Freedom To Communicate, Freedom To Receive Information
Freedom To Communicate, Freedom To Receive Information
Bretigne Shaffer has a very interesting and insightful article about The Atlantic Magazine's latest efforts to crush freedom of speech. I'll not provide excerpts--that wouldn't do Bretigne's article justice. It's well worth reading in its entirety.
This time The Atlantic is going after Substack, but that's just a small part of its much larger agenda.
I have fond memories of reading The Atlantic starting back in the 1970s. Perhaps with the benefit of hindsight I would be more critical, or see the early warning signs. There's a big difference between articles that make you think even tho you may still reach a different conclusion, and articles whose main goal is to mindlessly indoctrinate.
But that's part of the journey, learning to sort out the true and the important. Or as Robbie Robertson wrote, "Ya take what you need and ya leave the rest", a line that has long been a helpful guidepost.
William F. Buckley's “Firing Line” was a positive example of programming with an agenda, but that agenda was in the open. (Outside of genuine science, and even that is a slippery slope, to what extent does “unbiased” even exist?) Buckley made it a point to bring on people with very different viewpoints, and have a pleasant, deep conversation with them.
In the 2000s, The Atlantic deteriorated to the point that its occasionally good articles were outweighed by the junk. The Atlantic went completely off the rails when Donald Trump ran for President, which raised more hindsight questions: To what extent was it a good publication in the past, and what caused the change? New owners, or more akin to slowly turning up the heat until the frogs boil? That analysis for another day, perhaps.
Besides the article below on Lew Rockwell's site, Bretigne also has her own Substack page, and website.