Nov 23, 2020
Common Dreams: Common, perhaps. Dreams, not so much.
The commondreams.org website claims to be a voice of the progressive community. It proudly states “Beholden only to our progressive readers and the values we share with them.” It describes its agenda: “We share our readers’ progressive values of social justice, human rights, equality and peace. Common Dreams is committed to not only being your trusted news source, but to encouraging critical thinking and civic action on a diverse range of social, economic, and civil rights issues affecting individuals and their communities.”
Evidence suggests otherwise. Evidence suggests that Common Dreams is untrustworthy. Evidence suggests Common Dreams prefers manipulation and fear-mongering to open debate.
Case in point. On Monday, November 23, 2020, Common Dreams published an article: ‘Iran in the Crosshairs?’ Reports of Secret Meeting Between Netanyahu, MbS, and Pompeo Spark Fears of War Plot. All comments on the article accepted the article’s premise and reacted accordingly.
Except one reader. That reader posted the comment below:
This piece will be a test of how well CD enables its readers to understand and predict likely future events.
Every other commenter here believes this meeting is preparatory for war. I think the opposite.
I think this meeting is preparatory for an announcement of a peace deal between the Israelis and the Saudis.
BTW, if it’s war you fear, then ponder that Biden just announced his choice of Tony Blinken as Secretary of State. Blinken was Biden’s key advisor when Biden pushed for Bush’s invasion of Iraq. Blinken still defends the invasion as the right course of action. debate.
One might expect the reader’s post to provoke debate. But that’s not what happened. Rather, the dissenting reader’s comment was quickly removed, his or her account was terminated, and his or her IP address blocked.
Seems like a strange — excessive? — response by a site which supposedly values critical thinking. Unfortunately, there are good reasons to believe this response is not an exception. Common Dreams has an agenda, and that agenda includes deceitful support of establishment Democratic priorities while pretending to serve the broader progressive community.
A progressive reader, wishing to be well-informed, and seeking a community where honest debate is encouraged, might therefore be advised to regard Common Dreams with a degree of caution.
