Jeff Bezos’s decision to pull a Washington Post endorsement of Harris is foreboding. But not necessarily for the reasons you think.
    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      161·
      2 months ago

      Everyone should read the story of how the Spanish American War started. Newspapers need reform.

      • rhythmisaprancer@moist.catsweat.com
        11·
        2 months ago

        Well I just spent 30 minutes or so reading about this (on Wikipedia) and am not surprised to see names like Hearst involved. I will admit that I was skeptical about your statement, but it is clear that journalism in the US has a long history of problems and big money ownership. We do need reform, and perhaps that is even more evident in the internet and big money era. Thanks for posting that statement!

  • Optional@lemmy.world
    44·
    2 months ago

    These guys can hear the music. They’ve seen the sides being chosen: Elon Musk and Peter Theil assembling with Trump’s gangster government in waiting. They see Mark Zuckerberg praising Trump as a “badass.” And now they see Bezos getting in line, too.

    What’s remarkable is that Trump didn’t have to arrest Bezos to secure his compliance. Trump didn’t even have to win the election. Just the fact that he has an even-money chance to become president was threat enough.

    Or maybe that’s not remarkable. One of Timothy Snyder’s rules for resisting authoritarians is that “most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given.” People surrender preemptively much more often than you might expect.

    Two weeks ago, Ian Bassin and Maximillian Potter wrote what might be the most prophetic essay of the year. They warned about “anticipatory obedience” in the media.

    Seventeen days later, Bezos made his demonstration.

    To think most of this power is largely based on everyone not deleting an app.

  • humanspiral@lemmy.ca
    141·
    2 months ago

    This is the best post on the issue. We must all offer our teen girls up for a good grope to diaper don, before election, less he declare us “the enemy within”. If Bezos is afraid, what chance do we have?