The American Conservative movement, has a relationship with facts that could charitably described as "complicated", and by that I mean, they really really don't like facts. Because since the early days of the Presidency of Barack Obama, facts have had a pesky habit of not agreeing with Republican talking points...
Yet the rise of this Conservative media bubble has been a remarkable phenomenon. Rather than deal with reality of America's changing demographics, social attitudes, environmental and economic challenges; Conservatives instead, have opted to do what amounts to sticking their fingers in their ears and going "la la la la!" as loud as they can.
The most recent examples of this can be found on the wonderful world wide web. Social Media is the one part of the internet that Conservatives have struggled with. They have embraced the blogosphere, and even online giants like the Huffington Post, Poltico and Buzzfeed , are essentially the modern day evolution what uber-conservative closet case, Matt Drudge started doing way back in 1998.
Yet unlike conservative safe spaces such as Fox News, online social media with its inherent freedom of speech (for the most part... ) has proven to be a difficult place to get conservative talking points across, unchallenged. So for many on the far right, the problem with platforms like Facebook is, it wont let you lie with impunity, and allows your talking talking points to be debunked by people armed with those pesky facts.
The solution? One Ohio GOP activist has moved to create an outlet that can be for online social media what Fox News is for Television. A place where the message is completely conservative and blissfully fact-free.
Internet? Say hello to Reaganbook!
Right Wing Watch’s Kyle Mantyla had this report on the creation of the site
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Get Ready For ReaganBook: The 'Facebook For Patriots'
Last weekend, the Ohio Liberty Coalition hosted a "Reload 4 Liberty" event at which Janet Porter spoke about her never-ending push to get her anti-choice "Heartbeat Bill" legislation passed in Ohio. But apparently that is not all that Porter is up to these days, as she also revealed to the audience that she'll soon be unveiling something called ReaganBook, which aims to become "the Facebook for patriots."
Because Facebook is run by the sorts of people who march in gay pride parades and supposedly censors messages from anti-gay activists like Peter LaBarbera, Porter explained that she decided to launch ReaganBook as a conservative alternative.
"We're tearing down walls, get it?" she said. "We're tearing down walls of tyranny, or censorship"
Last weekend, the Ohio Liberty Coalition hosted a "Reload 4 Liberty" event at which Janet Porter spoke about her never-ending push to get her anti-choice "Heartbeat Bill" legislation passed in Ohio. But apparently that is not all that Porter is up to these days, as she also revealed to the audience that she'll soon be unveiling something called ReaganBook, which aims to become "the Facebook for patriots."
Because Facebook is run by the sorts of people who march in gay pride parades and supposedly censors messages from anti-gay activists like Peter LaBarbera, Porter explained that she decided to launch ReaganBook as a conservative alternative.
"We're tearing down walls, get it?" she said. "We're tearing down walls of tyranny, or censorship"
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Yet the internet does tend to have a will of its own, as well as a sense of humor, as Porter found out. As of today, the site is offline because Janet Porter is really not happy that non-true believers have been able to join and post on the site.
As fun as it may be to laugh at efforts like this, it clearly puts the state of the modern American Conservative movement into perspective.
Conservatives in the US are faced with a reality is a far cry from what they remember as the "glory days" of Ronald Reagan. When all those annoying minorities knew their place, and when conservative evangelicals essentially ran the Federal Government. (Well, for except for those key Presidential decisions that were based on astrology...)
After the defeats of 2012 it briefly looked as if the Republican Party and the broader American Conservative Movement were going to try to move beyond the fact free bubble they were living in. Yet as we move to the mid point of President Obama's second term, we see the reverse is in fact what is happening.
Rather than face reality, they have instead opted to double down on delusion. For some Conservatives, even Fox News has become too polluted by non-conservative facts. Former half-term Alaska Governor and GOP Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin as opted to create her own online media channel. Where you can get her (and only her..) unique view of the world, for only ten bucks a month! How could any resist?
After the defeats of 2012 it briefly looked as if the Republican Party and the broader American Conservative Movement were going to try to move beyond the fact free bubble they were living in. Yet as we move to the mid point of President Obama's second term, we see the reverse is in fact what is happening.
Rather than face reality, they have instead opted to double down on delusion. For some Conservatives, even Fox News has become too polluted by non-conservative facts. Former half-term Alaska Governor and GOP Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin as opted to create her own online media channel. Where you can get her (and only her..) unique view of the world, for only ten bucks a month! How could any resist?
The brilliant Stephen Colbert gives us the details...
As we approach the 2014 mid-term elections expect more of this sort of thing. After all, facts apparently have a "liberal bias".
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