In an article last month titled “Facebook announces that fake accounts are now coming not just from Russia”, fauxgressive establishment apologia firm ThinkProgress falsely reported that I have been writing for an outlet that is alleged to be part of an Iranian propaganda campaign. I repeatedly brought this false claim to the attention of Casey Michel, the article’s author, telling him that ten seconds of research or any attempt to contact me would have shown him that the articles published by the outlet in question were just reblogs of earlier publications from my platform, but Michel ignored the many notifications he received from myself and my Twitter followers and went on merrily interacting with other posters. As of this writing, the article remains uncorrected.
In the article, Michel documented Facebook’s heroic efforts to shut down alleged Iranian propaganda outlets, ominously warning his readers that “Russia is by no means the only foreign adversary exploiting social media’s inherent openness.” In other articles for ThinkProgress, Michel is repeatedly seen wagging his finger at Facebook and Twitter for not doing more to censor “Russian propaganda”, and in a July article titled “Facebook says both sides share fake news, defends Infowars’ presence on its platform — Mark Zuckerberg has an interesting way of prioritizing ‘high quality news’” another ThinkProgress author criticized Facebook for not censoring Alex Jones. Jones was censored by Facebook the following month.
So I think it’s understandable that those of us who have been warning of the dangers of internet censorship find it a bit funny to see ThinkProgress now complaining that it has been censored by Facebook.
Congratulations to everyone who 1) held up Bill Kristol and the Weekly Standard as a responsible, serious, admirable voice; and 2) urged Facebook to become the arbiters of who could & couldn't be heard on the internet. This is just the start of your work: https://t.co/smtbjHpsH4
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 11, 2018
ThinkProgress reports that its traffic from Facebook has been slashed by eighty percent due to a “fact check” by the Weekly Standard which, through a series of moronic mental contortions, found ThinkProgress guilty of reporting fake news about Brett Kavanaugh of all things. In a twist of irony which would be delicious if it weren’t so disgusting, the Weekly Standard is one of Facebook’s authorized “fact checkers”, and happens to be the brainchild of none other than bloodthirsty psychopath and rehabilitated #Resistance hero Bill Kristol.
ThinkProgress is part of a very large and diverse branch of progressive punditry whose ultimate job is to help centrist empire loyalists feel like leftist revolutionaries, and since 2016 one of the many appalling consequences of this bizarre environment has been the embracing of Iraq-raping neoconservatives like Kristol and Max Boot by Democratic Party loyalists. In a bid to stay relevant despite having been consistently wrong about literally everything in foreign policy for the last two decades, these murderous ghouls have repackaged themselves as a woke, cuddly alternative to the Trumpian faction of the Republican Party, and have been rewarded for their efforts with regular platforms on MSNBC and the Washington Post.
So with ThinkProgress getting censored by Facebook, you really couldn’t ask for a more clear-cut case of reaping what you sow. Nevertheless, it is wrong for anyone to be deprived of political speech, even if much of their political speech consists of attempts to silence the political speech of others. And if there is anything more gross than political speech being regulated by Silicon Valley plutocrats and a NATO psyop factory, it’s political speech being regulated by Silicon Valley plutocrats, a NATO psyop factory, and Bill Kristol. ThinkProgress should not have its audience restricted.
It’s pretty simple: Facebook has a conservative media outlet serving as a fact checker of progressive content.
Alex Jones wasn’t the hill to die on. This is. https://t.co/U5SYeKsSS3
— Pastor Ben (@BenjaminPDixon) September 11, 2018
All the “let me help you cheer for the establishment while pretending to oppose it” pundits who celebrated Alex Jones’ coordinated de-platforming last month are falling all over themselves to spin this new development in a way that allows them to feel as though they aren’t being proven wrong day after day after day, but of course they are. Facilitating the censorship of anyone’s speech is facilitating the censorship of your own speech in the long run, and we’re not even having to wait long to see it this time around. In a corporatist system of government, corporate censorship is state censorship; the massive new media corporations being implored to regulate which political speech gets an audience and which doesn’t have extensive ties to secretive government agencies and a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
I do not expect ThinkProgress to remain on Facebook’s restricted list for long; the real targets of internet censorship are not partisan outlets which prop up establishment politics and help legitimize America’s two-headed one party system. But that isn’t the point. The point is that Silicon Valley plutocrats, the NATO propaganda firm Atlantic Council, and the Weekly Standard should not be determining who gets an audience in the new media environment and who doesn’t. Nothing that has anything to do with Bill Kristol should ever have any power over anyone. If our choices are between letting people think for themselves and letting the guy who’s always wrong about everything determine what shows up in people’s news feed, the choice is obviously the one which doesn’t involve placing faith in the man who helped deceive America into butchering a million Iraqis.
