My 2009 story on Peter Thiel bankrolling James O'Keefe's ACORN "exposé" barely made waves. A decade later, we must square why:
1. Thiel is still a major player
2. The NAACP & US govt took O'Keefe so seriously they made poor Shirley Sherrod resign villagevoice.com/2009/09/22/con…
1. Thiel is still a major player
2. The NAACP & US govt took O'Keefe so seriously they made poor Shirley Sherrod resign villagevoice.com/2009/09/22/con…
Thiel is a powerful & terribly understudied player in US politics. He lives inside in the very strange myth that white gay men are somehow leftists and/or deeply concerned about LGBTQ+ rights broadly. Yet he is deeply conservative, deeply racist & prone to tech authoritarianism.
To my surprise, "Taxpayers Clearing House" is still up on YouTube! Thiel's ppl admitted to me they'd given $ to O'Keefe, who used it to make a video (w Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyrie"!!!) to dupe Black ppl w a "giveaway" to make them look greedy & stupid
This was my 1st ever journalism "scoop." I thought I'd hit it big! A billionaire on the record saying he'd bankrolled a racist, notorious liar!
The story had EVERYTHING—racism! A gay! A scam! This exciting new platform everyone called FACEBOOK!
Mainstream media DID NOT CARE.
The story had EVERYTHING—racism! A gay! A scam! This exciting new platform everyone called FACEBOOK!
Mainstream media DID NOT CARE.
So we must reckon with how long Thiel has played the mainstream media for dupes.
But also, we must revisit what he destroyed on the way: Gawker—a site whose ethos woulda helped us a HELLUVA lot more in the Trump era than most of what we've got in Washington—and ACORN!
But also, we must revisit what he destroyed on the way: Gawker—a site whose ethos woulda helped us a HELLUVA lot more in the Trump era than most of what we've got in Washington—and ACORN!
ACORN was perhaps THE most powerful organizing force among Black & Brown ppl in the US for awhile. They helped Black & Brown folx access housing, organize & register to vote.
Thiel-backed-O'Keefe took them down in his "pimp" scam.
But they didn't do it alone.
Thiel-backed-O'Keefe took them down in his "pimp" scam.
But they didn't do it alone.
ACORN helped register ppl to vote, which helped Barrack Obama get into office.
But when O'Keefe's Thiel-backed lies about the "pimp" story broke on Breitbart "news," these lies were believed by the mainstream media!
And the DEMOCRATS killed ACORN!!! nbcnews.com/id/32917270/ns…
But when O'Keefe's Thiel-backed lies about the "pimp" story broke on Breitbart "news," these lies were believed by the mainstream media!
And the DEMOCRATS killed ACORN!!! nbcnews.com/id/32917270/ns…
The very party which depends on Black & Brown voters KILLED one of the biggest, grass-roots, Black & Brown led voter registration organizations which had helped propel the first African American president into office!
Yes, a Thiel-backed O'Keefe Breitbart "news" story did that, but the MSM ("mainstream media" not "men who have sex w men") & the Democrats fell for the lies & killed ACORN.
Then just months later, Breitbart "news" went after poor Shirley Sherrod—& MSM and Dems fell for it again!
Then just months later, Breitbart "news" went after poor Shirley Sherrod—& MSM and Dems fell for it again!
THEN Thiel went to war against Gawker, a "rude" news site he allegedly was angry at bc it had "outed" him. (It hadn't.) huffpost.com/entry/gawker-d…
And Thiel backed the Hulk Hogan in the Gawker lawsuit. (Hogan is heard on tape talking abt "fucking niggers.") gawker.com/hulk-hogan-ref…
And Thiel backed the Hulk Hogan in the Gawker lawsuit. (Hogan is heard on tape talking abt "fucking niggers.") gawker.com/hulk-hogan-ref…
Thiel—in a dynamic we've seen too much lately—appealed to feeling oppressed as a (billionaire) gay man, despite that he is one of the RICHEST MEN on earth—so rich that he is "looking into" how to harvest young ppls' blood so he can live to be 120 vanityfair.com/news/2016/08/p…
And while we should reckon with the unstudied power Thiel has as a central figure in Silicon Valley, Facebook, the Trump administration, Breitbart, and the financing of the likes of huckster James O'Keefe, he didn't do his damage without help ->
And the folks who helped Thiel/O'Keefe/Breitbart achieve their conservative vision of a fractured, white supremacist America SHAMEFULLY include
—The NAACP
— The 11th, Dem controlled congress
—Obama's USDA
—& mainstream media (which fell for lies & snickered as Gawker died)
—The NAACP
— The 11th, Dem controlled congress
—Obama's USDA
—& mainstream media (which fell for lies & snickered as Gawker died)
Indeed, perhaps THE lesson here is that Thiel slipped by w/o much scrutiny bc IF he were put under the level of scrutiny of Trump or Zuckerberg, it would expose the vile ways media & liberal giants (including Obama) have been mere pawns in executing his vision for America.
Grades are in but if any students are still reading, here's some economically unhelpful advice:
Write a story ppl will still wanna read 10 yrs later.
Look past the political football (@themattmager).
Go to ppl like @pocojump & @edroso for advice.
You'll feel better for it.
Write a story ppl will still wanna read 10 yrs later.
Look past the political football (@themattmager).
Go to ppl like @pocojump & @edroso for advice.
You'll feel better for it.
@themattmager @pocojump @edroso (And yes, as @couchgroove notes, there's a reason we are discussing this today)
vanityfair.com/news/2019/12/p…
vanityfair.com/news/2019/12/p…
Would love to talk to you about, @JohnAvlon!
