Latest news with #pro-Nazi
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Contributor: In an era that celebrates cruelty, embrace subversive kindness
In 1925, 25,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. Never before had so many men in white sheets descended on the nation's capital, their 'invisible empire' becoming visible. The Klan's far-flung ranks are estimated to have numbered 4 million. Fourteen years later, a pro-Nazi rally at New York's Madison Square Garden drew 20,000. The hosting organization, the German American Bund, actively supported Hitler and his 'leader principle,' or Führerprinzip, by which a single leader has absolute power. Though not explicitly pro-Hitler, the isolationist America First Committee was also surging. In 1941, America First found a spokesperson in the famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, who accused Jews of conspiring to lead the U.S. into World War II. Fascism almost 'happened here,' to riff on the title of Sinclair Lewis' 1935 novel 'It Can't Happen Here,' about the anti-democratic forces threatening America in the lead-up to the Second World War. Why didn't it? Well, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, and Germany declared war on the United States. These events spurred the public to support the war effort. Then, when American troops went overseas, they witnessed firsthand what fascist regimes were doing to civilians on the streets and in concentration camps, and Americans wrote home about the atrocities. The press and film industry also exposed the brutality. Americans generally didn't like what they saw, and protofascist movements in the U.S. were forced underground. Now murmurs from the sewer can be heard again. Not just on social media but in public discourse. It looks as if the decades of relatively stable democracy following the war were not a change in our history but a temporary interlude. And I fear that a critical guardrail is gone. If Americans were once revolted by the aesthetics of fascism, in today's era of mass content consumption, many now appear to be entertained. How else to explain the 94,000 likes of a video, posted by the White House's official X account, of migrants being chained without due process and put on an airplane? The post included a caption bearing the hashtag '#ASMR,' referring to the pleasurable response to auditory or visual stimuli — implying that some in the audience would be soothed by seeing such cruelty. It would be more apt to caption the video '#TorturePorn.' And how to explain the 32,000 likes of a posed photo of Rep. Riley Moore ( in which the congressman is giving thumbs up outside a cell at the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador, where individuals are being held indefinitely after being detained in the U.S. without due process? If I had any doubts about my compatriots' appetite for human suffering, these were put to rest with the news that the Department of Homeland Security is considering a reality show in which immigrants compete for U.S. citizenship. While Secretary Kristi Noem has not yet approved the program, the fact that a producer would even float such a dehumanizing premise speaks to the public's appetite for exploitation. The American people apparently do not merely rely on migrants to pick our crops and build our homes; we also expect to be entertained by their struggles. What is there to do when swaths of the public are no longer horrified, but rather titillated, by the imagery of the far right? What hope is there when the prospect of ICE agents storming workplaces and neighborhoods makes so many people giddy? I believe the answer is to promote images of hospitality — that is, images of people embracing prisoners and welcoming those who hail from foreign lands. The antidote to an aesthetics of exploitation is an aesthetics of encounter. The late Pope Francis emblematized the latter. Only two days after the congressman went viral for his thumbs up against a cell block, the pontiff marked Holy Thursday by visiting the Regina Coeli prison in Rome. There he spoke with inmates, prayed with them and blew kisses. If not for his ailing health, he said, he'd have washed inmates' feet, as he's done in the past in accordance with tradition. An American priest, Father James Martin, noted the stark contrast between the West Virginia lawmaker and the pontiff, two Catholics making very different uses of photo opportunities with prisoners. Martin asked in a post on X: 'Which way would Jesus, who was imprisoned, prefer?' Of course, many of us outside the church have our own images and memories of fraternity bridging divides. Having long served in the United State Foreign Service, I was privileged to meet countless people from around the world. Even when we did not share a language, we shared meals. Even when we had no common past, we were able to find common goals. I find myself returning to these experiences and musing about their quiet radicality. There is something powerful about people of different tribes coming together to share a laugh, break bread or simply recognize their shared humanity. Understanding this, I've tried, as a novelist, to write scenes of communion to combat those of violence. As a thriller about infiltrating a white supremacist militia, my next book does not shy away from exposing neo-Nazis' dark libido. But nor does it skimp on expressing hope for peace, celebrating characters who cross racial and cultural lines to become friends and even lovers. At a time when simply by bearing witness to the news each day, Americans mass-consume what amounts to torture porn, we all have a duty to capture and recreate small moments of encounter. Because encounters transform us from the inside out. Francis put it poetically when he wrote that we must resist 'the temptation to build a culture of walls,' whether in our hearts or on our lands. For those 'who raise walls will end up as slaves within the very walls they have built,' he said, and will be 'left without horizons.' Otho Eskin, a playwright and retired diplomat, is the author of the forthcoming novel 'Black Sun Rising.' If it's in the news right now, the L.A. Times' Opinion section covers it. Sign up for our weekly opinion newsletter. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
