Matt Taibbi | The Plight and Polarisation of Mainstream Media

[@trautman3375]

I am constantly amazed that Taibbi is still in business ... This kind of level-headedness is long gone in the fishtank he is in.

[@jakecasper8416]

He's basically self-employed via substack

[@lawrencefitzgerald]

like Glen Greenwald, Bari Weiss, Saagar Enjeti and Krystal Ball.. emergence of independent journalists that are self-funded by subscription. Support them w my $$ is worth it.

[@colly7963]

@@lawrencefitzgerald I totally agree. Independent media needs our financial support to survive.

[@JCResDoc94]

i thought he was long gone! but now reading your cmt i see it wasnt "he sleeps w the fishes", he "lives in a fish tank". easy mistake. _JC

[@roxannemccarter8974]

Matt is a voice crying in the wilderness. He gives me hope for the future of our world and the media.

[@fraserbailey6347]

Matt is one of very few journalists that one can trust.

[@garyanderson5446]

THIS... is why we listen to you, John, and Matt! A very grateful Thank You to you both!

[@fellowcitizen]

Brilliant! Taibbi is one of my faves. Love 'Useful Idiots', and along with Greenwald, Craig Murray and Julian Assange, he is essential to Western democracy and liberty.

[@fellowcitizen]

@@seanmoran6510 Yeah, I was familiar with his brother, but he's insightful in his own right. He stated recently that the British Establishment had become Stasi-like and that "due process was dead in Britain" - which, while obvious to many, is nevertheless a very bold statement amid such a Police State climate as we now have. And one which is relevant to Australia if we don't start insisting upon codifying a Free Press and Rule of Law (and not supporting Britain and America when they are aggressors - as per Malcolm Fraser's final book 'Dangerous Allies')

[@anonosaurus4517]

@@seanmoran6510 Amen. Peter has been one of my favorite humans for a decade. He's made me a better man and a better thinker.

[@Senaleb]

One year later, the liberal media is calling Taibbi and Greenwald conservatives lol.

[@coryzane.]

What this world needs is 1000 Matt clones spreading the real story to us all. Thanks to you both for the valuable work you do!

[@kingpin3795]

Fantastic interview! We need more people in the media like Taibbi

[@kenbecker8410]

Thank You Matt! Watch your back buddy!

[@carolbroome6559]

Love both you guys! Brilliant brains! Thank you!!

[@jglammi]

When I was at STANFORD from 1968-1973, there was among many the idea that journalism HAD TO TAKE sides. Those folks gained power

[@tannergauge9374]

That is very much the goal now. I saw a child’s book about activism. He talked about infiltrating all the systems essentially trolling to fight evil from within. Our society has become so soft and so comfortable that we are creating enemies just to feel something real. It’s like with prosperity comes paranoia. I don’t get it.

[@grizzlygrizzle]

I would suspect that there was already a tacit understanding about WHICH side was the "good" side in that time and place. The underlying assumptions of that position are leftist assumptions-- the implicit elitism in the notion of ideologically leading the people instead of informing them is built into the various leftist ideologies, from the Reign of Terror through socialist utopianism to Marxism, communism, fascism, and Nazism. The elite, expert, educated few considering themselves qualified and entitled to dictate how the masses, the deplorables, the lumpen proletariat, and so on, ought to live, is a central feature of leftist thought. There's a long history of intellectual arrogance on the left, not just in terms of the personal flaws of leftists, but in a deeper way. -- Scientism is the notion that the scientific approach is adequate to understanding EVERYTHING, even question of human values and morals. Yet it doesn't take much reflection to see that the applications of science are manipulative-- they enable us to rearrange the world in ways that suit our purposes. Love and beauty and goodness are not manipulative like the scientific approach, and running human morality, human relationships, art, and the humanities through a filter of scientism robs them of their value. -- The scientific approach and method is based on the objectifying and mathematizing of whatever it studies. The hard sciences succeed when they can reduce physical phenomena to mathematical formulas, and the social sciences try to do the same with human phenomena. -- Objectification is a standard process in phenomenology (forget the feminist BS sense of the word-- that's just another bit of leftist linguistic manipulation). Objectification is primarily the cognitive process by which we treat the things of the world as separate and distinct from ourselves as a part of perceiving, conceiving, and observing them. I would add that objectification also treats the things of the world as distinct, plural objects that exist independently of one another, despite all the real connections between them, which include gravity, magnetism, adhesion, friction, causation, et al. -- ("Distinct" and "connected" are antonyms, and the texture of the world is such that it cannot be described as either simply one thing, or simply many things. Either simple answer to the question of the one and the many would either render all the distinctions we experience illusions or render all the connections illusions. But that's a philosophical problem for another day.) -- The world is easier to conceive as re-arrangeable if we suppress the connectedness of things and view them as distinct objects, and our perceptual bias is to begin with this assumption. We represent the connections in subordinate, secondary ways, such as the predicates of sentences that begin with singular or plural nouns. -- At any rate, this approach "works" in the sense that it empowers us in our manipulations of the world around us, and it "works" because the real world partakes of both distinctness and connectedness, despite the apparent paradox. (The world doesn't have to conform to the limitations of human perception and intellect for it to exist. It exists prior to us, and we are born into it, and we have to adapt our limited capabilities to methods that "work.") -- We fudge reality a bit when we render it manipulable. -- Meanwhile, there has been, throughout human history, another system of "learning," a dumb, inarticulate system of classical and operant conditioning (when viewed from the outside, scientifically), which amounts to a Darwinian survival-of-the-fittest of practices, customs, languages, and traditions (when viewed in terms of human experience, from the "inside"). We turn away from the things that result in discomfort and failure, and turn more toward the things that bring more satisfaction and success, both individually and collectively, without making "decisions," and any explanations of these processes and customs are attempts at after-the-fact diagnoses, theories that elude proof. -- The intellectual arrogance that assumes that one person or some small cadre of elites can figure out how to micromanage the lives of all people for THE BEST outcome is not only laughably narcissistic, it is morally reprehensible. -- Oh, I had way too much coffee today.

