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Adventures in Alternet-land

Submitted by Alcuin on Wed, 12/21/2011 - 6:49am
Departments: 
Department of Stop it! You're killing me!
Thread: 
Fascism Rising

I went out of town on vacation in early November and when I returned, I decided to go hang out on Alternet for awhile. I had been told that it was a "center-right" site, but I didn't believe it. Well, I'm here to report that it is, indeed, a center-right site and might even qualify as a right-wing site, since there are so many Paul-, Rand-, and Obama-bots over there. I canceled my subscription to Alternet this morning, after posting a farewell message to one of the posters. I'm sure I won't be missed - a few will be shouting, "don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out", no doubt.

I've been treated well here - I hope that I won't wander far again! On the other hand, maybe I'll be able to recharge my batteries here and then go out and try slaying a few more dragons. Those dragons are getting bigger and bigger, aren't they? Particularly after a huge majority of both houses of Congress and Obama signed off on the Constitution-shredding NDAA bill. Way, to go, fascists!!

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Submitted by Paul_Lukasiak on

Because that is a right wing site -- Alternet.org is a progressive site that I see no evidence of significant randian/paulian influence.

Submitted by Alcuin on

I was unaware that there was an Alternet.com. No, I was hanging out on Alternet.org. For comments about Rand, go here.

For Obamabots, go here

I don't have a Paul post, but I'm sure there have been some on Alternet before.

The bottom line, I suppose, is how "progressive" is defined. I got tired of being called a "right-wing troll" on the Obamabot link and decided that I had had more than enough of Alternet. But I guess, being a socialist, I never fit there anyway. I suspect that Eugene Debs would not agree with his era being called the Progressive Era.

I'm glad to be back at Corrente, where posters are treated with respect and not called profane names.

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Submitted by Jeff W on

Well, I had the impression AlterNet was an aggregator site, along the lines of Truthout but its About page says it “creates original journalism” also—I guess these people do that. It seems to me to be the usual progressive/Democratic mix, tilting more to Democratic (than, say, Truthout) with occasional pieces from Booman, Digby, Think Progress, and others.

It's pretty easy to see how progressives and socialists would be labeled as “right-wing trolls” by Obamabots—anything that did not endorse supporting President Obama or the Democratic Party line would be viewed as necessarily supporting the “other side.” Mainstream US politics is, by its very nature, binary.

Submitted by Alcuin on

Some time ago, I posted a piece here about liberal foundations and re-visited that topic after reading your post. Here is what Sourcewatch has to say about the Independent Media Institute, which funds Alternet, along with other organizations. I think the more we know about the "progressive gatekeepers", the better off we all are. I'm sure if Alternet started posting articles on socialism that many of those foundations supporting it would not renew their support. I don't find Alternet to be all that "progressive", but that says more about my socialist beliefs than it does about anything else. On the other hand, maybe it really is "progressive" - progressive in the sense that the reforms of the Progressive Era took the heat off of the capitalists for a little while.

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