Spend some time at The Huffington Post and before too long you will see a reference to Fox News that won’t appear on any of their promos.
“Faux News”, “Fixed News”, “Fake News”, on and on (and those are the polite ones).
The obvious inference is that Fox News is dishonest and not truly news, which is true (ask Pres. Obama).
I just cruised some of the web’s news sites, CNN, MSNBC, The Daily Beast, DailyKos and of course, that rapscallion, Huffington Post.
None of the news sites I visited carried a story similar to the hysterical front page story on Huffington Post referencing the Obama White House, “To Reid: Don’t Come Crying To Us If You’re Short Votes”.
Not one.
Not even MSNBC even though HalfTruth Post uses Chuck Todd to back up their article.
The closest any other news site comes to such a provocative and insulting story against Pres. Obama is saying that Obama is not happy about Reid advancing a plan that would not bring Olympia Snowe along, providing cover for Blue Dog Dems.
However, no one twists that into Obama saying, “Don’t Come Crying To Us!” Consider for a moment what such bullshit is saying, that Obama is a 5 year old brat who would rather say “I told you so” than get health care reform passed.
This may come as a surprise to many here but I have been less than pleased with how The Huffington Post presents tabloid-style, misleading, sensationalistic stories which it fobs off as “news”.
Where I haven’t gone before is where this story has led me.
The Huffington Post is Fox News for Progressives.
Yes, the style is somewhat different, unlike Fox, there are some earnest stories, journalists and bloggers there but Fox and Huff operate very similarly now. Factual news is casually blended with opinion and misrepresentation in a quest for ad revenues and building a following (read sheep) that will march in step with it as it pursues its own self-serving agenda.
A question…
…if you had a friend who was a good person some of the time and other times happily defrauded and manipulated other people, how long could you in good conscience play dumb and remain friends with someone of such character? What would it say about your character and principles? At what point would you actually become an enabler and a co-conspirator in such acts by remaining silent?
This is why I and many here find themselves in the position they’re in today, wanting for Huffington Post to be an honest and genuine force for the progressive movement but at the same time, not being able to rationalize away its corporate mentality of exploitation, dishonesty and repressing free speech on its site.
What attracted many of us to Huffington Post was our principles. We perceived them as reflected in that site and the membership there. So once one realizes that there are far too many things going on over there that run counter to our principles, how can one not call them out as one would Fox news for the same things?
It is disappointing to be disappointed. When you learn that actors you really like turn out to be assholes or idiots, it’s disappointing. When you learn that politicians you believed in are actually corrupt and self-serving, it sucks. And of course, when you learn that a news/blog site that you embraced for their philosophy are just using that as a facade to generate money, power and popularity, you look up and see a “Huffington Post” banner at the top of the page.
HalfTruth Post is just that. It is indeed Fox News for Progressives, feeding readers with opinion dressed up as news and sending them off into the world to spread their propaganda.
it is more infuriating to me than Fox News. We expect the greedy, ignorant and corrupt to do what they can to get what they want but using a movement that came out of opposing the lies, deceptions and manipulations of the Bush regime to further self-serving goals and doing so by lying, deceiving and manipulating is…well…really fucked up.
IMHO, if you’re principled, you have to stand up against dishonesty and corporate manipulation of the truth wherever and whenever, whether its on your right or your left.
Nice to see some of my favorite posters here.
Great to see you here too, Imusintheevening!
Welcome to The Planet!
Welcome, imusin!
“The Huffington Post is Fox News for Progressives.” I couldn’t agree more with this. You have your finger on the pulse of what HP has become and one of the reasons why I left. It became the “Star” tabloid of blogs during the primaries, continuing the Rev.Wright non-story almost as long as Faux news. I was disgusted at the time.
And don’t forget that Huffy was responsible for creating, reporting and blowing up the “cling to Bibles and guns” story which likely harmed Obama in the primaries that soon followed.
Oh right and there were countless other perks too. I remember renaming them “Fluffington’s Ghost” at the time. Shameless charlatans!!
Sorry, Adlib, this is off topic but I didn’t know where else to put it.
Tee hee……
I just invited Levi, Sarah Palin’s nemesis, to leak to us. 🙂
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/27/levi-johnston-on-cbs-earl_n_335866.html?show_comment_id=33523981#comment_33523981
heh heh
Love it!
Sam S is their Rush, hahahha. That stuff has been going on over there since at least the primaries. Clinton never had a good picture there then, now they are showing a retrospective in pictures. Hahahah.
Ted Turner said he was considering a return to the helm of CNN, and the first thing he would do was fire Lou Dobbs. If only I knew how to get in touch with Mr. Turner I would deluge him. Please, please, counterweight.
