This could well be a first from me: recommending a substantial video (1 hour). It comes courtesy of The Duran and features Alexander M plus Glenn Greenwald. The latter, albeit arguing from a more narrow ‘liberal’ perspective, is in very fine form. AM has much less to say than he usually does in the two Alexes shows, but holds his end up admirably.
There’s a decent historical sweep to this, dating back to the mid-2010s, and earlier, linking McCarthyism and the push-back afterward, to the Trump-Putin smears (and very muted push-back to these). What comes across very clearly is that for a number of years now there has been an advertised need to protect citizens from Bad Ideas spread by the Bad Internet. Thus justifying censorship of dissent, and in some cases (Assange especially) criminalizing it. (In Israel, as we know, this warrants summary execution…)
The key point, not made explicit in the video, is that there’s always a Lib-friendly hook to hang these measures on: preventing Trump being elected, preventing Trump from ruling effectively, discouraging Covidiots, preventing Trump being re-elected, bad Russia good Ukraine, those venal Palestinians, with antisemitism running through it like the word Blackpool through seaside ‘rock’. Inevitably, of course, there’ll be - or already is - preventing the return of Trump.
As a Punch And Judy villain Donald has given incredible value for money but honorary mention (not discussed hardly in the video) to that naughty germ.