Has Aljazeera America been bought out by the oligarchs?

[tiredtoo]

Just sent this email off to Aljazeera America. http://america.aljazeera.com/
"Just saw a segment on this morning's news. Talking about Cuba and their conversion from "Socialist" to capitalist. Full story on tonight.
Cuba is NOT Socialist, Cuba is Communist. There is a vast difference. Please correct this.
I have always looked upon Aljazeera as a source of unbiased news. This use of the term socialist in lieu of the correct term communist can and will be used to quietly undermine the presidential aspirations of Bernie Sanders.
Please tell me you have not been bought out by the oligarchs.
Thank you,
Larry Benjamin"
EOM
It is these subtle actions that undermine our efforts to take back America from the oligarchs. Please join me in fighting this type of actions.
Email them here..... [e-mail]

[Nuclear Unicorn]

1. Sometimes a Cuban cigar is just a cigar.

[jberryhill]

3. Ah, see, now you are piling on

Because cigars cause mouth and throat cancer and Cuba is socialist, you are trying to say that Bernie Sanders wants to spread mouth and throat cancer.

Why do you hate Bernie?

[Nuclear Unicorn]

9. I thought what I was saying was pretty clear --

Unless Sanders strongly condemns Olive Garden's policy of bombing the moon we're never going to be able to deal with pit bulls breastfeeding in public.

Honestly, I don't know how you could have not understood my plain meaning.

[jberryhill]

11. Well, now that you put it that way

I support your efforts to speak gibberish to power.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

12. We might as well. Power will never give us a straight answer.

[Quackers]

40. "Why do you hate Bernie?"

Lmao. Ok I'm voting for Bernie in the primary but that's funny! Let's play everyone! Six degrees of Bernie Sanders!

[jberryhill]

2. Bought out?

I sense a lot of win in this OP.

Let's start with who, in your imagination, it was originally owned by prior to being "bought out".

[tiredtoo]

6. Thanks for the reply

Being aware of the ownership of Aljazeera had nothing to do with my comment "bought out". I was referring to their casual substitution of socialist for communist. It is these subtle messages that resonate in the minds of the gullible and reinforce their fear/hatred.

[jberryhill]

8. I'm trying to picture this...

Someone already watching Al Jazeera was going to vote for Bernie Sanders until they heard that Cuba was "socialist"?

Less caffeine may help.

[tiredtoo]

20. Try to picture this

main stream media picks up on Cuba being socialist and repeats the message. I believe they call that propaganda in it's base form. Repeat a lie enough times and the public believes it.
You are totally missing my point here, either on purpose or for a lack of understanding. Your choice.

[jberryhill]

22. Or... Someone might read the Wikipedia entry for Cuba

"The Republic of Cuba is one of the world's last remaining socialist countries following the Marxist-Leninist ideology."

Wikipedia done been oligarched!

[tiredtoo]

31. How about if we want to compare socialism to capitalism we use Sweden vs. U.S. EOM

[Quackers]

41. No, I disagree!

More caffeine is required!

[think]

4. Al Jazeera's founder & chairman is a member of the ruling family of Qatar

It has always been a part of the oligarchy.

Al Jazeera Media Network

The original Al Jazeera Satellite Channel (then called JSC or Jazeera Satellite Channel) was launched on 1 November 1996 following the closure of the first BBC Arabic language television station, then a joint venture with Orbit Communications Company, owned by Saudi King Fahd's cousin, Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud. The BBC channel had closed after a year and a half when the Saudi government attempted to thwart a documentary pertaining to executions under sharia law.[3]

The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa, provided a loan of QAR 500 million ($137 million) to sustain Al Jazeera through its first five years, as Hugh Miles detailed in his book Al Jazeera: The Inside Story of the Arab News Channel That Is Challenging the West.

Al Jazeera's first day on the air was 1 November 1996. It offered 6-hours of programming per day; this would increase to 12-hours by the end of 1997. It was broadcast to the immediate neighborhood as a terrestrial signal, and on cable, as well as through satellites (which was also free to users in the Arab world). 1 January 1999 was Al Jazeera's first day of 24-hour broadcasting.[4] Employment had more than tripled in one year to 500 employees, and the agency had bureaus at a dozen sites as far as EU and Russia. Its annual budget was estimated at about $25 million at the time.

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazeera_Media_Network

[Cleita]

5. Al Jazeera is owned by Qatar, an oil kingdom in the Middle East. It is a sheikdom and

funded by the royal family there. So although they do a commendable job of unbiased reporting usually, unless it's about Qatar, they are owned by an oligarchy or maybe OILgarchy in this case. I think that was a mistake by one of their news writers who probably isn't familiar with the ideological differences in the terms. They hired a bunch of American journalists when they launched Al Jazeera America and no doubt it was one of them who came from American TV news who wrote that and we all know how much American TV news fact checks their reporting. You were right in pointing that out to them and hopefully they will correct their source for that.