I’m willing to cut HuffPo just the slightest bit of slack for their heavy coverage of Wall Street and banking issues, given the fact that the major financial institutions have caused us all such a world of pain over the last few years. (Although Aryanna does seem a bit obsessive on this topic.)
What hurts even more is the subtle and not-so-subtle undermining of the President’s efforts to deal with the horrendous mess that was left to his administration. The most glaring example is the one so many of us have mentioned here–the suggestion that Joe Biden resign over the war in Afghanistan. But the more recent “Leaderless” headline and article were just as bad–if not worse.
I’m sure that most of us have noticed that one of the strong points of the right is that they virtually never throw their own under the bus. Consequently, there have been times when they’ve been very effective, even when they were in the minority. We should take note
of that. But Aryanna doesn’t seem to get it. Granted, if a fellow Progressive is involved in something that really seems to cross a line–morally speaking–we have an obligation to speak up. But just taking cheap shots at our leadership–the way AH does–for no other reason than to stir it up–accomplishes nothing but filling her already fat wallet.
Did you see her new op-ed, ‘Obama’s doing my job for me”, basically more attacks, an incoherant rant if you ask me…then the groveling positive posts below agreeing with her just made me sick.
The dissenters of her post, tried you to say that, ‘hey give him time, this is a big mess he has been left’ Which is how I feel, you don’t throw someone under a bus in just ten months…fast and quick knee jerk reactions are not going to get this done right…hey, I don’t mind that Obama ‘Dithers’
Her and her cronies threads are fully moderated so no opposing views ever get through. She has created the perfect echo chamber for her own vanity.
Yeah, filtering the opposing view just puts her in the same league as Michelle Malkin.
I saw that “Obama’s doing my job” article! Puh-leeeze! I responded that I thought she actually has blind ambition to be doing HIS job, but due to the whole “foreign-born” thing, realizes that’s not happening. So she contents herself with being the self-declared back-seat driver of the Obama administration. (As if he didn’t have enough problems already!)
Yes, I skimmed through that self-serving article — as though she could be compared to the president. It’s like something Limbaugh would write. It’s one thing to apply pressure but another thing entirely when the attacks from the left are worse than the attacks from the right.
Adlib excellent post again. That’s why I call Huffington Post, Bankington Post. The constantly are obsessed with the banks and use WSJ stories on the main. There is nothing progressive about that. Banks are a necessary evil and her obsession with banks shows she is obsessed with money. Progressive causes are healthcare, education, the environment, labor, green energy, social justice etc… Progressives don’t run banks for a reason. You have to be a money grubbing, greed is good asshole to be a banker.
I have been bothered by Huffy’s frequent use of WSJ and Politico stories which have frequently been proven to be misleading, inaccurate or just plain wrong.
When you’re a corporate blog, it’s no surprise you promote news from the corporate news sources.
And as you say, there is either obliviousness or complete lack of concern that they focus on money so much.
I’m obviously obsessed with healthcare reform because most of the articles I write are about healthcare reform.
Racists like Limbaugh always talk about race and that’s a tell that they he is a racist.
Bankington’s continued focus on banks and the treasury department shows she is obsessed with money. She may use faux populist outrage as a guise but anyone who knows anything about human nature can see what she REALLY cares about. Also here use of hyperbole and personal attacks shows her passion for money.
Now missfrenchyUSA has written some excellent articles about the economy and banking, but you notice her articles are completely different from they hyperbole Aryanna uses. MissfrenchyUSA like a true person who is enthralled with economics sees all sides of an issue like a dispassionate economist should.
Ryan Grimes is their unnamed white house source, or high placed source. 🙁
Money is ok, but the Love of money is not…she has started to show her true colors…those of like mind will gather as they did at HP, at other places…
Here would be good (he said with forced humility).
I saw that we can donate to this site, can you wait till payday, Thurs I should be getting some checks from clients…tough month, all the insurances were due this month, Arrrgghhh….damn those insurance companies…:}
And by the way, I’m an accountant and I know it takes money to run anything..
Money is good – a fair trade for goods and services
Love of Money is bad
BigDogMom, you’re so thoughtful!
This site isn’t about money for me but I’m thrilled to have any members contribute if they can afford to, it will help defray expenses and help us develop the site.
Still, all the comments and articles members post here are all just as valuable contributions to the site as far as I’m concerned.
But your very gracious offer and sentiment are truly appreciated.
Cheers!
Thanks AdLib, I think you have discribed what I have been feeling for a while, and after Sat. nights BS even more so, deep disappointment.
It’s like when a hero of yours turns out not to be superman, just a mere mortal worts and all. But this cuts deeper, I feel like I have just figured out that I have been scammed.
You ask the million dollar question “how long could you in good conscience play dumb and remain friends with someone of such character?” For me, not long….have already started to look at the site with ‘new eyes’….
