Censoring in the name of Hillary

When Twitter pulled #WhichHillary it could have been a coincidence.
When Facebook deliberately censored a Wikileaks release on Hillary's emails, it was suspicious.
wikileak.png
However, when I read this by John Pilger, my favorite openly communist writer, it became obvious that this was no coincidence.

On March 23, my article, "A World War has Begun: Break the Silence", was published across the web. As has been my practice for years, I had syndicated it to an international network, including Truthout.com, the liberal American website. Truthout publishes some important journalism, not least Dahr Jamail's outstanding corporate exposes.
Truthout rejected the piece because, said an editor, it had appeared on Counterpunch and had broken "guidelines". I replied that this had never been a problem over many years and I knew of no guidelines.
My recalcitrance was then given another meaning. The article was reprieved provided I submitted to a "review" and agreed to changes and deletions made by Truthout's "editorial committee". The result was the softening and censoring of my criticism of Hillary Clinton, and the distancing of her from Trump. The following was cut:
"Trump is a media hate figure. That alone should arouse our scepticism. Trump's views on migration are grotesque, but no more grotesque than David Cameron. It is not Trump who is the Great Deporter from the United States, but the Nobel
Peace Prize winner Barack Obama... The danger to the rest of us is not Trump, but Hillary Clinton. She is no maverick. She embodies the resilience and violence of a system... As presidential election day draws near, Clinton will be hailed as the first female president, regardless of her crimes and lies - just as Barack Obama was lauded as the first black president and liberals swallowed his nonsense about hope."

The "editorial committee" clearly wanted me to water down my argument that Clinton represented a proven extreme danger to the world. Like all censorship, this was unacceptable. Maya Schenwar, who runs Truthout, wrote to me that my unwillingness to submit my work to a "process of revision" meant she had to take it off her "publication docket". Such is the gatekeeper's way with words.

It seems that many liberals are all too eager to embrace the worst authoritarian policies of the right-wing, even before Hillary has won the nomination.
That should send a shiver down your spine, because if this is an example of what the Hillary fans will do when she's out of power, what will they do if she wins it all? Because the chances of them "toning it down" are next to zero once there is so much more on the line.

"It's a nice and convenient myth that liberals are the peacemakers and conservatives the warmongers, but the imperialism of the liberal way may be more dangerous because of its open ended nature - its conviction that it represents a superior form of life [while denying its] self righteous fanaticism."
- historian Hywel Williams

The three examples of censorship above, in addition to Markos' Ides of March post, are just the more obvious examples. If the censorship is out in the open, then you can bet there is much, much more self-censorship going on.

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detroitmechworks's picture

I proudly present a scholarly article on the word Fuck.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZkb4TPI-Lo]

And it HURTS to read the Self-Censorship for years.

Considering OPOL got censored today as a warning to the others, I Feel the urge to go even farther into offensive comedy, just to piss off people.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SJIh2WLOQA]

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

Bollox Ref's picture

Sometruthout.com

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Very clever.

BTW, I put this up on TOP.
One of the first responses was to redefine the word "censorship".

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Bollox Ref's picture

The pretzel logic there knows no bounds.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

Bollox Ref's picture

served up at you know where.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

I'd totally forgotten to rip my SD to my bottomless iPod classic. I just bought enough batteries for my heir to run it all day for decades after I die, too. My CDs may warp or break, but if she keeps this and the thumb drive and TINY chip monster store of all my music in a safe, cool dry place, she'll never be without a lot of great sounds. Not to go further off topic, but thanks for reminding me how deliciously warped Don Fagen was and IS.. he sings my state of mind when I cartoon.

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******************************

Muerte al fascismo. Muerte a la tiranía. colapso total de los que promueven tampoco. A la pared con el unico porciento%

Raggedy Ann's picture

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

pfiore8's picture

i know better than to go there. i understand these fools are indoctrinated. and yet when i hear something like they "redefine the word censorship" it makes me want to spit blood. really.

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“There are moments which are not calculable, and cannot be assessed in words; they live on in the solution of memory… ”
― Lawrence Durrell, "Justine"

detroitmechworks's picture

Only the Government can be a Censor
Anything Broadcast or posted is done on a Privately owned business
Therefore, if the owner of the venue declares certain things will not be said, it's NOT censorship
Because Private Property Trumps the Constitution

Which Taken to its logical conclusion means that you should be able to rape and kill people on your own property.

Which is insane, but I'm sure some schmuck would take the case to defend it.
And therein lies the problem.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

The censorship in the news media is an oxymoron because they are privately owned.

Yes, that is the GOS now.

