Thread by @PnictogenHorses

#IdentityPolitics. #IdPol. neither seems to be a popular hashtag. I'm not sure that I've seen the term that often lately; political propaganda has fads and changes of weather; buzzwords float into and out of fashion.

@mtaibbi is, here, *practicing* "identity politics".

(1/x)

https://twitter.com/mtaibbi/status/1619826841275224064

that is to say, he's sheltering from criticism behind the shield of his "independence"—that's the *personal brand* that @mtaibbi has established for himself.

"independent" is a highly politicized and *dishonest* political identity; usually it's a straightforward lie.

(2/x)

@mtaibbi is not an independent actor.

he's too cagey to admit that he's got financial ties to @elonmusk, but "insider trading" and corrupt #journalism are *in vogue* these days; all the elite influencers of the Taibbi / @EliLake / @jbarro set undoubtedly play the markets.

(3/x)

in all probability they don't even think of it as corruption, merely as "putting their money to work"—all the #business and #finance propaganda has made "passive income", i.e. gambling on #investment and #cryptocurrency and the like, seem like a routine and harmless thing.

(4/x)

the mere expression "putting money to work" is a falsity; #money is inanimate, and does not "work". real human beings do have to work, however, in able to make @mtaibbi's or @jbarro's #investment portfolios "grow" (again it's like the money just...makes itself get bigger.)

(5/x)

@RonaldReagan, the @GOP's witless grinning postercard President, helped inaugurate the blossoming of corruption and moral decay in the professional world—the free mixing of #politics and #journalism with #business and #finance. Reagan's cabinet were crooks of this sort.

(6/x)

the Reaganites were people who loved their power to play #business off against #government, using friendships and sweetheart deals (and fraud) to scam huge amounts of money from the public treasury. now, everybody does it. @BillClinton and @HillaryClinton are rich from it.

(7/x)

beyond doubt @mtaibbi is just as mixed up in this freewheeling culture as anybody else. he's in a highly privileged and frankly rather *cozy* sort of propaganda job, so he's already got a lot of money to "put to work", i.e. he's likely vested in lots of #business ventures.

(8/x)

and if *any* of his "passive income" is tied to @elonmusk, then @mtaibbi has been *bought* by #ElonMusk. Matt Taibbi would have a _conflict of interest_: as a journalist (supposedly) he's got a public duty to the truth, but if he's hoping Musk will make him *rich*...

(9/x)

...then @mtaibbi has a straightforward conflict of interest between @elonmusk and his duty to the public, as a member of the Fourth Estate—however "independent" and "nuanced" a journalist Matt Taibbi pretends to be, he's still supposed to have some professional ethics.

(10/x)

I myself think that there's absolutely no reason why any sensible human being should believe a single word that Mr. @mtaibbi says, writes, types, or scribbles.

I believe that he has clearly shown himself as a traitor to #journalism, in fact.

~Mona Drafter of Pnictogen

@threadreaderapp unroll

@UnrollThread