_____________________
The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for my website, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My articles are entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook, following my antics on Twitter, checking out my podcast, throwing some money into my hat on Patreon or Paypal, or buying my book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers.
Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2
14 responses to “ThinkProgress Censored By Facebook After Cheerleading Facebook Censorship”
“I live in a world surrounded by people who think CNN, John McCain & Bill Kristol are the great heroes of our time. I read your articles and think, “wow, OK, its not just me who sees a world smeared a foot deep in BS”. My only worry is you are preaching to the choir, but even if you are, the choir needs to know we are not alone in the darkness.”
David – I’m in the same situation and get the same reassurance from Caitlin’s work.
I think knowing what is really going on is a good thing for its own sake, although there is frequently not much I can do with the information for now. But it may be useful by and by in ways we can’t see yet.
Here’s something real that makes me feel better, so I will share it in case anyone else feels better when they hear it. There’s a short ad at the front, but it’s easy to skip.
“YouTube blocks Syrian government channels”
“First They Came for Alex Jones, Then for Russian Cable News RT and Syrian TV. Going to War with Russia, Syria, Iran?”
https://www.globalresearch.ca/first-they-came-for-alex-jones-then-for-russian-cable-news-rt-and-syrian-tv-going-to-war-with-russia-syria-iran/5653921
” Facebook’s Partnership with the Atlantic Council (Deep State)”. A warning to the working class!
https://ahtribune.com/us/2469-facebook-atlantic-council.html
Just Now …Happening Now… USA DemMOCkracy is made for TV. .& Hollywood. for profit and Empire. How is Harvey, W. , Hill’s pal doing? The D and R’s support TV , and hope for 50/50 chance for power, while Israel influence in the U.S. Politicians is filled with dual citizens and’profiteers on Both sides? Doe Bernie Support BDS ? Ban Israeli Nukes , and War Crimes. Wage Peace and Truth… Free Assange and others. It is Snowden , and the Ruskies, and Boris and Nastasha that are evil. D and R’s R Evil. kill your televISION.
You can’t tell the players (or their philosophy) without a scorecard. but they certainly should not be censored simply because, via their rants, they have made fools of themselves and become the victims of karma.
New to your blog. Great articles!
Daily, very ominous developments. Thanks for keeping count and informed.
Thanks Caitlin. BS, MS and PhD but not the academic acronyms, rather the informal bullshit, more shit and piled higher and deeper for which the MSM has become infamous.
It seems that the only problem they have its related with losing traffic / revenue!
That’s why all of these scoundrels are worry about being removed from SHITbook… Not because that nonsense “freedom of speech” BS…
It’s all about the MONEY/Profit!
The insanity grows ever louder. I read your work for comfort believe it or not. I live in a world surrounded by people who think CNN, John McCain & Bill Kristol are the great heroes of our time. I read your articles and think, “wow, OK, its not just me who sees a world smeared a foot deep in BS”. My only worry is you are preaching to the choir, but even if you are, the choir needs to know we are not alone in the darkness. Should we be placing bets on which day it becomes illegal to think for yourself?
David, “Should we be placing bets on which day it becomes illegal to think for yourself?”
That day has already occurred: 6/2/64
And what do you think PC is all about except to prevent people from thinking for themselves?
My bad, that should be 7/2/64
You’ve got something against the Civil Rights Act? But it seems you misunderstand… it allows you to think all the idiotic racist thoughts you want. You simply can’t act on that racism by denying anyone the use of a public amenity because of the color of her skin.
You attract a variety, Caitlin
Jess, yes I very much do have something against the so-called “Civil Rights” act and it has nothing to do with race. There is no such thing as “civil” rights in Nature. CR are a pure political invention created as a power grab by the gubmint. No person has the right to demand that another person provide a product or service to another person (part of the understanding of one of the evils of slavery). The only right we have to demand of our fellow human beings is that everyone must respect the Natural Law Rights (NLR) of each other. That is it. Period. Everything else is nothing more than unjust power grabbing by psychotic busybodies.
Dave’s question was about when will thinking for yourself no longer be legal. The (false) Civil Rights Act of 64 does just this. “Discrimination” is a scary sounding word but all it means is deciding. The question is Who gets to do the deciding?
The (fraudulent) CRA64 eliminated the NLR of human beings of exercising their individual rights of both the Right of Freedom of Association and the Right of Property. This was the subversive goal of the legislation. The Matrix expanded itself vastly on 7/2/64. That immoral and unjust expansion is what I am vehemently against.
But I do agree with you that Catlin’s blog does attract a variety. And this is good and necessary because thoughtful and engaging people attract other thoughtful and engaging people i.e. other open minded, intellectually curious people.