Cheers BigDogMom!
I’m basically an optimist, I think anyone who voted for Obama is an optimist and some of that has and is paying off.
But realistically speaking, you can’t turn Walmart back into a mom and pop general store so I don’t see HuffPo ever going back from a huge corporate entity back to a “people’s” site.
They’re just trading on the image of the past, it’s a facade of a Mom and Pop store nailed onto the front of a Walmart.
You got that right, I wonder how long before other Progressives see through this facade?
Just the ads alone should give one hint, how’s this for one…one article today was about the Chamber of Commerce, ‘Where do they get all their money from?’ and right above it was an ad for joining the CoC?
Do others notice this, and wonder why or is this just me?
Check out my article here: http://planetpov.com/2009/10/17/huffing_and_posting/
I address Huffy’s marketing of the CoC’s “Free Enterprise” fraud and taking ad dollars from and promoting one of the most vile right wing people and organizations out there, Americans For Prosperity and Tim Phillips.
The right wing ads on here site are a HUGE pet peeve for me. Ads are advocacy for that product or cause. How can you possibly be progressive if you are advocating for right wing causes on your site?
That my thoughts exactly, it goes back to principles, a persons principles don’t change that dramatically….but there are some that will sleep with the enemy just for a buck…but they too are just as suspect in my mind…
Yup I never trusted her from the beginning. I never accepted her hatred for the Clintons. The Clintons are not perfect but they are both good Democrats who have done allot for this country. Far more than Aryanna has done or will ever do.
It’s hard not to feel frustrated there. It has turned into a version of the national inquirer.
Now I’ve been active in the community since starting at 12 in the first year of the Head Start program. At 19, I was in the student union working for the dems against the Nixon election. Some would say I’m progressive and some worse. Others may claim I’m just a wiseguy, but that’s the frustration with dealing with those who are being dense, either by choice or not.
H-P is inconsistent, is having worse journalism by the day, literally, and is essentially now the bully pulpit of the queen. Well, I didn’t elect the queen. I don’t feel she represents me nor my POV.
Incidentally, today the queen had me taken to the tower, if you get my drift.
It’s too bad, it had so much it could have done.
Welcome, so glad to see you here, your posts are great at HP, and yes sometimes your frustrations do show through, but doesn’t everyones at times…but you are one of the ones that I look to for an honest opinion.
Did you get banned, that seems to be the thing these days, along with a higher than usual number of very nasty trolls…
Apparently, and without any e-mail about it. Hilariously, I did set up a new account immediately, started a conversation with adey, and within three innocuous comments they had removed that one too.
If people wanted to see me having “fun” and frustrated, I think the name I used for a brief bit was “AbsolutelyTotallyAgree” which I played devils advocate with.
I think I know who got me banned, and I don’t think it was my several references to AH as “balloon girl”
‘balloon girl’ that’s kicker…from what I understand from reading kevensevens posts here, they can id your ip address…And I AbsolutelyTotallyAgree with you 100%!
Good to see you here, Felonious! I can’t believe you got banned, too. Your posts never seemed to “cross the line” as far as I could see. This place is amazing. You can write Dick Cheney is a asshole, rather than D!ck Ch@@ney is an a$$ho!e. It’s very liberating.
Nice to see you here, Felonious Monk. I enjoy your comments. Didn’t realize you were banned. People on the thread this evening were saying their fan counts had gone down…I think they did some batch banning or something. My linksys router allows me to change my IP address, BTW. I changed it recently for a different purpose. It wasn’t hard.
Thanks for the info. My “older” linksys routers may or may not, I’ll have to see. But it’s probably academic since in many ways I’m feeling freed from the experience. Here I may try to do some serious writing and expression.
I pushed the edge there in my criticism of their status quo. They can deal with it. Besides, I don’t need the irritation of the trolls.
AdLib,
You took the words right out of my mouth.
I, too, am far more infuriated by the behavior of Huffington Post than I am by Fox. As you pointed out, we expect it from Fox.
My posts on that thread were scrubbed, and I am thoroughly maddened. No, we can’t just be silent. The problem is that it is nearly useless to speak up.
I did manage to get a link to this article on there. Hopefully, it will not be scrubbed.
We’re together on this.
I’ve had long and very thoughtful posts scrubbed for no reason I can understand.
After a while I thought, “Why am I volunteering all this work to their business which they make money from…and then get kicked in the teeth?”
So, though I still do post there from time to time, I don’t write long thoughtful posts there anymore and a high percentage of my posts are criticisms of the site.
Good work getting the article on, even if it gets scrubbed, some folk always see it first.