[@plekkchand]

@@tannergauge9374 On the contrary, you do seem to get it.

[@JohnLee-ue6gy]

@@tannergauge9374 Enemies give you meaning and oppression gives you reason to be comforted. If you fail to find these conditions, your anxiety threatens to take over.,

[@patrickcarney9177]

"People go reality shopping now" - best quote of the interview.

[@samboulton7722]

Just been flicking through my channels trying to find something good to watch and.... BAM! John Anderson and Matt Tabibi. Haven't even watched it yet and I'm already stoked. Keep em coming John.

[@cathy4246]

Thank you God for John Anderson and Matt Taibbi.

[@carolbroome6559]

Another great interview John💞

[@browndog3315]

Well done, Mr. Anderson. Thank you, for your perspectives, sir.

[@pwjackson888]

Lost for words, brilliant!

[@tulkus]

Thank you Mr Anderson. Another truly exceptional interview. Please keep it up. Cheers big ears 🐨

[@littletime8849]

Thank you for sharing! Transparency keeps people honest. Corruption destroys so much.

[@ryszardkaminski9402]

Brilliant discussion, thank you Mr Anderson.

[@DanaJumper]

John, very nicely done interview! You have a real skill and your respect for your guests is refreshing. Thanks.

[@SisterShirley]

Another really good guest Mr Anderson. It was like I was sitting there along side good friends

[@letsgococo288]

We must protect Matt at all costs. ❤

[@smithez1]

Thumbs up for Matt.

[@OneDayWillFlyAway]

We are all ‘equal’. Trust needs to be earned. Matt definitely earned it for me

[@fellowcitizen]

Bravo John, write a book together!

[@froglizard6135]

Thank you very much John and Matt you were an excellent guest and I really found the content of this extremely interesting and enlightening.

[@interestedpart2650]

Excellent

[@karryhoward3946]

Great interview as always Mr. Anderson I'll be checking out Matt's channel thank you.

[@jeromedenis100]

Great interview, as always, thanks.

[@ninamartinez5596]

I always love to hear Matt Taibbi

[@keithjaeger1]

Two great intellects.

[@kdnick8584]

Matt is the best America has to offer.

[@dwightlorna]

"I don't really have a talent for fiction." A telling statement. That would explain why he's not really making it in the main stream media...

[@gregoryburne5251]

Nicely observed there buddy.

[@daraharvey4519]

He's probably "not making it" in MSM because he doesn't want to - he cares too much about truth.

[@stevenpatzner6962]

Excellent video! I really enjoy the perspective s of both journalists here. The interviewer was far more introspective than in the USA. I draw the line when a NEWS story is obviously contrived. The reason I can't talk to some of my friends here anymore is because they seem to not care about the truth, it's more important to be on the "right side." Vote for tyranny, and things they would have always said were "obviously wrong" AND they are encouraged to mock and smear people they don't agree with.