In an era that celebrates cruelty, embrace subversive kindness
In 1925, 25,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. Never before had so many men in white sheets descended on the nation's capital, their 'invisible empire' becoming visible. The Klan's far-flung ranks are estimated to have numbered 4 million. Fourteen years later, a pro-Nazi rally at New York's Madison Square Garden drew 20,000. The hosting organization, the German American Bund, actively supported Hitler and his 'leader principle,' or Führerprinzip, by which a single leader has absolute power. Though not explicitly pro-Hitler, the isolationist America First Committee was also surging. In 1941, America First found a spokesperson in the famed aviator Charles Lindbergh, who accused Jews of conspiring to lead the U.S. into World War II. Fascism almost 'happened here,' to riff on the title of Sinclair Lewis' 1935 novel 'It Can't Happen Here,' about the anti-democratic forces threatening America in the lead-up to the Second World War. Why didn't it? Well, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, and Germany declared war on the United States. These events spurred the public to support the war effort. Then, when American troops went overseas, they witnessed firsthand what fascist regimes were doing to civilians on the streets and in concentration camps, and Americans wrote home about the atrocities. The press and film industry also exposed the brutality. Americans generally didn't like what they saw, and protofascist movements in the U.S. were forced underground. Now murmurs from the sewer can be heard again. Not just on social media but in public discourse. It looks as if the decades of relatively stable democracy following the war were not a change in our history but a temporary interlude. And I fear that a critical guardrail is gone. If Americans were once revolted by the aesthetics of fascism, in today's era of mass content consumption, many now appear to be entertained. How else to explain the 94,000 likes of a video, posted by the White House's official X account, of migrants being chained without due process and put on an airplane? The post included a caption bearing the hashtag '#ASMR,' referring to the pleasurable response to auditory or visual stimuli — implying that some in the audience would be soothed by seeing such cruelty. It would be more apt to caption the video '#TorturePorn.' And how to explain the 32,000 likes of a posed photo of Rep. Riley Moore ( in which the congressman is giving thumbs up outside a cell at the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador, where individuals are being held indefinitely after being detained in the U.S. without due process? If I had any doubts about my compatriots' appetite for human suffering, these were put to rest with the news that the Department of Homeland Security is considering a reality show in which immigrants compete for U.S. citizenship. While Secretary Kristi Noem has not yet approved the program, the fact that a producer would even float such a dehumanizing premise speaks to the public's appetite for exploitation. The American people apparently do not merely rely on migrants to pick our crops and build our homes; we also expect to be entertained by their struggles. What is there to do when swaths of the public are no longer horrified, but rather titillated, by the imagery of the far right? What hope is there when the prospect of ICE agents storming workplaces and neighborhoods makes so many people giddy? I believe the answer is to promote images of hospitality — that is, images of people embracing prisoners and welcoming those who hail from foreign lands. The antidote to an aesthetics of exploitation is an aesthetics of encounter. The late Pope Francis emblematized the latter. Only two days after the congressman went viral for his thumbs up against a cell block, the pontiff marked Holy Thursday by visiting the Regina Coeli prison in Rome. There he spoke with inmates, prayed with them and blew kisses. If not for his ailing health, he said, he'd have washed inmates' feet, as he's done in the past in accordance with tradition. An American priest, Father James Martin, noted the stark contrast between the West Virginia lawmaker and the pontiff, two Catholics making very different uses of photo opportunities with prisoners. Martin asked in a post on X: 'Which way would Jesus, who was imprisoned, prefer?' Of course, many of us outside the church have our own images and memories of fraternity bridging divides. Having long served in the United State Foreign Service, I was privileged to meet countless people from around the world. Even when we did not share a language, we shared meals. Even when we had no common past, we were able to find common goals. I find myself returning to these experiences and musing about their quiet radicality. There is something powerful about people of different tribes coming together to share a laugh, break bread or simply recognize their shared humanity. Understanding this, I've tried, as a novelist, to write scenes of communion to combat those of violence. As a thriller about infiltrating a white supremacist militia, my next book does not shy away from exposing neo-Nazis' dark libido. But nor does it skimp on expressing hope for peace, celebrating characters who cross racial and cultural lines to become friends and even lovers. At a time when simply by bearing witness to the news each day, Americans mass-consume what amounts to torture porn, we all have a duty to capture and recreate small moments of encounter. Because encounters transform us from the inside out. Francis put it poetically when he wrote that we must resist 'the temptation to build a culture of walls,' whether in our hearts or on our lands. For those 'who raise walls will end up as slaves within the very walls they have built,' he said, and will be 'left without horizons.' Otho Eskin, a playwright and retired diplomat, is the author of the forthcoming novel 'Black Sun Rising.'
