Bezos' op-ed is an appeal to conservatives
Jeff Bezos, billionaire owner of the Washington Post, has made an appeal to America's right wing in his latest op-ed and no one is talking about it.
Me vs Me
This is a relatively short issue for the week. And I'm late to the presses. I'm currently in a battle with myself over what this newsletter should be, and whether what I write is worth the read. There's a lot of "great is the enemy of good" vibes going on over here. Ultimately, I want to write things that people are excited to read. If what I wrote isn't worth reading (in my silly opinion) then I don't want to publish it. Thanks for sticking with me. I'm confident that "me" wins and "me" will fall in line.
Here's a picture of a crab smoking a cigarette as an offering of good faith. Read to the end for some good links from around the web.
Is Bezos flirting with the far-right?
Jeff Bezos, billionaire owner of the Washington Post, has made an appeal to America's right wing in his latest op-ed addressing endorsement-gate (sorry). There are nods to conservatives peppered across his open letter and I'm surprised no one has mentioned it.
First, a quick breakdown of events:
- Friday Noon: Washington Post breaks a fifty year tradition by announcing the paper will no longer endorse presidential candidates. The announcement comes ten days before the election.
- Friday Night: Readers start revolting. First wave of cancelled WaPo subscriptions hit.
- Saturday: Some WaPo staff are openly defiant about the decision. The paper's humor columnists publishes an article on WaPo with her endorsement of Kamala Harris.
- Monday Morning: Jeff Bezos drops his op-ed presumably, in an attempt to stop the bleeding and quell the open revolt against his newspaper.
- Monday: 200,000 canceled subscriptions within 48 hours. Editorial board members resign.
- Tuesday: People wonder why Bezos is referring to himself as a journalist.
- Tuesday Evening: 250,000 canceled subscriptions.
Lets dive in.
When you read Bezos' opinion piece The hard truth: Americans don’t trust the news media, it's clear, perhaps not immediately, that hes isn't speaking to the liberal-leaning readership that have their fingers on the cancel button. Perhaps he believes there's nothing he can say to get those readers back. Or, he's engaged in some 12D chess and this was his plan all along.
Bezos is making an appeal to conservatives. Perhaps even MAGA.
First, his argument's premise is largely a right-wing talking point— the liberal media™ are biased and untrustworthy.
We must be accurate, and we must be believed to be accurate. It's a bitter pill to swallow, but we are failing on the second requirement. Most people believe the media is biased.
Liberals aren't concerned with whether or not WaPo has a liberal slant. They're well aware. They want that liberal slant. They need that liberal slant. The truth? Liberals can't handle the truth!
Joking. Sorry. Okay:
Might I suggest that the average WaPo reader is more concerned with billionaires co-opting American journalism to escape scrutiny, allegations, and the law, than they are with whether or not a journalist is secretly a vegan tree hugger.
Conservatives: 1. Liberals: 0.
Bezos then decided to give perhaps the most devisive analogy possible— election fraud.
Voting machines must meet two requirements. They must count the vote accurately, and people must believe they count the vote accurately. The second requirement is distinct from and just as important as the first.
Do we think Bezos' liberal readership resonates with voter machine conspiracies? Or, was he speaking to Fox News viewers?
Next—and this is what really tipped me off to his goal for this op-ed—look at the language he uses.
Reality is an undefeated champion. It would be easy to blame others for our long and continuing fall in credibility (and, therefore, decline in impact), but a victim mentality will not help. Complaining is not a strategy. We must work harder to control what we can control to increase our credibility.
"Victim mentality"? "Undefeated champion"? Who are we? Grindset influencers on Threads who post “facts over feels” memes?
Bezos knew what he was doing.
That leaves us with the question, why? Why make such a strong appeal to convervatives days before a presidential election? For now, I think we can chalk the timing up to incompetence. At least until we know more.
As for his right-wing memo, maybe he's simply hedging his bets. He believes Trump has a good chance of winning and he's getting a jump on things. There's also the possibility that conservatives will sign up for a Washington Post subscription in droves just to own the libs. Yeah, support independent journalism. That'll show'em.
Best of the week: links from around the web
- TikTok: Why some billionaires are going soft on Trump (TikTok)
- Instagram: Guy turns keyboard's little red button into something horny.
- YouTube: Does estrogen make you better at video games?
- Reddit: The most and least love brands in the US
- Essays: The Enduring Romance of Mixtapes and, We live in imaginary worlds.
- News: US Military Makes First Confirmed Open AI Purchase For War-Fighting Purposes
- This time last year: As ChatGPT gets “lazy,” people test “winter break hypothesis” as the cause
- Vintage: MySpace: A place for candidates