Billy_T wrote:

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Well, i think you know i basically agree about capitalism in general, and i like Jacobin too, i just dont read it very often. Is it a pay-per-view site? I know I’ve read some essays but maybe some of the site is pay-per-view, i dont remember.

Also, keep in mind the audience RT is aiming at — its a general joe and jane American audience. As well as young people, minorities and poor folks.
Jacobin is aimed at an audience more steeped in political and academic verbiage. Etc.

I dont see any way out of this ‘situation,’ BT. Things have always changed in the past, but in the past the Environment was not bleeding this bad, and the technologies-of-control-and-destruction were nowhere near this powerful.
Blah, blah blah. Go rams 🙂

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“…Talk of democracy has little content when big business rules the life of the country through its control of the means of production, exchange, the press and other means of publicity, propaganda and communication.” John Dewey

“…Another disadvantage was that none of the taxi services were running that day; and not because of the eight below zero temperature at game time…”

An ice-bowl? I did not know that. How cold was it in Green Bay for the well-known ice bowl?

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Billy_T wrote:

wv wrote:

Well first off I’ve not seen these ‘ads’. And i have to say, I dont trust Salon or facebook or google or twitter. I would need real EVIDENCE that these ads are
part of a Putin plot. So far all ive seen from the corporate-media is accusations.

I also dont care if RT critiques russia in russia. I would not surprise me in the least if they dont. That to me, is irrelevant. What is relevant to ME, is this: Do they help the AMERICAN public see more clearly? And my answer to that is yes. Definitely. Who the hell else is talking about Zinn and Chomsky ideas on the American corporate media scene? CNN? No. FOX? No. NPR? No. PBS? No. NYTimes? No. Wash Post? No. ABC? No. NBC? No. CBS? No. Talk Radio? No.

RT is it. I dont see any other mega-mainstream-media-organization doing a marxist, radical, leftist critique.

I think RT is a godsend.

I am truly baffled at the opposing views about RT on this board. No big deal, but it does baffle me. Ah well.

Btw, just for the sake of argument, what is the Corporate-capitalist argument against all this “russian propaganda” ? I mean how is it supposed to help Putin? By doing what, exactly?

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WV,

You and I both think they do some good, much needed work on TV. And, obviously, leftists are left out of the American MSM (pretty much) entirely. It’s always a shock to see one appear, and when they do, every century or so, they’re usually mocked — even by “liberal” hosts. I saw that happen when Richard D. Wolff appeared on Chris Hayes’ old Saturday show. Wolff was just being truthful, logical, rational and obvious about our economic system, and Hayes and other panelists — supposedly left of center — all but openly ridiculed him.

Anyway . . .

Again, there’s a huge difference between those shows and those ads. That’s my point. And you really don’t have to “trust” the American MSM in this matter. You can find the ads yourself via all kinds of different venues — and search engines (I use duckduckgo, for example).

Americans who were targeted by them aren’t saying this didn’t happen. No one is really denying it.

Your post has me thinking about another issue, though: When you say RT shows help the American public see more clearly . . . . is that really true? We’ve become so polarized, so tribal, in our own silos . . . I’m wondering: Do non-leftists even tune in to RT? As in, isn’t it more “preaching to the choir” than actually converting anyone to a new view? And aren’t good books, essays, histories, etc. etc. . . . better than any RT TV show in the first place?

============

Well, I glanced at some of the ads, and they really didnt elicit any processing in my brain. I just kinda shrugged. But my point wasn’t that the ads didnt appear, my point was i havent seen proof or evidence that they were planted by Putin or the Russian government. I read an article the other day about how google/twitter/facebook arrived at their conclusion that something was russian, and their criteria was extremely weak.

But i just dont care about any of that. I really dont. Thats just me.

And the reason i dont care is because of how i view the American system now. I view it as a toxic, empire-stew of lies upon lies upon lies upon lies. From ‘public education’ to Advertising to Public Relations, to CIA-lies, NSA-lies, FBI-lies, ‘National-security’ lies, Defense Contractor lies, DNC-lies, Republican-lies, Economic-Lies…. I believe the biosphere (all life) is in danger by this Corporate-Empire-of-Lies.

So thats the context for me. This soul-less corporate-empire-of-lies is now all aflutter because RT is telling Americans that neoliberalism is destroying the biosphere and causing untold suffering — and I’m supposed to be upset about RT? Because its linked to Putin?

I watch RT everyday. Its the single best political website i know of on the internet.

Just my opinion 🙂

And yes, i know they dont dare critique Russia. Thats a separate subject to me.

As for your question about whether anyone actually listens to RT or absorbs their critiques….well….thats another separate subject. I am not optimistic that RT or ANY group is getting through to Americans. I think the Corporate-Empire has damaged most Americans too much now for anything to get through. But i dont wanna go there 🙂

I’m a curmudgeon now, BT. A Vonnegut-curmudgeon.

Carry on,
Go Rams
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I just ordered one of his books for a friend of mine:

I’ll get the October book when the used-book-price comes down a bit 🙂

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interview:https://www.believermag.com/issues/200504/?read=interview_mieville

BLVR: How does a self-described “actual, genuine Trotskyist” connect with readers in a market where in our recent presidential election, our left candidate had to tap dance to prove he was sufficiently warmongering and religious?

CM: I think describing Kerry as “left” is sadly inaccurate. Well, you’ve got to remember, I’m not a leftist trying to smuggle in my evil message by the nefarious means of fantasy novels. I’m a science fiction and fantasy geek. I love this stuff. And when I write my novels, I’m not writing them to make political points. I’m writing them because I passionately love monsters and the weird and horror stories and strange situations and surrealism, and what I want to do is communicate that. But, because I come at this with a political perspective, the world that I’m creating is embedded with many of the concerns that I have. But I never let them get in the way of the monsters. Now that was slightly different with Iron Council, because I had the sense for some years that I wanted to write a third book that operates as a culmination, which was overtly political and precisely about my kind of politics in this world that I’ve created. So it was a book that was, if you like, deeply structured with politics, but that doesn’t mean that it’s a manifesto, that doesn’t mean that it’s an argument disguised as a novel, because even though those politics are central, I know that as a novelist I want to tell a story, and that means that I have to have characters that are engaging. Even if you don’t agree with my politics or don’t give a shit about them, the story has to be engaging. And that’s the great thing about big, political radical movements. For instance, if you read about the Paris Commune, whether or not you agree with the position of the Communards, the Paris Commune is a tremendously exciting story. What I tried to do is write something which works as an exciting story but which treats the politics seriously. All of which is a long-winded way of saying I’ve never had any problems with the American market, because I don’t think I’m patronizing or condescending to readers or trying to convince them of a particular political line. I’m trying to say I’ve invented this world that I think is really cool and I have these really big stories to tell in it and one of the ways that I find to make that interesting is to think about it politically. If you want to do that to, that’s fantastic. But if not, isn’t this a cool monster?

The mighty Tim Rattay had a 141 QB rating against the Rams in that SF game.

link:http://www.footballdb.com/games/boxscore.html?gid=2005091113

Bulger threw it 56 times.

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