Long and thoughtful. There’s the rub. I’ve noticed when I used documented (real research type documentation) facts and called out the references and used classical proofs to demonstrate a point, sincerely and directly, that that often would lead to it being scrubbed. Now a wiseacre remark was just fine with them, but show some intellect and it goes out the window. Being extremely overeducated in a wide variety of areas doesn’t help sometimes, nor sitting on the upper end of that famous bell curve. And sharing, I watched individuals who expressed their inner selves get taken down because it was “recreational”. It bothered me immensely.
Exactly and the 250 word limit on complex issues just exacerbates the situation. HP is much more of a chat site than a blog these days.
It’s become it’s own social network, and god forbid if you don’t fit in…you must be witty and equipped with a bag full of one liners…Friday and Saturday nights are music nights…
I’m just not big on the social networking thing but I do like music nights. I think K7 is going to do a HuffNo Friday night music night here. The advantage is here you can actually embed most music videos.
I believe in balance. Sure personal banter is going to be part of any blog but when it dominates a blog it’s all just noise after a while.
I have noticed the same about the social network aspect. There are a half dozen or so gatekeepers and if you don’t fit the template, you’ll be frozen out of “the group.” I’m okay with that. I’m not real big on sharing details of my personal life in such a public forum, and I think that made some of the group leaders a little uncomfortable. So be it. I really just love to discuss politics and ideas and it’s nothing more complicated than that!
It’s like the cliques in high school.
The last month or so, the wisecracking one liners seem to be the norm, had to get off today, couldn’t take it anymore, they were coming fast and furious.
Even the regulars who usually have wonderful posts have resorted the one liners, it’s the get them before they get me mentallity type of posts that serve no purpose what so ever..a lot has changed there at ol’huffpo
Probably because of what others were saying above — it seems the more thoughtful the post, or perhaps the longer it takes to write it — the more likely it is to get scrubbed. After awhile, you just realize it isn’t worth it to put much effort into a real thoughtful post.
Felonious, so glad you joined us!! 🙂
I believe I’m going to really be glad to be here. It already feels more healthy.
Now if I can just get some creativity done.
I am confident that we will be glad to have you.
Pass the word at Huff.
Friday is HuffNo Friday. The good people will boycott Huff and play here.
Should be good times.
FeloniousMonk, we’re “jazzed” to have you here.
Free Expression may take a little getting used to after prolonged exposure to HuffPo but it’s like riding a bicycle…that used to be locked to an egotistical, opportunist Greek woman.
Long, thoughtful posts…oh yeah, I’ve been there, too.E.g., One guy asked a legitimate question: “If health care reform passes, what are we going to do about the potential shortage of doctors?” So I wrote a considered answer on the possibility of using Advanced Nurse Practitioners (and I’m not one, so it wasn’t as though I was pushing my own agenda) to take the pressure off of ERs and General Practitioners. The whole thing was scrubbed!! Why?? What was politically incorrect or insulting about that? Inconsistent hardly begins to describe it.
**head shaking** Why the hell would that be scrubbed? I sometimes think the scrubbers there are wacked out control freaks who just like to screw with people.
That is a concern but ANPs are one answer and so is not putting limits on doctor visas. The AMA puts pressure on the INS to limit visas and limit the number of medical students. There organizations are as big a problem as most providers in the US.
I hear ya. I only do long and thoughtful posts when I’m fully engaged, usually when it’s about racism, antisemitism. Obama or Dubya’s 8-year reign. 😉
Today I went after the Dems throwing O under the bus, and Arianna. Those, of course, are the comments that got scrubbed. I am shocked that I’m not banned, lol. Although I saw that I lost a couple more fans, which is fine.
It’s great having the Planet to vent on with others of like mind, and I may thank you daily just for that.
A bunch of people lost fans. I think there was a purge.
Just for the record, I went to HP to check how many of my fan base is MIA, in April when I stopped posting there it stood at 78, today it is 64.
Someone has been busy.
Yup KQuarksSuperKolider was one of you fans I know who got banned. 😉
Actually I went back to my original KQuark moniker. I had fanned over 1,000 people and had over 500 fans lost when I was banned.
I thought it was close to that.
Femi had just fanned me and I her, when she was suddenly banned and our conversation was scrubbed. There was nothing to warrant any banning.
On the same page, a racist had just called Obama this “N” word. I checked for days, the racist comment stayed put. That was what made up my mind to stop posting, I felt sick to my core.
That is the ridiculous double standard they have. Someone said they have some kind of demerit system so the longer you post the more likely you will get banned. Yet they let racist asshole newbees with RACIST MONIKERS AND ICONS go on and say what they want.
I think that it was Hume who once told me about their ridiculous demerit system, something stupid about the number of times you were scrubbed I think. See how ridiculous that is, as if we had any control over the troll infestation inside the moderators “high horse” box. Stalin would have been proud.