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Many libertarians have the same opinions as us on non-economic foreign policies of the West (seeing through “human rights” claims as hypocrisy to justify war that is waged for resources and geographical control, what coups/assassinations/terrorists are ClA ops, etc.) because these are all state activities and they are anti-state, at least in the current form in the West
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Blumenthal’s opinions on the situation of vaccines in USA is very libertarian
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Clearly not a communist given he has never spoken positively about any AES and never explicitly supported enemies of the West
Yea idk that’s all I got lol
doesn’t matter and isn’t of value to any debate. he doesn’t have to be a communist to see through bullshit and the “political economy of human rights” you speak of is one of Noahm Chomskys seminal works which i think ALL journalists of today should be required to read and keep in their mind whenever they type a letter on a keyboard. this piece of work is GOSPEL and the PARADIGMATIC BASIS of our discussion of imperialism, colonialism and propaganda today.
I gotta disagree on some points.
From all the libertarians I’ve interacted with, I think some communists give libertarians way too much credit. Sure, some of them claim to be anti-war, but not out of genuine concern for those affected or the “good” reasons. Not saying all libertarians are like this, or that libertarians can’t eventually become communists, just something to be aware of.
Most libertarians only want to “bring the troops back” so the military can arrest, kidnap, extort and murder brown people and leftists and protect the money and property of the capitalists that libertarians believe they will become one day. Some libertarians I’ve met are even explicitly pro-war. They only pretend to not be pro-war as long as the government supports a war. As long as capitalists support war, they are all for it.
While probably not explicitly, Max Blumenthal seems to have praised China in how they have handled the COVID-19 pandemic and Xinjiang reeducation facilities.
I used to support Max Blumenthal, and I try not to accuse people for any reason of this, but he’s lost my respect for being an anti-vax and a grifter.
Ben Norton on the other hand has my respect.
While I do not think Max Blumenthal is a Libertarian, I absolutely do think that he is way less politicized than people give him credit for, that his politics are hyper confused and without a solid root other than reflexive anti-americanism (and I say that because to be anti-imperialist one must also theoretically understand imperialism, which necessitates a solid political base in materialist and marxist thinking).
This ideological confusion of his allows his thought to be riddled with contradictions, and a MAJOR one is a certain commitment to “freedom”, in the ways in which it is pushed hegemonically in the west in general. Call it latent system pushed individualism, ig. The extreme of that is capitalist libertarianism, so I understand why one would jump the shark and call him a libertarian. This is too hasty, but it is not cooompletely incorrect.
And this is what imo, tied to more “base” interests (such as financial, his switch to anti-vax is bringing a lot of cash and vastly expanded the grayzone’s audience), is what explains the shift.
Ben Norton always was a bit more politically coherent, and he turned towards clearly marxist and ML movements early on, and a certain humility so to speak to listen (really listen) to analysis done by marxists leninists and anti-imperialists. This is also why Ben Norton actively listened to the analysis of the communist party of canada about the ill called “trucker” convoy up here, and why Blumenthal did not. Norton correctly saw the CPC canada as accurate, that the movement was a petit-bourgeois one, with a leadership with deep ties to fascist elements, and one that is to the direct opposite of proletarian interests. Blumenthal on the other hand, saw it as a potentially progressive movement to be worked with, and he entered head first in the culture war thinking he was bashing back against it, engaging in nonsensical conspiratorial crap, and actively attacking organized working class elements such as fucking unions and communist parties in Canada.
Tl;DR Blumenthal is what happens when a mf has no dialectical materialist analysis. Sorry for long comment.
I think some communists give libertarians way too much credit.
Polish ones are often ancaps, racists and antisemites and many have the weird mix of nazism-ancapism-monarchism taken from Korwin. They are actively working on being as little connected to reality as they can.
Who is Korwin? I feel like jumping into some rabbitholes.
Janusz Korwin Mikke, first clown of polish politics, famous for praising Hitler every now and then and getting kicked from several political parties he founded. He also courageously fought against EU by sleeping all the time after being elected to EU Parliament. His career started when during the famous 1980 strike in Gdańsk shipyard he came to tell the workers about the wonders of capitalism - they listened to him and they locked him in shed because they though he is police provocateur. Also a verifable stud, but, very surprising for a libertarian, not a pedophile.
In reality he’s very successful grifter who live a comfortable life for over 4 decades now by preying on teenage libertarians pocket money. Also he’s actually quite useful, since for all this time he is making libertarianism be ridiculed by most people.
