turning point in my life.

The first statements I encountered after that, reflecting my own suspicions, came to me from the brilliant photographer and activist Robert Adams.

Here’s a quote from a 2007 interview of Adams by Farah Nayeri:

Nayeri: Do you feel a duty to show ecological disaster?

Adams: I think we’re in a desperate situation. This past week has driven this home to the community where I live. No one here remembers, nor is there any record of, the storm we’ve just had.

A minority of people is making decisions that are crimes.

Nayeri: You’re placing art at the service of something less than aesthetic.

Adams: Yes, that is a fundamental problem. What I would like to do is do what art has traditionally done: Find a way to an affirmation.

When art is defined by Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons, you’ve got a society that’s impoverished.

I’m not alone in wanting to do something else. It’s hard to survive in a situation that’s dominated by those figures. We all bathe in a soup of irony.

I see the words ``contemporary art’’ and I begin to run the other direction. It seems to signify one thing: money.

The full interview can be found here and is well worth reading:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ahiXJH1OdpMc&refer=muse

I read Hedges column every week and get a lot of comfort and inspiration from it.

Here is what I’m going to look for: “If Huffington has a conscience she will sit down when the AOL check arrives and make sure every cent of it is paid out to those who worked free or at minimal wages for her over the last six years, starting with Mayhill Fowler…...........”

I admire(d?) Arianna’s contributions to at least get some liberal views ‘out there’.  Do I fault her for her business savvy?  No.  But, now is perhaps a time to see if she has the conscience to share fairly FAIRLY with those who helped her build something of value. 

Where is a good ‘Arianna watch’??  URL please??

Geeze, this is one of the few times I agree with Hedges, but mostly on his opinion of Huffington, I suspect Newspapers are like the horse and buggy, but who knows the way things are going the horse and buggy may be coming back. I still enjoy reading and relaxing while thumbing through a newspaper, except I feel sorry for the dead trees.

I think Mr. Hedges previous association with the New York Times gives him a somewhat distorted view of the value of the press, as it was then referred to, for actually reporting the news. But his criticism of the Huffington Post’s tactic of trolling for free content, by using the idiotic term “citizen journalist” is completely accurate.
Just to stick to the facts, Ardee said that Hedges quoted Dylan’s “Times They Are A Changin’”. No, the literary quote is from “Ballad Of A Thin Man”. Hedges could have used this gem from that song:

Now you see this one-eyed midget
Shouting the word “NOW”
And you say “for what reason?”
And he says “How?”
And you say “What does this mean?”
And he screams back “You’re a cow
Give me some milk
Or else go home”

But I do share a bit of Ardee’s optimism when it comes to the Internet. Two key words here: wordpress.com

http://www.beerdoctor.wordpress.com

I once had the temerity to critisize one of Ariana Huffingtons columns. The point was civil and without rancor or anything off color. The comment was blocked. I requested an explanation. I had violated a rule that blocks all content that is “Inappropriate”. IOW, I had alerted the thought police who ensure the untarnished persona of AH.

Seldom visit HP lately. Over the past year of so the awarding of medallions to loyalists has taken the site to a new low. The commentary is shallow. The content reminds me of a helter-skelter USA Today.

Truthdig offers more depth and the commentary is at least thought out and not purely reactionary.

Schools turn out dullards.  That’s their function. 
You don’t teach the slaves to read.  It would be
cruel. Instead, you give them television and
newspapers.

Though I admire Mr Hedges’ verve and inclination, I
question whether there ever existed a time when
newspapers were NOT reticent, shall we say, about
revealing the whole truth and disregarding context
and history, or vigorously examined government
claims.  The US press, even the so-called liberal
NYT, was simply horrid - never taking the side of the
workers in any labor or housing dispute, always
backing war and US and State Department
pronouncements as truth, and so forth.  Should not be
a surprise.  After all, they and all newspapers are
in the same damn business, and that is selling ad
space, and they must maintain access to official
leaks.  Maintaining access means telling their lies. 
The trade craft (if there is such a thing) of
journalism (which grew out of the same effort to
control the public mind as what became the
advertising and Public Relations industries) is to
obfuscate and cloak, presenting the trivialized
“story” as a salesman presents a product, one
palatable to the wealthy advertisers. Let’s see any
newspaper investigate its ten largest advertising
customers, where there is certain to be corruption
(let alone their official sources) and let’s see how
long they stay IN BUSINESS.

The news was trivialized long, long ago, Mr Hedges.

Some excellent responses to this Hedges article, and I thank you all for them.

I do see the validity of Hedges argument yet am also of the opinion that things change inevitably.

While the excellent reportage of some of our print media is indelibly etched in my mind, and also helped form my political opinions as well, I can also see this emerging new media as a potential force for good.

The battles of the people of Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Bahrain et al, are being moved forward on line. The demonstrators are in touch with each other as never before, using electronic devices beyond my generation for sure.

For every Huffington Post, whose (regrettable) uselessness became apparent to me in a rather short time, there will emerge more polished and, I believe, more politically potent groups and places to gather. I give you Wikileaks as a prime example of such.

As Hedges cited Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A’changin’” it must be understood that this particular change is in its infancy and will mature and gain much more power. I say this knowing it shows my unfailing optimism that change for the good will, indeed, occur. But optimism is a key ingredient if one is to devote oneself to activism and change, without an optimistic view lies frustration, despair and giving up.