[Historic NY]

7. The only thing American about Aljazeera America is the title.

[stevenleser]

10. Cuba describes itself as a Socialist Republic. Much like the former Soviet Union was the

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

[Cleita]

15. Nazis had socialist in their label but they were far from being real

socialists. Russia, China and Cuba practice communism, an economic system, under totalitarian dictatorships for government, meaning the government owns and runs everything. Nuance in defining and breaking these things down helps.

[stevenleser]

16. Not the same thing. China is also described as a Socialist Republic as is North Korea

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_China

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_state

[Cleita]

17. Doesn't matter, they still practice Soviet style totalitarianism.

The Netherlands is still a kingdom with a constitutional monarchy, yet they are very democratic, liberal and practice a lot of socialism. Our schools and media muddle all ofthis into mostly propaganda which has nothing to do with the way things really are.

[stevenleser]

18. And all are under the umbrella of Socialism. It's Democratic Socialism vs Marxist/Leninist Socialism

but they are all examples of Socialism.

[Cleita]

19. Socialism is actually the way we should be. It's our tribal DNA to share

everything. Instead we allow a few to own most of the wealth out there while the rest of us struggle day to day to stay alive. Tribal hunter/gatherer people in the Amazon before they come into contact with civilization, practice socialism in varying degrees, but it mostly boils down to those who are able to do the hunting and gathering and work the resources share the bounty with children, the elderly, the disabled and anyone else who is a member of that tribe.

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. How dare Al Jazeera call Cuba socialist, the way it calls itself socialist, eh?

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2015-04-17/april-16-cuba-reaffirms-its-socialist-character

What, to you, is the definition of socialist that excludes Cuba, and what makes your definition more true than Cuba's? If you say it's about "sharing everything", doesn't that make Cuba pretty socialist?

[Cleita]

25. When you decide to make sense, ask again. Because right now

your sentence reads like one of Sarah Palin's tweets.

[muriel_volestrangler]

28. I'll break it down for you:

"How dare Al Jazeera call Cuba socialist, the way it calls itself socialist, eh?"

This is sarcasm. Do you need the parts of speech explained?

http://en.granma.cu/cuba/2015-04-17/april-16-cuba-reaffirms-its-socialist-character

This is a link.

"What, to you, is the definition of socialist that excludes Cuba, and what makes your definition more true than Cuba's? If you say it's about "sharing everything", doesn't that make Cuba pretty socialist?"

I'll put that in short words, of one syllable where I can:

'What do you mean by socialism? Why do you think Cuba is not socialist? Why do you think your thoughts on it are good, while Cuba's are bad? You said "sharing everything" is good, and seemed to say that's what socialism is. Cubans share lots of things. Why aren't they socialist, to you?'

[Cleita]

29. Apparently you are saying I'm too stupid to understand and read your

brilliant mind, so why do you bother? Go hang out with your peers more intellectually on your level and leave me alone.

[muriel_volestrangler]

32. You wanted what seemed to be a simple post explained to you.

I tried to explain it. I don't think there's anything hard in it. I linked to an official Cuban publication quoting one of its leaders saying Cuba is socialist. I asked you why you thought you had a different and better idea of what socialism is, since you were objecting to Cuba being called socialist. Rather than trying to answer, you claimed the simple post was gibberish, and now, when I've rephrased it as simply as I can (with a snarky 'words of one syllable' remark, because, after all, you did compare my English to Sarah Palin's, so I felt justified in striking back), you're saying you don't want people to reply to your posts.

What a waste of our time.

[Cleita]

33. Please point out where I objected to Cuba being called socialist.

I think I said it operated like Soviet style communism where the state owns and operates everything. It has been that way until recently wherein Raul is relaxing the rules a bit allowing private ownership of property and businesses. Sure it has institutions we call socialist like national health care and free education, but Cuba is not socialist in the way let's say Denmark is which is a socialist democracy.

[muriel_volestrangler]

34. In #15, you pointed out Nazis had 'socialist' in their name, but weren't 'real' socialists

and then you immediately said Cuba practices communism under a totalitarian dictatorship. And you did that in a thread that is complaining about Cuba being called socialist. That does look like you were also placing Cuba in the 'not real socialists' group.

Then you claim the Netherlands practice a lot of socialism (which is, by the way, an unusual claim - you can look at some of the huge Dutch-based corporations, or a healthcare system based on insurance, some from private companies, and think they're not particularly socialist), and claim that US media and schools are mostly propaganda about the subject of socialism - again, this looks like you're objecting to the common practice of calling Cuba socialist.

