Grayzone Appreciation Thread - Higgins was expelled from the Department of Journalism

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > Grayzone Appreciation Thread - Higgins was expelled from the Department of Journalism

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BrutalistMcDonalds: Oct 4, 2012; Lipstick Apathy

paul_soccer12 posted:

I regret to inform you that Max Blumenthal has become very stupid

throwing 15 million people off medicare for freeeeeeedom woooooo hoooooo this is the dumbzone

https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1492371738608418816

# ? Feb 12, 2022 07:19

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 11, 2024 05:51

Goast: Jul 23, 2011; by VideoGames

who cares lmao

# ? Feb 12, 2022 10:28

Pener Kropoopkin: Jan 30, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
(and can't post for 17 days!)

if disease is what the US-Canada Demon Cracker Complex wants then let them have it.

# ? Feb 12, 2022 10:31

Goast: Jul 23, 2011; by VideoGames

"we" made that choice over a year ago time to roll around in it

# ? Feb 12, 2022 11:16

paul_soccer12: Jan 5, 2020; by Fluffdaddy

Congrats to Ben on getting away

# ? Feb 12, 2022 16:30

AnimeIsTrash: Jun 30, 2018; Can't post for 5 hours!

Kkklanda

# ? Feb 12, 2022 16:36

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

Max fell for another color revolution

It is very funny because when I explain the 2014 Maidan coup to people now I've been telling them it was like if "Trucker protest" actually succeeded in getting the government to resign.

# ? Feb 12, 2022 17:09

Southpaugh: May 26, 2007; Smokey Bacon

Max getting in on greenwalds shtick of just disagreeing with libs.

# ? Feb 13, 2022 03:55

Crowsbeak: Oct 9, 2012; by Azathoth; Lipstick Apathy

Southpaugh posted:

Max getting in on greenwalds shtick of just disagreeing with libs.

The correct and sensible position.

Speaking of.

https://mobile.twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1492371738608418816

# ? Feb 13, 2022 17:07

Atrocious Joe: Sep 2, 2011

looking forward to fighting for the Constitution and restoring the US to when it was good.

# ? Feb 13, 2022 17:16

Greg Legg: Oct 6, 2004

Atrocious Joe posted:

looking forward to fighting for the Constitution and restoring the US to when it was good.

We really need to make america great again because it sucks right now.

# ? Feb 13, 2022 18:36

Crowsbeak: Oct 9, 2012; by Azathoth; Lipstick Apathy

Greg Legg posted:

We really need to make america great again because it sucks right now.

Socialism makes America Great Again.

# ? Feb 13, 2022 20:12

BrutalistMcDonalds: Oct 4, 2012; Lipstick Apathy

smaga

# ? Feb 14, 2022 04:06

fart simpson: Jul 2, 2005; DEATH TO AMERICA

AnimeIsTrash posted:

Kkklanda

# ? Feb 14, 2022 07:51

R. Guyovich: Dec 25, 1991

guy shouting incoherently, waving the us and nazi flags: now THIS is someone who will be easy to win over to communism

# ? Feb 14, 2022 08:26

Crowsbeak: Oct 9, 2012; by Azathoth; Lipstick Apathy

R. Guyovich posted:

guy shouting incoherently, waving the us and nazi flags: now THIS is someone who will be easy to win over to communism

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux5cQbO_ybw

# ? Feb 14, 2022 17:28

Soap Scum: Aug 8, 2003

so Ben left and started doing Multipolarista because Max's brain broke, right? idk if he's said that publicly or ever will but isn't that the most likely explanation of the split?

# ? Feb 16, 2022 04:51

paul_soccer12: Jan 5, 2020; by Fluffdaddy

I'm assuming

# ? Feb 16, 2022 05:15

Crowsbeak: Oct 9, 2012; by Azathoth; Lipstick Apathy

Too bad Ben became such a lib. Good on Max for standing with Awesome Comrades like Caleb Maupinn.

# ? Feb 16, 2022 06:20

Danann: Aug 4, 2013

https://thegrayzone.com/2020/06/10/wikipedia-formally-censors-the-grayzone-as-regime-change-advocates-monopolize-editing/

snippet posted:

Campaign to blacklist The Grayzone initiated by right-wing Venezuelan opposition supporter

All edits made on Wikipedia are publicly listed. Every article includes an accessible �revision history� page, which shows all materials that were added or removed, at what time, and by what users � although the vast majority of editors are anonymous.

This makes it easy to track down who exactly is pushing a political line on the platform, and how they are abusing the encyclopedia to advance their partisan agenda, blatantly violating Wikipedia�s guidelines mandating a neutral point of view and rejecting advocacy and single-purpose accounts.

An investigation of the editors behind the campaign to blacklist The Grayzone clearly shows that the majority are politically motivated users who exploit Wikipedia to push their sectarian agenda.

In fact, the Wikipedia editor who initiated the official survey to censor The Grayzone is a right-wing Venezuelan opposition supporter who makes no effort to conceal their desire to target outlets with which they politically disagree.