[@der1777]

A great interview, I'm 45 minutes in and constant interruptions from youtube, I will finish watching it on Newpipe, without ads!

[@theglanconer6463]

There's no polarization of the MSM. It's 100% liberal left. At least in Western and Northern Europe. Very good podcast, Thank you.

[@ntodd4110]

So should there be a different media for every "side", or should effort be made for it to have no "side" at all? If the latter, what would that be like?

[@letsgococo288]

@@ntodd4110 no! Only 15 years ago media use to be unbiased and stick to the facts. They left their own opinion out. Now MSM is simply paid propaganda extension of the Gov.

[@rozharbin604]

Great insight re: China, Mr. Taibbi and great interview Mr. Anderson.

[@bobbebbington5356]

We need you back John. Probably you would be stifiled by the party machine. Keep doing what you are doing with these excellent interviews 😉

[@Antipodean33]

Bob Bebbington, can you tell me some of the things John achieved whilst in politics?

[@bobbebbington5356]

@@Antipodean33 I do not know why you picked on my comment to vent your spleen. Granted politians are not to be trusted but he was the head of a party in coalition at a time of stability in this country. Just because the mejah did not report what he did does not mean he did not achieve anything. You have to judge the man by what you see today,and I liked what I saw. If you do not like him don't watch him.

[@michaelg.205]

Great segment, focused and elucidating.

[@anthonygordon2976]

What a awesome impressive person love ❤️ MT

[@froglizard6135]

Best way I get my news is never watch mainstream media and watch media that is not extremely popular and watch many of those channels as in diversify completely everyday all day before I actually believe certain things that I'm reading or listening to. Last but not least! Always use common sense and logic, something our country here in the United States is extremely lacking nowadays.

[@robsan52]

What a very cool interview! On both parts! Thanks to both

[@christopherrobbins9985]

Such a great discussion. I've read Matt for a while. He knows the score. Legacy media in the USA and Oz for that matter is dead....it just doesn't know it yet.

[@DavidMorley123]

Taibbi: "...they make a list of voices they trust, and they never go out of that comfort zone..." I think you underestimate your listeners. I (my favorite example) have such a list and it's always in flux. Frequent new entries and plenty of dead wood. Thanks to you both of you for this excellent discussion.

[@maggiealbritton8741]

If most journalist where like Matt, we could have our beloved America back

[@Ferdinand314]

Big fan of the way the host seeks out people from across the spectrum, has such genuine curiosity about their views, and treats them all with deep respect. John, would you consider interviewing Sall Grover, the Founder and CEO of Giggle? She's fascinating, and I'd like to learn more about her company!

[@bobsmith5185]

At least one with beginning of this video (I’ve only made it through 11 minutes), Taibbi repeatedly frames everything as the public initially losing trust in the messiah, rather than the media lying to the public. He does admit that media members have agendas, but his emphasis was repeatedly misplaced. He also repeatedly said that Trump took advantage of the situation, rather than saying that Trump pointed it out, leaving us viewers to decide if Trump took advantage of the situation, or if Trump is the champion of the common man against the media. Taibbi is part of the problem of activist journalists

[@marwar819]

Great interview. I'd say corporate journalist are now on the level of lawyers, dirt on the bottom of one's shoes. They have become so untrustworthy. PBS has also ruined its good reputation.

[@gregoryburne5251]

WHAT proud parents he must have/had! A shared case of beer, and id ask him a day's worth of questions. Much love of him and his incredible temperament.

[@GaryL3803]

Matt has hit the nail squarely, the "press" is contemptuous of the body politic. Their, both left and right, contempt for their audience is palpable. They sell a product with the distain of a automobile salesman.

[@paulfroelich1024]

Gotta love good Conservatives and good Libs who dig each other's vibe.

[@cathy4246]

I remember watching Matt's father, also a great reporter, on TV. The Main Stream news was so different then.

[@hilding2063]

Love these interviews, interesting to see the parallels to the Soviet Union, looks like the west is also in self-destruction mode. I see this in the US and Germany very clearly.

[@daraharvey4519]

This is excellent! I agree, I don’t know how Matt votes either. He’s a professional. We need that so much.

[@fellowcitizen]

Universities are certainly out of control, I've seen it on several levels.* We need a 'Haidt Inc' podcast between Taibbi and Haidt facilitating a process with Australian citizens and leaders (community, scientific, political). The Compliance Culture takes on a new dimension when placed alongside the history we now know of foreign interference in AU institutions** and the new "woke imperialism" advertising (See Norton's coverage on 'Moderate Rebels'). At this point, I believe that the Compliance Culture is a deliberate subversion of Australian scholarship by foreign Frenemies. *Both student groups with genuine zealotry, and professors (SB...) openly pushing imperialism. **Not only 3LAs, but even Palace interference in PMC as revealed by archoves recently.

