Active Measures on Media Madness

Editor’s note: as part of a project to turn ninaillingworth.com into a central hub for all of my writing (thanks to ongoing censorship of my work by giant tech companies) I’m spending the next little while cross-posting older material from other platforms. Please accept my apologies for any potentially unwanted email notifications in advance.

This article is part of the “Amerikan Musik: Fascism Ascendant in the USA” collection on ninaillingworth.com.

 

Contrasting Russiagate Hysteria With Voter Suppression Silence

Over the past five years while writing about the rise of Americanized, but ultimately global fascism in the Pig Empire, I have tried to place the phenomenon in its properly bipartisan, and ultimately capitalist context. Which means that contrary to the opinions of some who’ve clearly never read my work, I have not been caught in the Trump causation trap, so-called antifascist liberals have succumbed to; which is quite important now that Trump is gone, but American fascism isn’t. Take for example this June 12th, 2019 article on my Media Madness blog, where I point out that while the GOP is openly rigging the (then) upcoming election on behalf of the reactionary white Volk, and their reality TV show fascist president, the Democratic Party and their allies in the liberal media had remained largely silent. This is naturally particularly galling in light of the non-stop, multi-year coverage of the unhinged neoliberal fever dream that was “Russiagate.” When billion dollar media companies are more worried about bad Facebook memes ruining our elections, than the effects of overtly racialized voter suppression, you have one and truly jumped the shark as a “liberal democracy.”

Of course, given that Trump did indeed try to rig the election, and yet failed, one would assume protecting voting rights would be at the top of the agenda for a Biden administration; but given their immediate surrender on the Senate filibuster fight, I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you – rock the vote indeed; if you’re white enough, I guess.

 

“Conversely, while racialized (and economic) voter suppression hurts the Democratic Party as a whole, it is a wound disproportionately borne by grassroots, left wing and minority candidates as opposed to the elite neoliberal leadership of the party. Indeed, corporate-friendly establishment Democrats have even been known to engage in a little targeted voter suppression of their own, to ensure the continued success of “moderate liberals” favored by the party’s donor class. Of course, it would be absurd to suggest the entire Democratic Party is a monolith; there are many party members in Congress that recognize the vital importance of fighting GOP voter suppression, but with only lukewarm support from the mainstream media, a stacked reactionary Supreme Court, an obstructionist Republican Senate and the quiet opposition of the party’s elite donors, prospects for success remain dim.”

 

To check it out over on Media Madness, click on the quotation block above, or the header below:

 

Active Measures (on Media Madness)

 

 

• nina illingworth

 

Independent writer, critic and analyst with a left focus. Please help me fight corporate censorship by sharing my articles with your friends online!

You can find my work at ninaillingworth.com, Can’t You Read, Media Madness and my Patreon Blog

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“It’s ok Willie; swing heil, swing heil…”