In August 2019, an editor who used the username MaoGo, which was later changed to ReyHahn, initiated a discussion among Wikipedia editors �On the reliability of The Grayzone.�

On their profile, MaoGo/ReyHahn states openly that they are Venezuelan, and the user�s edits make it clear that the editor is strongly supportive of the country�s right-wing opposition and deeply opposed to the leftist Chavista movement and government of President Nicol�s Maduro.

A glance at ReyHahn�s edits showed the user obsessively editing Venezuela-related pages on Wikipedia nearly every single day, for hours per day.
Wikipedia ReyHahn Venezuela
Dozens of Venezuela-related edits by Wikipedia user ReyHahn in just two days

Whether or not this user is being compensated for this editing � which given the hours of work required per day amounts to a job, not just a hobby � is not disclosed, because Wikipedia has no mechanism for enforcing action against conflicts of interest. But it is clear that ReyHahn�s campaign against The Grayzone was at the very least motivated by their political support for the Venezuelan opposition.

Even more troubling, when MaoGo/ReyHahn initiated the complaint, the user did not cite a single example of supposedly unreliable information by The Grayzone. Instead the user cited the participation of Max Blumenthal, Ben Norton, and Anya Parampil in the Sao Paulo Forum, an annual gathering of Latin American leftists, as well as individual comments Norton made outside of his reporting at The Grayzone.

Joining the Venezuelan opposition supporter in the campaign to blacklist The Grayzone was another user, Rosguill. Past edits of this user�s profile make it clear that they identified as a socialist with an obsessive anti-communist axe to grind. In 2018, Rosguill publicly listed their involvement in WikiProject Socialism.

This is yet another example of how editors with a clear political bias are censoring a media outlet because they believe its reporting upsets their sectarian ideology. It is a clear form of behavior that violates Wikipedia�s fundamental principle mandating a neutral point of view.

Rosguill stated outright that The Grayzone is �less than reliable.� Why? As supposed evidence, the politically motivated editor cited The Grayzone�s factual reporting stating that the US government funded the Serbian activist group Otpor. In fact, the New York Times admitted in 2000 that the US Agency for International Development (USAID), National Endowment for Democracy (NED), and International Republican Institute all poured millions of dollars into support for Otpor � an undeniable fact that is ironically also noted on Wikipedia�s own article on Otpor.

However, this bad-faith discussion got the ball rolling for an official editors� debate to censor The Grayzone on Wikipedia.

https://thegrayzone.com/2020/06/11/meet-wikipedias-ayn-rand-loving-founder-and-wikimedia-foundations-regime-change-operative-ceo/

snippet posted:

Jimmy Wales� Randian philosophy, corporate and national security ties come to the surface

Born from seemingly humble beginnings, the Wikimedia Foundation is today swimming in cash and invested in many of the powerful interests that benefit from its lax editorial policy.

The foundation�s largest donors include corporate tech giants Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Craigslist. With more than $145 million in assets in 2018, nearly $105 million in annual revenue, and a massive headquarters in San Francisco, Wikimedia has carved out a space for itself next to these Big Tech oligarchs in the Silicon Valley bubble.

It is also impossible to separate Wikipedia as a project from the ideology of its creator. When he co-founded the platform in 2001, Jimmy �Jimbo� Wales was a conservative libertarian and devoted disciple of right-wing fanatic Ayn Rand.

A former futures and options trader, Wales openly preached the gospel of �Objectivism,� Rand�s ultra-capitalist ideology that sees government and society itself as the root of all evil, heralding individual capitalists as gods.

Wales described his philosophy behind Wikipedia in specifically Randian terms. In a video clip from a 2008 interview, published by the Atlas Society, an organization dedicated to evangelizing on behalf of Objectivism, Wales explained that he was influenced by Howard Roark, the protagonist of Rand�s novel The Fountainhead.

Wikipedia�s structure was expressly meant to reflect the ideology of its libertarian tech entrepreneur founder, and Wales openly said as much.

At the same time, however, Wikipedia editors have upheld the diehard Objectivist Jimmy Wales, as the New York Times put it in 2008, as a �benevolent dictator, constitutional monarch, digital evangelist and spiritual leader.�

Wales has always balanced his libertarian inclinations with old-fashioned American patriotism. He was summoned before the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Operations in 2007 to further explain how Wikipedia and its related technologies could be of service to Uncle Sam.

Wales began his remarks stating, �I am grateful to be here today to testify about the potential for the Wikipedia model of collaboration and information sharing which may be helpful to government operations and homeland security.�

�At a time when the United States has been increasingly criticized around the world, I believe that Wikipedia is an incredible carrier of traditional American values of generosity, hard work, and freedom of speech,� Wales continued, implicitly referencing the George Bush administration�s military occupation of Iraq.