[@becky7385]

Taibbi and Greenwald are refreshing

[@h-dawg969]

I remember seeing a clip of Konstantin in an interview with this Aussie guy. I was wondering who he was and what his podcast is called. I tried googling ‘Aussie older gentleman who looks like a young boy” & “old man with excited child face” etc but couldn’t find it. Glad that I’ve stumbled upon this vid as I’ve finally found the ‘old Aussie man who looks just like a young boy in shock’ podcast and also he’s interviewing The Matt Taibi who is clearly one of the best and most important journalists working in the divided states in the current political climate. The way those democrats spoke to him and Shellenbergerwas a travesty, and makes it so hard to justify clinging on to being ‘traditional left’

[@marcelledbetter7296]

Credibility, once lost is gone forever. Attempts to restore it must contain lies.

[@daraharvey4519]

I appreciate Matt's take on the media. It's so refreshing to hear someone inside the industry telling it like it is. Problem is, practically everyone knows there's a leftwing bias in most American news agencies. Those who aren't far left just don't consume that media. Everyone else assumes it's "not that bad," and continue to believe everything the media says. The news agencies themselves are well aware of their own bias, but they don't care because they're too powerful to be brought to heel. This seems like an unsolvable problem. It's the only thing in our American Constitution that seems to be a problem - we NEED a free press, but what happens when the press sells itself out? The free market is our only solution, and that can take forever to yield an effective response. What damage will be done while we wait? I think 2020 has shown us the answer.

[@YtUser-c1c]

I love these long podcasts. There is so much more info in it. Mainstream media is only 5 minute snippets and you are bombarded with commercials. I do try to get into podcasts that don’t reflect my opinions just to challenge myself and not get out of my bubble.

[@davidkokaska8130]

This America is a very very rich country - so I agree with Matt it is a trajedy - but, time to teach them a lesson, Mr Know-it-all American. You wanted to be rich - now you will be taught your lesson.

[@bruceburton3355]

Matt is a national treasure. Same with Greenwald.

[@kathrynludrick4821]

Don't forget, he's also a "so-called journalist." LOL Taibbe is one of the few journalists I listen to.

[@Odjrie]

Matt is 51 years old... why did I think he was like 30.

[@deplorablecovfefe9489]

I cancelled cable months ago, it was 24/7 obvious lies and propaganda. I can only tolorate so many lies and I get fed up.

[@neilwalsh3977]

We need to break up corporate power and media power.

[@ExCoSeH]

48:49 love the use of that proverb!

[@charlesmackey8179]

An excellent discussion of the current mindset when selecting one's news source. At 82 years old I cannot abide any thing but the middle or conservative point of view. The left or commentary left of the middle seems devoid of common sense or factual reality.

[@ask_why000]

People tend to have a very difficult time being objective about the harm America has caused around the world...

[@froglizard6135]

I agree, I do not like the extreme division and being on one side or the other. I think we would be much better off if we could focus on ethics and morals and doing the right thing rather than running with a certain crowd. Everyone was being told to dislike Trump and calling him a racist and so forth that a lot of people just blindly believed it went along with it so they feel like they fit in which is sad to me. Nowadays it's better and wiser to be the black sheep!

[@jonahtwhale1779]

When you are politically correct, the requirement to be factually correct vanishes to zero!

[@ramblinralph7609]

In my lifetime I have lived through 13 US Presidents. Trump was by far the best of the lot.

[@johnmadany9829]

If it’s not longform, I don’t bother listening.

[@neilwalsh3977]

Also, our two-party Labor-Liberal - even Green - dance doesn't work. The current political system just has to go.

[@k54dhKJFGiht]

I like the term "Reality Shopping". I think that is what many Americans are doing. Some do it better than others. A lot of people will only hear what they want to hear. After all, a lot of business models depend on it! I think we have forgotten that business models can be made to change with government incentives & disincentives.

[@NotSoAlarmed]

I've almost entirely switched the legacy media off. They might get 10 mins of my time. Don't even watch TV. Alternate media and independent journalists get my time. Interesting that many of the best people I listen to now originally hailed from the left. Matt Taibbi, Brendan O'Neil, Russell Brand, Neil Oliver, Lionel Shriver etc. I echo John's concern about what our future holds in the Indo Pacific. America destroying itself from within is the best advantage the CCP could get.

