@ML2 Sort of similar in that they're both about tearing down institutions that he sees as defective. He talks a lot about authoritarianism, right – he's against over-powered govt'-propped financial institutions (as is Elizabeth Warren... and Tucker Carlson...) and also against the authoritarianism of the identity-left (i.e. what you see on mainline mastodon instances, so obviously he isn't popular here).
See also Justine Tunney. She's a populist, so simultaneously a hero of OWS and also a neo-reactionary Trump ~supporter.
@ech @ML2 Everyone is for tearing down institutions they see as defective; it's a given person's analysis of which institutions they think those are, and how they arrived at that conclusion, that is of interest. Taibbi's analysis has gone off the rails, which happens a lot when someone gets comfortable.
@skroobler I think with almost anyone you're going to find some stuff off the rails and some stuff not, right? Unless you're truly in an echo chamber.
I follow Doctorow and am in emphatic agreement with about 50% of what he says, and emphatic disagreement with the rest. 😂
Taibbi's recent work is calling out corporate censorship, right? If you think corporations should "censor" more (hate speech, misinformation, extremism, etc) then you might think this is "off the rails". I think he makes a good argument, though: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/11/26/intv-n26.html
@ech I mean, there are likely to be things I agree with Taibbi on, but he's done some things that make his judgment suspect enough to me that I'm not going to arrive at that agreement based on his analysis anymore.
I would be way more charitable to Taibbi (I myself have deep reservations about aspects of idpol, particularly in the form it takes among some social media users) if it weren't for the fact that, in his criticism of it, he's gone against his previously anti-corporate stance.
To be very honest I have never heard of Justine Tunney. I was still in high school during OWS, and while I remember Taibbi I don't remember Tunney.