Bigots R(T) US
Hahahahaha … I got banned from RT!
Well … sorta.
I like to get a variety of perspectives on things from a wide range of sources because I ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶e̶n̶e̶m̶y̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ think it’s good to have my views challenged by alternative ideas and points of view.
Unlike many people I know, when RT first started generating a bit of a buzz around these parts, although I have no especial faith in the ̶M̶S̶M̶ ̶propaganda corps owned by a cabal of self-serving, sociopathic plutocrats intent on maintaining a status quo that serves their own venal interests at the expense of the rest of the planet, I didn’t hail it as a champion of free, independent and, above all, impartial news but voiced the, as it quickly transpired, unpopular question of “Oh, yes? Whose agenda is it serving then?”
So, it’s not that I regard it with any less suspicion than I do The Times, The Financial Times, The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Independent, The BBC, CBC, CNN, Newsweek, Sky, Al Jazeera, The NY Times, The Atlantic, Fox, The Sun, The Mail, The Express, Le Figaro, Le Monde, El País, Frankfurter Allgemeine or even Reuters, to name just the non-specialist publications I like to keep up with on a daily basis (along with Medium, of course) — Euronews seems pretty dispassionate in its reporting (it doesn’t have the institutionally right-wing conservative bias of Reuters), but is too lightweight to rely upon for any more than a heads-up re occasional matters the others don’t mention.
But, like the others, I read it to get different ̶p̶r̶o̶p̶a̶g̶a̶n̶d̶a̶ points of view and, hopefully, reduce the risk of my ideas becoming the product of ossified prejudice rather than informed opinion — “What do the KG (used to) B (honest, we’ve got a different name now and everything) want me to think today and why?” is an important question.
Until recently, it seemed to be internationalist in tone — kinda like the BBC World News (serving an agenda, but not crass about it).
A couple of months ago, however, I noticed a distinct change in tone, with article headlines, let alone copy, ranging from blatantly Trumpian WATCH Portland protesters STORM mayor’s apartment lobby after he refuses Trump’s help to quell riots, by way of dog-whistle pro Trump Michelle Obama hails ‘swift & powerful’ protests, decries racism but stays silent on riots in comment on Kenosha shootings, via subtly propagandising Leftist Twitter pundit says MOB JUSTICE ‘will be served’ for 17-year-old Kenosha shooter if court fails to convict (it’s not racist, it’s not about BLM but the ‘leftist’ anarchists in charge of BLM, see ¹ ), to in-your-face islamophobia, misogyny, you name it.
Morbidly fascinated, I continued perusing it now and again, when something caught my eye, and, additionally, started reading the comments section.
And, oh, my f**king GOD!!!
Every second comment … no, actually, about seven out of ten comments … consisting of unabashed antisemitism writ large — the other three ((comments)) making coy use of nested (((parentheses))) ².
So, for as far down as I could be bothered to read them before giving it up as a waste of precious seconds of life I’ll never get back, I started reporting the most egregious examples.
The last three or four days, however, I cannot see any comments on any articles
It appears that my objections to bigotry don’t coincide with RT’s pro-racist editorial slant — or at least RT USA’s (my RSS feed seems to be delivering the US site by default, despite my not having changed it from the root rt.com)
So, I’m not allowed to see comments any more (presumably in case I upset someone by objecting again).
I can still see the articles, of course — they don’t wanna lose my lucrative eyeballs after all. So, I’m not banned, as such, I’m just not allowed to object to criminal hate speech on the site by flagging it for moderation. So, it’s a partial ban.
I shall nevertheless, take that partial ban as a sign that my parents would be proud of me and wear it like a badge of honour.
It’s a shame I’ve used up all the characters in my Medium Bio.
Otherwise I’d edit it to say
Where Angels Fear
There he goes. One of God’s own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live and too rare to die, but insufficiently so to be a moderator on RT (USA edition) nevertheless.
² Those of us who aren’t ̶p̶a̶t̶r̶i̶o̶t̶i̶c̶ developmentally arrested seventeen-year-olds with the mental age of twelve-year-olds will never be able to follow without the aid of a decoder ring, you see — at least not if we don’t frequent the same information sources they don’t and don’t learn from reports on the various synthwave/vaporwave/fashwave ³ loving sub-’cultures’ from which they ̶h̶e̶i̶l̶ hail anyway.
³ I’m really, genuinely, not homophobic (I really couldn’t possibly care less whom or what somebody else chooses to love or finds attractive) but, man, that shit’s gay!⁴
⁴ EBM was always for those who were too scared of Industrial to do more than dip their little toe into the waters, but the synthwave/vaporwave/fashwave stuff really does have no balls at all — my baby sister’s bigger and harder than that.