The Wikipedia founder added, �The US government has always been premised on responsiveness to citizens, and I think we all believe good government comes from broad, open public dialogue. I therefore also recommend that US agencies consider the use of wikis for public facing projects to gather information from citizens and to seek new ways of effectively collaborating with the public to generate solutions to the problem that citizens face.�
Wikipedia Jimmy Wales Senate Homeland Security committee
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales testifying before the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Operations in 2007

In 2012, Wales married Kate Garvey, the former diary secretary of ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Their wedding, according to the conservative UK Telegraph, was �witnessed by guests from the world of politics and celebrity.�

Wales� status-quo-friendly politics have only grown more pronounced over the years. In 2018, for instance, he publicly cheered on Israel�s bombing of the besieged Gaza strip and portrayed Britain�s leftist former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn as an anti-Semite.

If anyone has been wondering why Wikipedia's been so succ or right-wing leaning lately, it's because succ and right-wing editors are basically being paid full time to do Wikipedia editing as their job. Oh and they've also basically seized the means of editing - mental production in other words - on the website.

# ? Feb 22, 2022 02:55

paul_soccer12: Jan 5, 2020; by Fluffdaddy

lol

# ? Feb 22, 2022 05:06

Doktor Avalanche: Dec 30, 2008

Crowsbeak posted:

Too bad Ben became such a lib. Good on Max for standing with Awesome Comrades like Caleb Maupinn.

# ? Feb 22, 2022 05:13

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

https://twitter.com/anyaparampil/status/1492326109270183936
https://twitter.com/anyaparampil/status/1492286130775072768
https://twitter.com/anyaparampil/status/1487477191164137472

___

https://twitter.com/anyaparampil/status/1464339020859719682
https://twitter.com/anyaparampil/status/1483505901193646084
https://twitter.com/anyaparampil/status/1483903686048890880
https://twitter.com/anyaparampil/status/1487312383483817984

is this what we call a "problematic fave"

# ? Feb 22, 2022 05:26

comedyblissoption: Mar 15, 2006; Can't post for 5 hours!

she has yet to apologize for her multiple tucker carlson appearances

# ? Feb 22, 2022 16:37

Ringo Roadagain: Mar 27, 2010

https://twitter.com/maxblumenthal/status/1496869792426323969?s=21

# ? Feb 24, 2022 21:38

Ringo Roadagain: Mar 27, 2010

https://twitter.com/realalexrubi/status/1496942395748978696?s=21

https://twitter.com/realalexrubi/status/1496946050434752520?s=21

# ? Feb 24, 2022 21:57

paul_soccer12: Jan 5, 2020; by Fluffdaddy

Ringo Roadagain posted:

https://twitter.com/maxblumenthal/status/1496869792426323969?s=21

uh oh max going full hitchens

# ? Feb 24, 2022 21:59

fart simpson: Jul 2, 2005; DEATH TO AMERICA

paul_soccer12 posted:

uh oh max going full hitchens

how long does he have left?

# ? Feb 25, 2022 15:59

Crowsbeak: Oct 9, 2012; by Azathoth; Lipstick Apathy

paul_soccer12 posted:

uh oh max going full hitchens

How. He is backing the annihilation of a Nazi adjacent regime.

Crowsbeak has issued a correction as of 16:38 on Feb 25, 2022

# ? Feb 25, 2022 16:35

AnimeIsTrash: Jun 30, 2018; Can't post for 5 hours!

https://twitter.com/andrewmcockburn/status/1500121455757078529

# ? Mar 5, 2022 17:47

paul_soccer12: Jan 5, 2020; by Fluffdaddy

In fact they started the war
https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1500330198117535744

# ? Mar 6, 2022 17:49

Horseshoe theory: Mar 7, 2005

AnimeIsTrash posted:

https://twitter.com/andrewmcockburn/status/1500121455757078529

No one better look into the history of Revisionist Zionism... *side eyes nervously*

# ? Mar 6, 2022 17:59

AnimeIsTrash: Jun 30, 2018; Can't post for 5 hours!

https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/548717409377746944?cxt=HHwWgIDEwPPkt50PAAAA

# ? Mar 6, 2022 21:53

V. Illych L.: Apr 11, 2008; ASK ME ABOUT LUMBER

paul_soccer12 posted:

In fact they started the war
https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1500330198117535744

i think perhaps this is going a little too far

# ? Mar 7, 2022 00:58

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

https://twitter.com/briebriejoy/status/1509761929295933440

# ? Apr 1, 2022 06:19

gradenko_2000: Oct 5, 2010; HELL SERPENT; Lipstick Apathy

https://twitter.com/SilksworthPost/status/1514166401530884099?t=XrSnY8E-IX27CkWpdvAFqA&s=19

https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1514062980291301377?t=DJNwpAPjRSJi8zme9pHvrA&s=19

# ? Apr 13, 2022 10:09

Greg Legg: Oct 6, 2004

gradenko_2000 posted:

https://twitter.com/SilksworthPost/status/1514166401530884099?t=XrSnY8E-IX27CkWpdvAFqA&s=19

https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/1514062980291301377?t=DJNwpAPjRSJi8zme9pHvrA&s=19

Holy poo poo.

# ? Apr 13, 2022 11:35