How the Tech Billionaires Bought Radical Journalists
On this episode of The Time of Monsters, I talk to Eoin Higgins about how rich tech weirdos co-opted huge chunks of the media.
The Time of Monsters with Jeet Heer
The Time of Monsters podcast features Nation national-affairs correspondent Jeet Heer’s signature blend of political culture and cultural politics. Each week, he’ll host in-depth conversations with urgent voices on the most pressing issues of our time.
How the Tech Billionaires Bought Radical Journalists w/ Eoin Higgins
Tech lords such as Peter Thiel and Elon Musk are among the richest humans who have ever
lived and have an enormous sway over the American political system but even that isn’t enough
for them. They also want a compliant media, one that echoes their ideas, doesn’t investigate
their business practices, and goes after their enemy. This is the subject of a new book by Eoin
Higgins: Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left. I
talked to Eoin about two of the major figures in this story, Peter Thiel, a plutocrat who is eager
to abandon the human species and Matt Taibbi, a onetime anti-establishment voice who now
has become a standard reactionary.
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Peter Thiel
(Nordin Catic / Getty Images for The Cambridge Union)Tech lords such as Peter Thiel and Elon Musk are among the richest humans who have ever lived and have an enormous sway over the American political system, but even that isn’t enough for them. They also want a compliant media, one that echoes their ideas, doesn’t investigate their business practices, and goes after their enemy.
This is the subject of a new book by Eoin Higgins: Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left. I talked to Eoin about two of the major figures in this story: Peter Thiel, a plutocrat who is eager to abandon the human species, and Matt Taibbi, a onetime anti-establishment voice who has now become a standard reactionary.
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US-Iran Escalations, Israel Expands Lebanon Campaign, CIA Feuds With Intelligence Chief / American Prestige
There’s too much Knickerbocker news to fit here, but we do have other stories to report. This week: Iran and the U.S. exchange fire in the Gulf (2:00), plus peace talks stall after Trump adds new demands (4:29); Israel escalates its Lebanon campaign despite ceasefire talks (08:33); Cambodia takes a Thailand maritime dispute to the UN (15:19); in Sudan, tribal clashes kill dozens in South Darfur (17:38); Ukraine strikes St. Petersburg during the city’s International Economic Forum (20:13); Germany loses a UN Security Council vote (21:54); Colombia’s first-round election results see the right gain momentum (24:04); U.S. sanctions hit Cuba-linked hotels (26:36); and Tulsi Gabbard resigns as the DNI faces a CIA feud (29:11).
Then, Tim Sahay and Kate MacKenzie, co-editors of The Polycrisis, join the show to explain how the climate crisis, Chinese clean-tech, U.S. policy, and the Iran war are accelerating a global shift away from fossil fuels.
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