RatS 2: Matt Taibbi Meets the Censored

We had intended to make RatS a regular thing but, like many plans of mice and Marty, it fell by the wayside. Maybe we’ll try again.

Matt Taibbi is the nerdish heir to Hunter S. Thompson. He is simultaneously unleashed and meticulous. He also has a habit of pissing off Democrats, and plenty on the left, by suggesting that there is much more wrong with America than Trump and Republicans. Taibbi had the temerity to argue, early and strongly, that Trump’s win over Hillary wasn’t because of Russian hackers, but because of the general ineptness and meaninglessness of the Democratic Party, and the specific awfulness of Clinton. Taibbi is also a careful and incisive critic of the news media; Hate Inc. is a must.

Recently, Taibbi has been pissing off his one-would-think allies, and pretty much everyone, by arguing that seeking to throw assholes off Twitter and Facebook and the like is dooming us to doom. Somehow he’s just not comfortable with Zuck and Jack and their fellow titans acting as our guardian angel censors. Taibbi is now reporting on the early stages of this corporatised censorship, interviewing some of people who have been whacked around. His interviews, and pretty much everything by Taibbi, are well worth reading.

Meet the Censored: Katie Halper, and the video that got her fired (added 07/10/22)

Meet the Censored: Kara Dansky, plus Taibbi’s (paywalled) review of What is a Woman? (added 09/06/22)

Meet the Censored: Chris Hedges (paywalled – added 02/04/22)

Meet the Censored: Josiah Zayner (added 27/09/21)

Meet the Censored: David Fuller (added 03/09/21)

Meet the Censored: Paul Jay (added 18/08/21)

Meet the Censored: Hitler (added 31/07/21)

Meet the Censored: Matt Orfalea (added 26/07/21)

Meet the Censored: Bret Weinstein (added 26/07/21)

Meet the Censored: C. J. Hopkins (added 26/07/21)

Meet the Censored: The U.S. Right to Know (added 15/04/2021)

Meet the (Unsuccessfully) Censored: Jesse Singal And Katie Herzog (added 22/03/2021)