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pfiore8's picture

in my home, i am the censor. take it or leave it and i get that.

but dkos is a political site about issues like censorship. freedom. liberty. power to the people. although kos doesn't think much of freedom or privacy. but he leads those in his "community" with their quilts and fund raisers to think he cares.

so no, i don't think they get to redefine it ... even as they shut down the discussion.

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“There are moments which are not calculable, and cannot be assessed in words; they live on in the solution of memory… ”
― Lawrence Durrell, "Justine"

is bowing to the altar of authoritarianism.

in a democracy, a real democratic democracy, all voices are equal and hierarchy is flattened, if not eradicated. This means that censorship is any act of limiting expression that isn't incitement to violence or bigotry done by any group which wields power or privilege. Only those who believe in authoritarianism would define censorship as limited to government.

I've been distant from DKos for a while, as I don't identify as a capitalist or a big "d" Democrat. But, the trajectory of the site has gotten more and more Orwellian.

When the other party has become outright fascists you can hide your totalitarianism in the shadows of their wings. I'm profoundly uncomfortable there, now.

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SnappleBC's picture

Originally neutral in tone, the term has come to mean the suppression of ideas or images by the government or others with authority. - source

Honestly, when you read the whole article it's unclear whether the authority KOS has over his own web site rises to the level of censorship even under the second part of that definition. You might just as well think of it as "establishing community standards". For instance, if we got someone on this site who solely posted long-winded right-wing diatribes or, perhaps, posted advertisements for products, would it be censorship if the site owners banned them?

Insofar as I'm concerned though, debating semantics misses the point. This is like the morons over on GOS debating whether the US was a "true oligarchy" all the while ignoring the fact that the bottom 90% of income earners wield no statistically significant impact on government policy. Who cares what label applies? The fact remains and one has to decide if it's an acceptable form of governance.

Back to KOS's setting of community standards, the bottom line is that the site is pro-Hillary and will not allow a fact-based discussion about her negative sides. Do I really care whether that's censorship or something else? No. What I care about is that in doing so the site promotes oligarchy.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

pfiore8's picture

for writing right-wing diatribes since I believe all view points are welcome. but rude behavior? well:

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“There are moments which are not calculable, and cannot be assessed in words; they live on in the solution of memory… ”
― Lawrence Durrell, "Justine"

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They say that there's a broken light for every heart on Broadway
They say that life's a game and then they take the board away
They give you masks and costumes and an outline of the story
And leave you all to improvise their vicious cabaret-- A. Moore

Sometruthout.com

Oh geeze, I barklaughed so loud I scared my 18 pound cat right out of the chair with me. He's willing to pretzel to be close, but not if I'm gonna make a lot of noise.

Other than catcomics, not a lot to laugh at these days.
[video:https://youtu.be/4nd01DwuHwE]
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8qOb8mdTTU]

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******************************

Muerte al fascismo. Muerte a la tiranía. colapso total de los que promueven tampoco. A la pared con el unico porciento%

It takes a Democrat to screw a Democrat. Bubba and Obama proved that. Hillary won't be playing 11th dimensional chess, she'll be divining the true word of the mighty overlord.

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"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

detroitmechworks's picture

It was always Fizzbin.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v77SF4TFUoM]

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

RantingRooster's picture

Who owns them? Follow the money I guess is the old adage no? This censorship crap is getting bad, hell Pravada's censorship of Soviet society couldn't touch what is happening here in the US. John Pilger of all people. The man is a great journalist. I've been reading him for years and years.

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C99, my refuge from an insane world. #ForceTheVote

Miep's picture

Locks up your account by pretending to think you have a virus. This is a relatively new silencing tactic.

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Stay on track. Stay in lane. Don't throw rocks.

Yohannon's picture

I use Macs almost exclusively. And no, no matter how much the Windows wonks try to spin it, there are STILL not Mac OS X viruses in the wild, only "proof of concept" attempts that are more trojans that require a LOT of stupidity before you can do any real damage to yourself, much less farcebook.

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Just another refugee from the Daily Chaos. Wink

Miep's picture

Between that and the erratic moderation and convoluted software, it can be hard to tell just exactly what is happening. But it's always fun for them to make the product (users) jump through hoops.

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Stay on track. Stay in lane. Don't throw rocks.

even when it isn't or when it was lampooning bigotry and person following you to figure out your writing, for instance, reported you; you'll get an Email warning from FB.

I got two, and replied to them indirectly by criticizing FB's board and its kowtowing to hypocritical bullies; and no more warning, and no "virus" attack or anything.. and it's been months.

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******************************

Muerte al fascismo. Muerte a la tiranía. colapso total de los que promueven tampoco. A la pared con el unico porciento%

Oldest Son Of A Sailor's picture

Isn't that a CIA Data Mining Operation?

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"Do you realize the responsibility I carry?
I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House."

~John F. Kennedy~
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