On "Radio War Nerd" talking about Twittergarchs and Matt Taibbi
I was on Radio War Nerd with John Dolan and Mark Ames this week. We talked a bit about the disastrous trip Evgenia and I took to Russia this autumn, but mostly we discussed the latest spectacle of our bifurcated Perky Pat layout political system: Elon Musk’s “leaking” of The Twitter Files and the two journalists he entrusted with properly handling his political/public relations op: Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss.
From RWN:
Friend of the show Yasha Levine joins us to discuss the big Twitter brouhaha, journalism in the age of oligarchy, former eXile colleague Matt Taibbi, and Yasha's doomed family trip to Russia on the eve of Putin's mobilization drive...
There’s a lot to be said about these leaks — and you can listen to us discuss them from various angles. One of the saddest things about them is that the people on both sides of this holographic media fight really are horrible, and yet we’re supposed to get all emotionally involved in it and pick one oligarchic faction — either TEAM LIB or TEAM MAGA — and root for it like it’s our lord and savior. All the while, nothing about this drama will have any real impact on anyone in America. It’s just feeding the political-entertainment complex and the rich assholes and their hanger-ons that feed off of it.
—Yasha Levine
PS: Matt Taibbi might position himself as a heroic crusader against cancel culture these days. But there’s a rather pitiful backstory to it all. I wrote about it a couple of years ago — check it out if you haven’t read it yet.
Its a pleasure hearing the three of you talk...
“Banger” of an episode! It seems all this is more spectacle that doesn’t affect normal people. Once again we get a view into the lives of the elite instead of opportunities to better our own.
I listened to this while biking 57 miles in pouring, cold rain for over the duration of the episode. Soaked and shivering but the pod kept on. 😀