[@justaguy328]

“There is always the danger that those who think alike should gravitate together into ‘coteries’ where they will henceforth encounter opposition only in the emasculated form of rumor that the outsiders say thus and thus. The absent are easily refuted, complacent dogmatism thrives, and differences of opinion are embittered by group hostility. Each group hears not the best, but the worst, that the other groups can say.” ~ C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics

[@Zroolmpf_Celmbror]

Society isn't meant to be cohesive. America, in particular, is not supposed to be cohesive. It's supposed to be divisive. There is a first and second amendment specifically to protect divisive storey, and freedom from an overbearing government.

[@wm3138]

There’s no polarization of mainstream media. To have polarization you need two perspectives.

[@DanielSMatthews]

The divisions in society that have been deliberately nurtured by the manipulative and biased conduct of _most_ of the media have disturbing parallels to the divide and control strategy described in George Orwell's novel 1984 where the populations efforts and attention are made to focus solely on a confected and perpetual conflict where the "limited aims between combatants who are unable to destroy one another, have no material cause for fighting and are not divided by any genuine ideological difference". 1984 was meant to be a warning, not a HowTo guide!

[@marcelledbetter7296]

The internet, podcasts and long-form interview platforms finally exposed the dinosaur media for what they have always been....a propaganda popcorn machine.

[@DerekFullerWhoIsGovt]

American Media: A enigma wrapped in a riddle in a mirror.

[@rickmorgan9098]

Matt I'm very impressed with your background however to actually say that was going on the border was the same thing that was going on when Trump was in office is totally disingenuous Carrie this is why journalism has the reputation and ask not because of trump, he just pointed out the hypocrisy. And elitism is a mindset not a bank account

[@JCResDoc94]

*one of the last & gr8est living investigators. nice get!* hes working on pandemic grift atm for a new bk. see if you can get him back when that is out perhaps? _JC

[@OutnBacker]

Taibbi mentioned getting tunnel vision when we go reality shopping. While this is true, I do check in with the "others" on different outlets. The problem is that I become nauseated so quickly that I don't stay long.

[@annsolomon5263]

That judgementalism is palpable.

[@neilwalsh3977]

John Howard, whom Andersen worked with, did an enormous amount of damage in politicising the media. But both sides were complicit. Sky, for example, whom Abbott fronted, is really trashy at the moment.

[@Bluepilled-c5t]

What do you mean that sky is trashy atm?

[@jmac3327]

Many generalities and assertions that are very vague. Evaluate with caution.

[@kathrynludrick4821]

But it's not just the media. There's a lot of bad actors fomenting division, and unfortunately too many ppl who don't think critically and buy into whatever story they hear.

[@wellofbeersheba]

Not only is he a journalist, but, according to Democrats, he is a 'so-called journalist.'

[@nigelralphmurphy9565]

However, we ARE being monitored by a private company that exists purely to make as money as possible telling us what's right and wrong based on the owners' personal biases. There needs to be a non-commercial KZbin-like platform run like Wikipedia and where policing on commentary is by the users, not a small group of people who can make and enforce their own personal judgements and morality on millions of people. This is yet another flaw in the capitalist model.

[@ancienbelge]

Not being able to trust any one news source: this is what I remember growing up in the Lowlands. But there, newspapers generally were affiliated with specific political parties and/or religious denominations, and they would openly state their affiliation on their masthead. In the US right now, media are making laughable claims of objectivity while being low-rent versions of the Pravda

[@liedersanger1]

Taibbi has settled into responsible maturity. But he had a super-gonzo past-NOT something John asks about.

[@jenniferm761]

Hunter S. Thompson ended up shooting his typewriter and committing suicide.

[@top6ear]

Classic underachiever eh lol. I think his greatest asset is trust. It's rare these days.

[@MrLouDC]

Can you imagine Matt and Elon in a social media business together?

[@jglammi]

Mussolini praised FDR as a fellow Fascist

[@jglammi]

Erik Clapton & Van Morrison: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qn7Oh2esjteSn80

[@jenniferm761]

Tucker Carlson is pretty darned objective and fact based.

[@ntodd4110]

He says this while he jumps to adopt every shopworn term of abuse that's popular with the culture-warriors at the moment. He'd do better to be a consistent example of how he thinks the media should behave and not allow himself to descend to cable-news-channel rhetoric so freely.