How can someone be a nazi, an ancap, and an monarcuck all at once?
well, just look at all the hillary voters. demonstrated against George W. Bush jr in 2001 but now scream for nuclear war to support a nazi army trying to genocide a russian minority for 8 years…
No idea what happens in their heads, to average all this, it’s mostly the “strong man guarding private property” thing, which often reaches open nazism and monarchism. Do note that the average age of those people is around 16, which would explain that.
I mean yea some libertarians have shit takes that’s why I said “many” and not all lol. Doesn’t change the fact that Blumenthal’s journalism isn’t against libertarian ideals and actually follows them in many ways
Max Blumenthal seems to have praised China in how they have handled the COVID-19 pandemic
I’ve never seen this, do you remember where it was from? Tried searching on Grayzone and google and couldn’t find it. If true this would be really interesting since it definitely does not align with libertarian values
I agree with your point, I just want to give my piece.
It was one of the articles about China. Although that may have been Ben Norton
Yeah Ben was the best thing about Gray zone but now that he’s moved onto Multipolarista, there’s no point in visiting the former anymore.
What about Ajit Singh or Aaron Mate?
I appreciate them. RIP Singh covid took him too soon
He died?
Didn’t he? I heard he caught covid
His latest tweet is from April 4th
Oh… I should read past the headlines more often. You’re right. 🥴
I think you might be a bit too “all or nothing” when it comes to Grayzone and Blumenthal. Yeah, I agree, anti-vax stuff is stupid, but also Grayzone / Blumenthal still do a lot of good journalism, just on things that aren’t related to the pandemic.
lol f libertarians
your second paragraph is basically saying that the antiwar aspect of some libertarians is bad because they want to nazi you. which i think is a whole load of pink hat DNC gaslighting.
true, xinjiang was a horrble scene in the 90s (right after the students revolt aka chinese color revolution ;) and it is somewhat contradictory to claim that Blumenthal praised Chinas covid policy but in the same post you claim he is an antivaxxer which i ve never heard. being against mandates and pharma corruption (which is everywhere) does not make one an antivaxxer. By this token Aldous Huxley was an antivaxxer and just criticized the state of war because he wants to nazi you.
plz read other media, these emotional projections are completely baseless and just breadtube glowie gaslighting bullshit
Who pissed in your cornflakes? You first and last sentences sound like Infrared’s word salad.
It is contradictory of Blumenthal to praise China’s policies while also being an anti-vaxx grifter. That is my concern as well.
Of fucking course Pharmaceutical corporations are corrupt. No one disputes that. But the vaccine is at least somewhat effective in reducing COVID-19 fatalities and spread, and China’s and Russia’s and Cuba’s vaccines are very similar to the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, just more effective.
I don’t know what to tell you about mask or lockdown mandates. They of course fucking suck, but its not that big of an issue. Its a mild inconvenience.
Afaik Blumenthal is not against vaccination, the neccessity of masks or the covid vaccine. Plz cite where he ever states anything against those in particular or in principle?
“Biden wants us to forget how he to spread social poison and medical misinformation, claiming first responders who refused a mRNA injection that did not prevent transmission or infection sought “the freedom to kill you” & should be fired. We won’t forget.”
How is this anti-mask or anti-vax? Also afaik Max is vaccinated…
If Max is vaccinated, I would find that hypocritical of him.
Max Blumenthal has repeatedly described COVID-19 lockdowns as being ineffective, mask mandates as being ineffective and the vaccines as being either ineffective or shams.
There is an entire world of difference between bringing attention to and criticism of Pharmaceutical corporations’ greedy and exploitative practices, strong-arming of the Global South and wealthy manipulative CEO’s versus saying that lockdowns are ineffective or that the vaccines are vials of poison.
Especially considering that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are very similar to the Sputnik and Chinese and Cuban vaccines and that while lockdowns suck, they mitigate spread and deaths of COVID-19.
Max Blumenthal siding with racist and capitalist bootlicking cracka ass truckers isn’t pragmatism or toleration of reactionary elements for a greater cause, its siding with those who refuse to wear masks or be considerate of others while they assault and put the lives of people of color in danger so Blumenthal can profit.
This is a typical anti-vax rhetorical trick. First of all, there is no significant difference in safety and effectiveness of different vaccine types, so mentioning the fact that they are mRNA only serves to scare people who don’t understand what that means.
Secondly, NO vaccine 100% prevents transmission or infection, what they do is they make transmission and infection much less likely. They significantly reduce the probability, but of course not to absolute zero, hence why people can claim it’s not “prevention”.
It doesn’t matter whether he is personally vaccinated or not. You can be vaccinated and stil be an anti-vaxxer due to the kind of rhetoric you use that spreads fear, doubt and misconceptions. Advocating against mandates is also a form of anti-vax behavior.