[Cleita]

36. Cuba practices soviet style communism. That's a fact.

The Netherlands has a health system similar to our ACA act and it is considered a social program because the government helps people get health care. In spite of their big companies including banks they don't practice lassez faire capitalism like this country is headed for. Sure they aren't Denmark but they do run things pretty well. So does Switzerland without having to be entirely socialist. But both Netherlands and Switzerland who have maybe the least socialism do not let the corporations run amok and they do take care of their citizens which means cash redistribution of sorts and that is socialism. When the state owns, operates and distributes everything that is communism and that is Cuba.

[tiredtoo]

38. Best explanation in this thread.

And with socialism being even more evil than liberal in America, we must continue to make this distinction clear.

[muriel_volestrangler]

39. Collective ownership of the means of production and distribution

has long been a typical definition of socialism, eg the Oxford English Dictionary:

"A theory or system of social organization based on state or collective ownership and regulation of the means of production, distribution, and exchange for the common benefit of all members of society; advocacy or practice of such a system, esp. as a political movement. Now also: any of various systems of liberal social democracy which retain a commitment to social justice and social reform, or feature some degree of state intervention in the running of the economy."

And Cuba fits the primary definition far better than Denmark, the Netherlands or Switzerland (!), though Denmark fits the 'also' definition reasonably well. Yes, the Netherlands looks somewhat like the ACA, and that's rather the point - it's not a socialist solution.

[Cleita]

43. Well darling, we don't use the Oxford English Dictionary here in the USA.

We use the Miriam-Webster Dictionary:

Full Definition of COMMUNISM

1
a : a theory advocating elimination of private property
b : a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed
2
capitalized
a : a doctrine based on revolutionary Marxian socialism and Marxism-Leninism that was the official ideology of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
b : a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production
c : a final stage of society in Marxist theory in which the state has withered away and economic goods are distributed equitably
d : communist systems collectively

Full Definition of SOCIALISM

1: any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2
a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property
b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
3
: a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

ACA is a socialist solution because the government gives taxpayer's money to people who can't afford health insurance so they can afford to buy it. It redistributes wealth. It's no different that so-called socialist single payer. Single payer, where the government is the insurer, pays private health care providers and clinics for services to citizens. Your system in Britain is actually communistic inasmuch as the government runs the clinics and hospitals and health care providers are on the government payroll.

It's because people don't know the differences that the concepts get muddled. Also, communism was propagandized to me in school during the cold war as an evil government type of system. It wasn't. Communism was the economic system. The government that used it was a totalitarian dictatorship. Concepts count.

[muriel_volestrangler]

44. "collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution

such as Cuba;
"a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state"
such as Cuba. But note the overlap of the definitions of socialism and communism. The silly thing here is someone getting hot and bothered at Al Jazeera calling Cuba socialist; Cuba fits standard definitions of the term fine.

ACA is 'socialist'?
The health care providers are privately owned. Therefore it is not socialist. It does not fit the definitions, especially the Merriam-Webster one.

[Syzygy321]

13. Al Jazeera is unbiased news to you?

Heh heh.

If you just said that to butter them up, then okay.

They are a Qatari/Brotherhood organization and they have a slant like every other news agency.

[tiredtoo]

21. Duh! EOM

[kydo]

27. Its much more unbiased then most news orgs in the USA

Fox News did after all earn its label as the fake news channel for a reason. 50% of the stuff they say is lies the other 49% is code for the lies. The 1% left is stuff like names of the host so mostly they get that right but that's about it.

But yeah I do consider Al Jazeera for the most part unbiased. Just because they say things that people don't like doesn't make it not true.

[LanternWaste]

42. That slant being simply profits.

"they have a slant like every other news agency..."

That slant being simply profits. All else being relegated to editorial content.

[Codeine]

14. Y'all are just too silly some mornings. nt

[kydo]

24. You mean like that fake news channel does?

Only Cuba is a Socialist country. Its only here in the USA where many that control things like to clump the words socialist and communist together and call them the same thing or different lesser evil twins when it suits their purpose for controlling the masses.

Just saying....

[Cleita]

26. Best explanation here. eom

[ericson00]

30. Al Jazeera is no better than Fox

given how it covers those it doesn't like (like America, Israel, capitalism, etc). I don't favor laissez-faire, but neither do I favor other extreme systems.

[Obama Legacy]

35. Image Changing

They are making an effort to really go mainstream and I think over time it'll happen. They have added some nice pieces to their stable of reporters like Mehdi Hasan.

[seveneyes]

37. It's a gentle man's Jihad