America, the Single-Opinion Cult – by Matt Taibbi

In the six years since Project Owl, think about how many voices have been fully or partially removed from public view. True-blue progressives won t mourn many, from Jones to Donald Trump to Carlson to RT and Sputnik to former weapons inspector Scott Ritter and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Add the deamplification or algorithmic blacklisting of sites like Truthdig, Wikileaks and third-party candidates like Jill Stein, the removal under government pressure of content from people like Joe Rogan, and the seemingly endless advertiser boycotts of various other classes of badthinker, and the field of view has been drastically narrowed.

The one undeniable fact about Carlson s show is that it was materially different from other Fox content. The product was not the same as what you heard in the Hannity slot. As was the case with Donald Trump, you don t need to cheer the message, or believe it s sincere, to recognize that this differentiation exists. For instance, the Washington Post this week cited people familiar with Rupert Murdoch s thinking in saying Carlson s ongoing eye-rolling about the war in Ukraine, and use of terms like pimp to describe Volodymyr Zelensky, had drawn furious blowback from powerful Republicans who see U.S. support for Ukraine as a bulwark in a fight for freedom and democracy some of whom had Murdoch s ear.

via www.racket.news