{"id":3662,"date":"2011-02-07T12:52:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-07T12:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2011\/02\/aol-is-buying-huffington-post.html"},"modified":"2011-02-07T12:52:00","modified_gmt":"2011-02-07T12:52:00","slug":"aol-is-buying-huffington-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2011\/02\/aol-is-buying-huffington-post.html","title":{"rendered":"AOL is buying Huffington Post"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Why?\u00a0 Well, according to the New York Times<\/a> quoting AOL\u2019s chief executive Tim Armstrong: <\/p>\n

The deal will allow AOL to greatly expand its news gathering and original content creation, areas that its chief executive, Tim Armstrong<\/span><\/a>, views as vital to reversing a decade-long decline. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, the part that struck me was \u2018expand its news gathering and original content creation.\u2019\u00a0 News?\u00a0 Mr. Armstrong is aware that Huffington Post is a radical, extreme, uber-left leaning website, dedicated to promoting hyper liberal social, political, economic, and philosophical ideals, isn\u2019t he?\u00a0 It embraces the finer points of multi-culturalism, and post-Western progressivism.\u00a0 And its basic theme is that those who embrace the same group think mentality are, of course, rather swell; while those who are bad and don\u2019t embrace the dogmas, are morons, loons, scum, hatemongers, racists, bigots, losers, etc., etc.\u00a0 And that\u2019s from the official contributors.\u00a0 Check out the comments section and it gets worse. <\/p>\n

So why would AOL pick such an over-the-top example of partisan rhetoric, vitriol, and hackery as the flagship for its news gathering initiative?\u00a0 Well, I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 Mr. Armstrong failed to consult with me before he made his big decision.\u00a0 But one thing I\u2019ve notice, it\u2019s that a growing number moguls of the new digital age are, for want of a better term, liberal.\u00a0 Leftist.\u00a0 Progressives.\u00a0 Call it what you will.\u00a0 They lean to the left.\u00a0 Whether Google, Youtube,\u00a0or possibly AOL?, Microsoft, Apple, many\u00a0wear their ideals on their sleeves.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

So much are they open about their beliefs, that they are willing to put their money where their mouths are as Apple demonstrated<\/a> when it banned an Iphone App by the Manhattan Declaration<\/a> simply because gay rights groups cried foul and, as usual, called for immediate censorship of unacceptable speech.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Which got me to thinking, as I am wont to do.\u00a0 As our society falls over itself to seize the highest principles of Orwellian culture and make it our own, I can\u2019t help but see a growing trend.\u00a0 AOL is just the latest.\u00a0 The merging of art, journalism, business, academics, science, and politics is something that seems to be gaining speed.\u00a0 We are a country where everything is becoming punditry.\u00a0 And an increasingly powerful group of individuals are inventing the very tools with which we seem so eager to invite Big Brother into our homes.\u00a0 And some of these individuals seem to have little compunction about enforcing their beliefs, including and up to banning the right to use their products that are linking our society and the world.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Now, in the 60s and 70s, if a radio station refused to play The Doors, or a record store didn\u2019t carry a Stones album, that was censorship.\u00a0 That was fascist totalitarian thought control no questions asked.\u00a0 As we\u2019ve finally gotten rid of that silly notion, and as we see a growing tendency of many who used to define such things as censorship now calling for the same type of things from the mega-billion dollar stores and stations of today, I can\u2019t help but wonder where those who don\u2019t conform to the dogmas of Leftist ideals will fit.\u00a0 When FOX News is partisan, and HuffingtonPost is News, and a growing cadre of billionaires feel it is their right to use their mediums to enforce the dictates of goodthink, where will those who don\u2019t want to play ball end up playing?\u00a0 Makes me wonder.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

P.S. I realize that Apple says it reserves the right to pull things based on content.\u00a0 My guess is, companies always should have been able to do just that.\u00a0 I just can\u2019t help but notice there was a time when \u2018pulling for content\u2019 was Big Brother 101, and now those who once cried Censorship are the ones demanding it today.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why?\u00a0 Well, according to the New York Times quoting AOL\u2019s chief executive Tim Armstrong: The deal will allow AOL to greatly expand its news gathering and original content creation, areas that its chief executive, Tim Armstrong, views as vital to reversing a decade-long decline. Now, the part that struck me was \u2018expand its news gathering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nAOL is buying Huffington Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why?  Well, according to the New York Times quoting AOL's chief executive Tim Armstrong: The deal will allow AOL to greatly expand its news gathering\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2011\/02\/aol-is-buying-huffington-post.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" 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