Exploring The Atlantic's influential but misleading narratives, from promoting war and austerity to downplaying progressive voices. Unpacking the magazine's history of center-right leanings, elite ownership, and controversial writers, like Jeffrey Goldberg. Critiquing biased coverage of topics like Israel-Palestine conflict and campus controversies, highlighting a disconnect from reality and liberal ideals.
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Quick takeaways
The Atlantic magazine has transformed from promoting American ideals to espousing right-wing ideas for a liberal-leaning audience.
Key figures like Jeffrey Goldberg and David From have used The Atlantic to push military interventions and advance imperialistic views.
The Atlantic's contradictory stance on conspiracy theories, exemplified by Jeffrey Goldberg's promotion of Iraq WMD hoax, challenges its credibility.
Deep dives
The historical trajectory of the Atlantic magazine
The Atlantic magazine, founded in 1857, has evolved from an abolitionist publication to a center-right platform. Over the years, it has shifted from promoting American ideals to serving as a purveyor of right-wing ideas to a liberal-leaning audience, lauding elite stature and embracing a centrist ideology.
The Atlantic's role in promoting war and imperialism
The Atlantic has long served as a retirement home for discredited Iraq war boosting neocons, advocating for agendas aligned with American imperialism. Leading figures like Jeffrey Goldberg and David From have been central in selling military interventions, shaping narratives that resonate with the liberal elite while advancing war-mongering and imperialistic views.
The Atlantic's paradoxical stance on conspiracy theories
Despite positioning as an arbiter of conspiracy theories post-2016, the Atlantic itself has propagated consequential conspiracy theories. Notably, Jeffrey Goldberg's promotion of the Iraq WMD hoax challenges their credibility as the determiner of what constitutes a conspiracy theory, revealing a paradoxical stance on the subject
The Role of Jeffrey Goldberg as a Propagandist
Jeffrey Goldberg is highlighted as a skilled propagandist who promotes plausible yet incorrect conspiracy theories. His ability to differentiate liberal conspiracy theories, which are unlikely but not impossible, from conservative ones, which are absurd and impossible, showcases his skill in selling his own narratives while discrediting opposing views.
The Atlantic's Focus on Cancel Culture and College Speech Wars
The Atlantic's editorial mission includes a strong focus on cancel culture and free speech battles on college campuses. Partnering with the Charles Koch Foundation on speech projects and highlighting select narratives aligns with an elite strategy to maintain intellectual authority and perpetuate specific viewpoints within the liberal space.
“Teachers Unions: Still a Huge Obstacle to Reform.” “Countering Iran’s Menacing Persian Gulf Navy.” “Open Everything: The time to end pandemic restrictions is now.” “The Good Republicans’ Last Stand”
Each of these headlines comes from the same magazine: The Atlantic. For 167 years, the publication has enjoyed elite stature in the American literary and journalistic worlds, publishing such luminaries as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Barack Obama, and serving as a coveted professional destination for writers throughout the country. Founded by a number of esteemed 19th century authors, the magazine has long prided itself on its cultural and political depth.
But beneath all of its high-minded rhetoric about democracy, free expression, fearlessness, and American ideals is a vehicle of center-right pablum, designed to launder reactionary opinions for a liberal-leaning audience. As the employer of warmongers like Jeffrey Goldberg, Anne Applebaum, and David Frum, under the ownership of a Silicon Valley-tied investment firm hellbent on destroying teachers’ unions, The Atlantic, time and time again, proves a far cry from the truth-pursuing, consensus-disrupting outlet it claims to be. On this episode, we dive into the history and ideology of The Atlantic, examining the currents of middlebrow conservatism, left-punching, and deference to boring business owners that have run through the magazine throughout its nearly 17 decades of operation.
Our guest is Jon Schwarz.
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