defend the indefensible: glenn fucking greenwald

Nah people on here probably want to pretend that didn’t happen.

why do you want to pretend that didn't happen?

Huh? No Glenn is right wing to such an in your face extent currently that people might have to accept that he was always like that. If you look through this long thread you see examples of people being in denial about that.

yeah hes been retweeting okeefe for years

glad gabbneb has returned to be really awful at posting on ILX, 2020 is now complete

yeah hes been retweeting okeefe for years

gg got very enamored with okeefes bravery in questioning the russia hoax, iirc at one point even praising him for his "commitment to evidence", which LOL ok glenn

the left is portrayed as eager to cancel anyone for the slightest misstep but it actually has such low standards for its heroes. leftists will embrace any micro-celebrity who vaguely seems share some of their enemies, regardless of why, or how awful their other positions are

like your average berniebro or chomskyite is embarrassed by this guy now but did he ever demonstrate any kind of structural or materialist analysis of anything back when they were hailing him as some kind of anti-imperialist hero? where was the leftism, ever?

GG was always a semi-libertarian dude with a few pet issues that initially put him in opposition to the Bush admin. I don’t think he ever cared about the Left as much as he cared about telecom immunity or whatnot

I don’t think he’s anything resembling an economic libertarian. he’s just too much of a narcissist to realize that the alliances he forms with libertarians in pursuit of inflating his ego on his pet issues can lead to net harm

I would be interested to see if anybody could actually assemble a coherent ideology from a bulleted list of positions gg has held. As pointed out, he can’t even stick to libertarianism

Self-mythologizing contrarianism?

Feels wrong to keep bagging on this guy w/o Morbs around tbqh

trying to do the same for any average person might also be pretty difficult, I’m probably a good (or bad) example too based on my admixture of strong views on foreign policy and national security plus progressive domestic / social democratic whatever, but I’m not nearly egotistical enough to pretend to be a pundit

he wears flip-flops and the house stinks of unwashed dogs

trying to do the same for any average person might also be pretty difficult, I’m probably a good (or bad) example too based on my admixture of strong views on foreign policy and national security plus progressive domestic / social democratic whatever, but I’m not nearly egotistical enough to pretend to be a pundit

― sound of scampo talk to me (El Tomboto), Sunday, December 20, 2020 7:05 PM (thirty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

don’t forget humble!!

is that supposed to be a zing at me? pot kettle buddy

aw tom I’m just joshin

Lightly punch me in the shoulder and grab me another beer

i don't remember many people ever "hailing him as some kind of anti-imperialist hero," greenwald has always been a fairly divisive person. but he was an interesting and useful writer for a long time, and there are plenty of people who are worth reading who don't "demonstrate any kind of structural or materialist analysis."

shitloads of people have treated this asshole as a hero for over a decade

he was an interesting and useful writer for a long time couple of years in Bush's first term

i think one's view of greenwald in the obama years largely depends on whether you think snowden did a noble thing or not.

I view Snowden’s results as pretty “neutral good” and Snowden the person as “a huge dick who had no business being in the job” and GG’s role in all of it as “a cipher who took a lot of credit for winning the source lottery”

his later treatment of Reality Winner proves he has no idea what he’s actually doing or whether he stands for anything

and that’s my very muted ilx version of these opinions of course, god forbid I say how I actually feel about anything to do with natsec on this forum

the left is portrayed as eager to cancel anyone for the slightest misstep but it actually has such low standards for its heroes. leftists will embrace any micro-celebrity who vaguely seems share some of their enemies, regardless of why, or how awful their other positions are

― Left, Friday, December 18, 2020 2:46 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink

i don’t think gg ever ran afoul of pc idpol left did he? that’s the cancellous faction

dude he’s been taking paid appearances on tucker carlson for years are you joking

he goes on carlson to trash democrats though, which the left doesn’t care about, not to like, bash trans ppl or criticize defund the police. his foreign policy focus keeps him mostly out of hot water, unlike say Lee Fang who constantly steps on rakes

the act of being on tucker carlson is an endorsement of white supremacy

i don’t think gg ever ran afoul of pc idpol left did he? that’s the cancellous faction

― flopson, Sunday, December 20, 2020 10:49 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

not directly, but one of my primary issues with him is that gg is a big free speech supporter which necessarily involves being friends with and promoting the work of jesse singal

k3v otm, essentially

There is no reason to appear on a sniveling white supremacist's show unless you think your values are so unassailable that the white supremacist could never sully them.

His early career is knee-deep with sniveling white supremacists, so he's actually come full circle.

and that’s my very muted ilx version of these opinions of course, god forbid I say how I actually feel about anything to do with natsec on this forum

this sentence has an ominous energy

It pretty much boils down to “I think spy agencies and the military should continue to exist - it’s how Presidents choose to use them that’s the problem, & mostly because the electorate doesn’t give two shits about foreign policy except in the most simplistic and xenophobic ways possible” are you still scared

"I love it when we do coups"

i don’t think gg ever ran afoul of pc idpol left did he

oh he did, many times, it's more he didn't run afoul of the unpc anti-idpol left which was/is eager to shout down (i.e. cancel) anyone who calls out their fav celebrities on their bullshit (never forget russell brand)

wait are there ppl beyond trash island who still care about russell brand

no but his persecution by PC harpies was a major galvanising event for the current iteration of anti-idpol leftism

For a...unique definition of "major," sure.

Left, you've been busy the last 24 hours here.

fwiw i don't oppose the continued existence of spy agencies but i think it's good that the public now knows about the US government's mass surveillance programs and bad that the government tried to conceal them.

The last time I heard anyone give a shit about Brand, they were roasting him for his shock that “working class men” used the word apricot.

no but his persecution by PC harpies was a major galvanising event for the current iteration of anti-idpol leftism

― Left, Monday, December 21, 2020 8:56 AM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

buddy you've got the worst case of twitter brain i've ever seen

what I was alluding to was the k-punk essay which continues to be influential on the UK/US pop left. several british leftists I've interacted with have blamed critics of it (like me) for the author's death. so I'm bitter

xp this is a glenn greenwald thread

im not saying it’s good that gg went on tucker carlson or he shouldn’t have been cancelled for it, just that he didn’t get cancelled by the left for it

one of my primary issues with him is that gg is a big free speech supporter which necessarily involves being friends with and promoting the work of jesse singal

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Monday, December 21, 2020 7:56 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

that gg isn’t cancelled by the left the way singal is proves my point tho

he didn't run afoul of the unpc anti-idpol left which was/is eager to shout down (i.e. cancel) anyone who calls out their fav celebrities on their bullshit (never forget russell brand)

― Left, Monday, December 21, 2020 8:50 AM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

nah this is just finger-pointing and judging from your ilx posts you’re just too knee-deep in left factionalism to see it (“the pc idpol left cancels people” “no the anti-pc un-idpol left cancel people!”) both groups constantly *try* to cancel ppl; it’s essentially the only political power they have. id argue pc cancellation is somewhat more effective; only like 0.1% of people are marxists but the vast majority of people don’t want to be perceived as bigots. calling someone a neoliberal doesn’t really stick the way racist, transphobic etc does

tucker is...semi cancelled? "out at his own outlet" merits at least that imo

so tucker carlsons show getting cancelled by fox cancels gg on the left by transitivity?

tucker was cancelled by libs and the center pulling his ad revenue, no? as has been clear for years now the left no longer has a monopoly on cancelling