Chris Hitchens is one of the reasons I value and give money to this site.  He is that rarity—an honest man in the mold of Ralph Nader, saying what needs to be said and letting the cow chips fall where they will. 

He’s done it again.  As for Huffington—she’s a “perfect” representative of the liberal class.  And her “publication” is to liberals what FOX is to the reactionaries.

Lafayette, February 21 at 12:24 pm wrote:

>>“JUST THE FACTS, MA’AM

CH: Facts mean little.

No, Chris, they mean everything to a blog worth its bandwidth.<<”

The reader is left with the impression that Chris Hedges is not a fan of facts.

Lets look at the context:

“...Stories on popular sites are judged not by the traditional standards of journalism but by how many hits they receive, how much Internet traffic they generate, and how much advertising they can attract. News is irrelevant.

Reporting is largely nonexistent. No one seems to have heard of the common good. Our television screens are filled with these new chattering celebrity journalists. They pop up one day as government spokespeople and appear the next as hosts on morning news shows. They deal in the currency of emotion, not truth…”<<

Even a High School Cheerleader could understand that Chris Hedges is not saying that facts *should not* matter.

Yet, here comes one who “reads European blogs” (why not add the word “sniff” for us unwashed riff-raff) and spins like a whirlpool clothes dryer.

Curious, that.

Our Own General concludes thusly:

>>”... Waiting for Sarah Palin to make yet another mindless tweet…”<<

Uhhh, I think even if Chris Hedges is waiting for another Palin Tweet at least he’s doing something worthwhile and constructive in the mean time (for those that understand context) by attempting to spread some “facts”, as opposed to hanging out on blogs.
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“Who are you, and what do you want?”
Londo Mollari

since i began to read news media some 50 yrs ago [and stopped reading it
completely ten yrs ago] i never read anything but lies.
mind u, 40-50 yrs ago, i did not realize that all canadian and american columnists
were spewing lies, half truths; or omitted facts.

i do think that american journalism was always highly fascist. so, i disagree with
hedges about some journalists being enlightening. thus far i found none.
and even hedges avoids to talk about most astounding issues.

he still thinks that u.s. constitution is ok. and which commands waging
nostra gang wars, poverty, nescience, killing of innocent ‘aliens’, etc., by a cosa nostra gang. tnx

I deleted my profile and bookmark on HuffPo the day that Andrew Breibart’s film editor wrote a blog complaining about Shirley Sherrod’s nerve to sue them.

It was a right wing rant extolling the virtues of Breibart and the grossness of Sherrod.

This happened 3 days after the sale.

JUST THE FACTS, MA’AM

CH: Facts mean little.

No, Chris, they mean everything to a blog worth its bandwidth.

Which is perhaps why we see so little of it displayed? Adversarial debate is one of the most precious fruits of a forum. (NB: forum = a meeting or medium for an exchange of views.)

It is or should be a place where an exchange of opinion elucidates or even educates and hopefully both.  But for that to happen, posts must be based upon facts and not innuendo or aspersions.

But a public forum is also a reflection of its denizens. I lament the Seagull Poster who flies in, craps their post, and flies away – all in a lamentable catharsis to scratch some primeval itch.

A forum is also a sociological phenomenon. I haunt a number of them, like most people, but the difference is that I read also those in Europe. What distinguishes the American from the European blog is the prevalent use of sarcasm rather than reasoning to make a point. Derision was never a substitute for well-articulated reasoning.

One must wonder why this happens – but no doubt it would make a good study subject for some psychologist’s doctoral thesis.

What is the consequence? I call it the dumbing down of America. Where reason is cast aside and replaced with wit or irony, defamation or even boring catharsis.  But debating the facts? Nah … that’s too difficult. It requires some research, whilst just below our fingers is the largest resource library in the world – and most of it linkable.

QUO VADIS?

I dunno. Maybe give up on this wastrel generation and wait for the next one in hopes it will be slightly more intelligent? Perhaps it will give a Progressive Agenda the chance it needs? Which would be better than the plutocracy that currently inhabits the corridors of power. But for that to happen, a grassroots awakening is necessary. 

Which is still dumbing-down on Hollywood pap-for-the-masses and Nintendo Games, playing couch-potato.  Waiting for Sarah Palin to make yet another mindless tweet.

Heaven help us …

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I got sucked into supplying content for the Huffington Post, during the last wretched presidential election. My ego was assuaged when they linked to my blogs. Hey what did I know? Despite being a professional writer for years, I had only got involved with computers and the Internet in September of 2007. I was naive enough to actually believe the Greek millionaire was trying to do some good. I should have thought about this: anyone who was once a big time supporter of Newt Gingrich… well, I now get the picture.
Chris Hedges remarks about the way creativity is used in this society is quite accurate. Commerce is a bloody cruel joke. The rich bastards always seem to win.
I can only hope that some people will think about this, whenever somebody praises, Bill Maher, Steve Jobs. Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann… baby, these people belong to a club that you will never be invited to join. This is what Mayhill Fowler learned.
Hedges critique of this whole thing is fierce… as it should be.

The loss of good, investigative is pernicious. Because Ken and Barbie are delivering the news, our information, and therefore our democracy, are slipping away.