Yomiuri Shimbun
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Federal Trade Commission Investigates Media Matters, Watchdog Sued by Musk
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Tech billionaire Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House in April. Media Matters, a left-leaning watchdog group that publishes reports on conservative media and social media platforms such as Elon Musk's X, said it received a civil investigative demand letter from the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday. The letter demanded materials related to a lawsuit filed by Musk, communications with other media and advertising groups dating back to 2019, and information about its technology, methods and policies, among an extensive range of materials, according to a person familiar with the letter's contents, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss legal matters. The FTC sends letters of demand as part of its investigations into organizations that it believes could have breached federal regulations. Media Matters was sued by Musk, a billionaire and close ally of President Donald Trump, after it published a report in November 2023 that showed mainstream advertisements appearing beside pro-Nazi content on his site X. Companies such as Apple and Disney suspended their advertising on X after the Media Matters report was published. Musk claimed the report was defamatory and deceptive, and alleged that Media Matters had manipulated the algorithm to show content and advertising placement that a regular user of X would not see. The FTC demand includes all materials produced through discovery as part of the Musk lawsuit, according to the person familiar with the contents of the letter. The lawsuit is ongoing, and Musk and Media Matters have each sued each other in other jurisdictions since. Media Matters was also investigated by the attorneys general of Texas, Ken Paxton, and Missouri, Andrew Bailey, both Republicans, over its report on X, but the organization was granted injunctions in its favor in both cases. Each attorney general had alleged that the nonprofit could have engaged in fraudulent business practices targeting X. In a statement, Media Matters President Angelo Carusone said that the Trump administration had 'been defined by naming right-wing media figures to key posts and abusing the power of the federal government to bully political opponents and silence critics.' 'It's clear that's exactly what's happening here,' he said, adding: 'These threats won't work; we remain steadfast to our mission.' The FTC declined to comment. Trump in March dismissed the two remaining Democrats on the FTC, which critics said called the commission's independence into question. It is designed to be made up of five commissioners who serve seven-year terms, with no more than three from one political party allowed. However, it currently has only three, all Republicans, two appointed last year by President Joe Biden and one by Trump this year. Media Matters was founded more than two decades ago as an advocacy group to monitor conservative media such as Fox News and report false or misleading claims made by right-wing outlets. It has worked to get advertisers to boycott Fox News.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Elon Musk's vendetta against Media Matters morphs into Trump administration investigation
Amid 'first buddy' Elon Musk's ongoing public war against Media Matters for America, the Federal Trade Commission has opened an investigation into the liberal media watchdog over what it says could be illegal collusion with advertisers. Essentially piggybacking on Musk's lawsuits against Media Matters over the group's research into hateful and antisemitic content on the mega-billionaire's social media platform X, the FTC sent a letter to the organization requiring it to share communications and documents related to its research, as well as copies of its budgets. 'This demand is issued pursuant to Section 20 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. § 57b-1, in the course of an investigation to determine whether there is, has been, or may be a violation of any laws administered by the Federal Trade Commission by conduct, activities, or proposed action as described in Item 3,' the letter states. Media Matters president Angelo Carusone said the formal government probe was an escalation of President Donald Trump's efforts to punish his critics, which have resulted in executive orders against law firms, investigations into Democratic-aligned groups, and threats against media outlets. 'The Trump administration has been defined by naming right-wing media figures to key posts and abusing the power of the federal government to bully political opponents and silence critics,' Carusone said in a statement. 