In order for vaccines to be effective at combatting a pandemic you need to pass a certain critical threshold of percentage population vaccinated, and you will never get those kinds of 90%+ rates that you need without some sort of coercive mechanism.
I don’t think it’s responsible to do 90%+ in a country like the US. You are going to get a lot of kicking and screaming and drawing of blood.
Aim for a lower number combined with strong government action on lock downs, quarantining, tracking and masking.
btw I am not medically qualified
i m like a forced social media pescetarian, with all the red herring they keep feeding me…
ah, a masterful and classic red herring. equating legitimate criticism of the Biden administrations lies and police state measures based on lies with being antivax. and i m personally for vaccinated first responders and i do believe that vaccination reduces transmissions, that does not mean there wasn’t a huge lie being driven by the media. same with the whole ivermectin/horse dewormer shit, which - even acknowledging that ivermectin has little to no effect on covid - is a lie and a smear
and all the other unsubstantiatable, emotionally loaded claims over a variety of topics but with no key argument
can you also glow in the dark?
You’re just digging a deeper hole.
You seem to be way too close to Max Blumenthal and Infrared and despite your claims of not supporting the Kkkanadian truckers strike, you seem to be cut from the same cloth.
I don’t think that siding with fascists or mollycoddling them is necessary just because they have some frustrations, at least not in this instance.
I think you calling me a “Glowie” is major projection.
i know why blumenthal is being gaslit. or why greenwald is gaslit. or why infrared is gaslit… because of a man, the co-opted part of breadtube is unwilling to speak about. JULIAN ASSANGE. hostage of the worldwide glowstick community
Yeah, I definitely have my reservations about him, maybe not an ally, but I can appreciate his work about the Xinjiang manufactured scandals of the west. However, Benjamin Norton is pretty cool. In interviews he’ll reference Lenin.
he’s not a libertarian, he’s just a confused liberal who uses incorrect analytical tools to try to account for the ridiculous propaganda against enemies of the west that he has uncovered via actual journalism. i don’t really think libertarians can qualify as anti-imperialists tbh
how exact are his opinions on vaccines in the US libertarian?
how exact are his opinions on vaccines in the US libertarian?
Very anti-vaccine mandate and doesn’t like the massive vaccine push/encouragement that the US govt is giving
I guess this is the main position of many political ideologies now that I think about it again lol
I mean there is a point to it. While im vaxxed and think everyone should be vaxxed its not unthinkable that people would be suspicious of a corrupt government bought by Big Pharma forcing people to get products made by Big Pharma. Plus the western vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) both use new experimental technologies (mRNA) that had never been used in approved vaccines before, while nonwestern vaccines (Sputnik, Sinovac, the cuban and iranian ones) use classic inactivated virus systems. I dont think its outrageous that someone would distrust this. Plus no matter what you think on this its unacceptable that people are being fired over not being vaccinated. Western governments have been dumping the consequences of the pandemic on the working class, while the bourgeoisie makes billions off it. No communist can support this.
are covid vaccine mandates necessarily good, even? we all talk about china’s success with maintaining very low covid rates and deaths, and even they don’t have mandates. i believe about 80% of their population has been vaccinated.
even though he doesn’t know it, max’s argument is basically “a bourgeois government is doing it, therefore it either won’t be done well or will be done in their interests and not ours.” this is fundamentally true, and i think is the source of much of american postmodern skepticism. how this affects how one should view the policy i’m not sure about really
Libertarians hate government but are perfectly fine with corporate autocracy. It’s as if they don’t understand what government is.
Doesn’t like AES vaccines or states? My friend, we have found an ultra.
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show me one libertarian that didnt go along the uyghur crap. he extensevely debunked that shit. you are way off.
Not quite. I mean, I think blumenthal is def more of an opportunist if he is any sort of socialist. He’s right on a lot of things, but I mean, I wish his takes were a bit more nuanced with vaccines and shit. He was doing cringe stuff with certain coalitions and playing it off as some profound workers movement. It’s worth thinking about when the pandemic stops being a pandemic, and at what point does individual freedom infringe on the right of others to live.
Watch for yourself. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aLhyAxfN4-A
i think if you had the life experiences with media and certain agencies that blumenthal and greenwald have, you d be a contrarian too. you’d support any disturbance to the force that swells up from the ground. even though i too believe the trucker protest was a lot of synthetic bullshit
I was just banned from GenZedong on reddit for discussing Max’s views on vaccine mandates. Ban us here too, fucking shitlib mods
so a man in the 1800s had a bad opinion on modern medical sciences? Color me shocked
He said Max, not Marx. I think that is what he meant.
