Interesting to think about Oz vs Bastai - see the Twitter I linked to upthread. I know Oz has recently got a job as Producer and News Editor for Sky. Perhaps there's something about having an economic foothold in "old media" that keeps you off this clicks for pay leftwing shockjock roundabout, that being the business model of BOTB shit like the Canary.
Interesting to think about in light of what was talked about upthread, Jones having to demonstrate his ideological purity etc, having being a Corbyn apostate and still working for the filthy right wing press in the form of The Guardian. Seems like there's a weird slippage going on between income/celebrity/personal brand/political positions. Can you have personal positions that are different from your brand anymore? Or is it all subservient to clicks and likes? Gets stranger and stranger the more you think about it.
So I don't derail the thread completely - to state the obvious, what's striking about this is the relation between the dependence of the journalists and how it might compromise what they write and publicise. What if they want to do some edgy, or challenging, like publish Peter Sotos, or even something really out of order, like disagree with the big JC? What then?
The description of the desperation of these pundits and their fragile grip on paid writing work and dependence on social media rings true and makes me feel like it would be horrible to be part of that writing racket right now.
I observe it from the sidelines, and don’t get the feeling that Owen Jones has escaped despite getting his PhD thesis published in the nick off time. He was clearly spooked by the barrage of abuse he got for questioning the Corbyn project before the election, and his post-election Mea Cupla has morphed into abject propagandising, back-pedalling and obfuscation. It’s both amusing and painful to watch. He has got more shrill and silly the more he has been undercut by this New Left gang. (He is not the only one, though, on any or either side; it’s all got bad and embarrassing.)
Even on something I agree 100% on (the House of Saud) his tone and tactics still annoy me.
anything branded marxist or communist automatically excludes itself from the conversation. if you wanted to spread those ideas you'd do it under a different name and use a different terminology.
otherwise people won't come near you. it's like a leper's bell.
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-capitalism-is the times they are a'changin