'It's clear that's exactly what's happening here, given Media Matters' history of holding those same figures to account. These threats won't work; we remain steadfast to our mission,' he added. The FTC declined to comment. Earlier this spring, the president dismissed the last two remaining Democrats on the FTC, calling into question the commission's independence. While the commission is supposed to be made up of five commissioners who serve seven-year terms, with no more than three from any political party, the FTC currently has just three members – all Republican. Musk, who served as a close adviser to Trump and has championed himself as a 'free speech absolutist,' sued Media Matters for defamation in 2023 and blamed it for an advertiser exodus from X over a 'harmful' report that showed pro-Nazi posts appearing next to blue-chip company ads. Since then, Musk launched another lawsuit against an industry group that represents a slew of global brands and advertisers, accusing it of conspiring to cut off X's advertising revenue. The world's richest man has also filed additional complaints against Media Matters across the world, while sympathetic GOP state attorneys have spun up their own Musk-related civil investigations into the liberal organization. A federal judge halted those probes last year, stating that they were being used 'to retaliate against a media organization for protected speech.' In March, Media Matters went on offense and sued X for breach of contract over the multiple lawsuits Musk has filed against the group, which includes complaints in Ireland and Singapore, claiming the tech mogul was engaging in 'a vendetta-driven campaign of libel tourism.' 'X's worldwide campaign of intimidation seeks to punish Media Matters for exercising its core First Amendment rights on a matter of public importance,' the lawsuit alleges. 'This Court should stop X's antics and enforce the forum selection clause that X itself drafted.' The Tesla CEO's vendetta against Media Matters has forced the non-profit group to make severe cutbacks amid the financial strain of the escalating court battles. The watchdog laid off roughly a dozen writers and researchers last year and has scaled back much of its work in recent months. Carusone has therefore spent much of the past year meeting with donors and allies while attempting to raise enough money to keep Media Matters afloat. Meanwhile, the Trump-led government seemingly doing the bidding of a close ally of the president's, who donated hundreds of millions of dollars to the GOP in the past year, has already prompted quite a bit of criticism. 'Of course, if the roles were reversed—if a Democratic administration were using the FTC to target a conservative media watchdog because George Soros didn't like its reporting—outlets like Fox News would never stop covering it,' Status founder Oliver Darcy wrote. 'There would be front-page stories, members of Congress would be pressured to hold hearings, and endless screeds about weaponizing government would saturate social media platforms like X.'
Axios
23-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
FTC investigating liberal watchdog group Media Matters
The Federal Trade Commission is investigating the liberal group Media Matters over claims that it and other media advocacy groups coordinated advertising boycotts of Elon Musk's X, Media Matters president Angelo Carusone confirmed in a statement Thursday. Why it matters: Musk and conservatives have been targeting advertising groups for months as part of a broader effort to determine whether the ad market writ large is biased against them. X sued Media Matters for defamation in 2023 for a report it publicly released that showed ads on X running next to pro-Nazi content. X claimed the report contributed to an advertiser exodus. Last year, X filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against the World Federation of Advertisers, a major advertising trade group, and its industry coalition called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media. The lawsuit proved effective as WFA discontinued GARM a few months later. What they're saying:"The Trump administration has been defined by naming right-wing media figures to key posts and abusing the power of the federal government to bully political opponents and silence critics," said Carusone. "It's clear that's exactly what's happening here, given Media Matters' history of holding those same figures to account. These threats won't work; we remain steadfast to our mission." The FTC did not respond to a request for comment. Zoom out: The investigation, first reported by Reuters, signals an escalation of tensions between the advertising community and conservatives. Last year, The Daily Wire, a conservative media company, sent letters to major corporations asking them to "reject" GARM, arguing it colluded with agencies, brands and tech platforms "to demonetize conservative media outlets." The Daily Wire testified in a hearing about the matter last summer, after conservatives leading the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing about complaints GARM was colluding with ad-buying giant GroupM to discourage clients from buying ads in the Daily Wire because of its conservative politics. What to watch: X Corp. has a mixed record when it comes to lawsuits against research and advocacy groups.
