After New York City’s race for mayor catapulted Zohran Mamdani from state assembly member into one of the world’s most prominent progressive voices, intense debate swirled over the ideas at the heart of his campaign.
His critics and opponents painted pledges such as free bus service, universal child care and rent freezes as unworkable, unrealistic and exorbitantly expensive.
But some have hit back, highlighting the quirk of geography that underpins some of this view. “He promised things that Europeans take for granted, but Americans are told are impossible,” said Dutch environmentalist and former government advisor Alexander Verbeek in the wake of Tuesday’s election.
Verbeek backed this with a comment he had overheard in an Oslo café, in which Mamdani was described as an American politician who “finally” sounded normal.
As a foreigner I’ve been disgusted by all the American media surrounding Mamdani’s campaign. Even from so called “liberal media” like the Washington post; it’s been grotesque racist caricatures, overblown red scare taglines, and downright apocalyptic visions for a guy that wants, cheap fast buses and to tax the oligarchs.
I can’t believe the Ideological shit show that is America and it frightens me that they think it is their duty to export these ideas to other countries.
Just a heads up, the Washington Post is considered the an oligarch paper over here. It’s owned by Jeff Bezos and rarely is anything published which might try to push back on a finances first narrative that puts money before people. The people who still follow it are already million or multi-millionaires or believe that some day they will obtain that much money, and they might with the way inflation is going.
It’s “Liberal” only in that it pushes for business liberty which I think is the simplest definition of Liberalism in Europe. As a USian I read that and think, “Why would anyone think WaPo is Liberal?”
I would consider WaPo a conservative paper. But like with the definition of conservative we used until I was 25. Meaning a tight fisted, push for no spending, fewer taxes, if YOU want your kid educated YOU have to pay for it YOURSELF, but we’re cool with gays and blacks and other minorities, type of conservative.
But that type of thinking is now “Woke” according to our far right which currently controls our entire government. And that somehow makes WaPo a Liberal paper on comparison. Advertising works I guess.
If you want to know what progressives or really just what our big cities think I’d recommend googling smaller papers or magazines. I’m not saying there isn’t some crazy right wing stuff out there too but here’s a smattering:
Seattle: https://www.thestranger.com/
Denver: https://www.westword.com/
Chicago: https://chicagoreader.com/ https://blockclubchicago.org/
NYC: uhhh I never lived here so… Wikipedia has a list of print media! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_New_York_City_newspapers_and_magazines
I’m not sure Westword is the same as it once was or frankly any of these but they’re all smaller than Jungle Oligarch Daddy’s paper. Possibly owned by less agent oligarchs, I don’t know but it’s a place to start.
I agree with the sentiment, but the Washington Post has not been “liberal media” since Bezos bought it. I used to have a sub, in 2017, and don’t recognize the place any longer.
So it turns out Jeff Bezos hasn’t been funding the Antifa super soldiers like musk said? =P I am shocked, Next you are going to tell me George Soros isn’t a bastion of liberalism either!
But in all seriousness. The vibe i am getting from overall media in the Us is that some leans “liberal” and some leans “conservative” but they all protect the interests of billionaires or are downright owned by them.
This is pretty much my view on it. For the most part, the way they may lean “liberal” would be on the margins, maybe something like identity politics. Anything that might mess with oligarchs’ money or question something like our relationship with Israel is usually out of bounds.
I didn’t start really paying attention until the early 90s, but it’s been more or less like this as far as things I’ve noticed. Chomsky says similar things going much further back in relation to the corporate media. Movies like Network lampoon it…
I don’t think it’s been getting any better - with deregulation and consolidation, it seems to be getting even worse.
Even before Bezos bought it, I don’t think they were all that liberal. I’m sure it’s only gotten worse, though.
It frustrates me that they have been exporting these ideas for a very long time.
American exceptionalism has been an underlying assumption in Hollywood movies and US television, books and music for longer than either of us have been alive.