As Writers, Should we be Scared?

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That email isn't even from Hillary Clinton.

Here's the image.

It's so damn tiny my screen reader can't read it at all. I printed it out, and used a magnifying glass to produce the transcript below.

* I am deeply unsure of the punctuation; the commas are almost invisible.
* Let me know where I've got it wrong and I'll correct.

Christina Reynolds said:
Friend —

Whenever you hear about a right-wing conspiracy theory somehow making its way into the mainstream of political dialogue, there's a good chance that Breitbart News had something to do with it.

Never heard of Breitbart News? It's a fringe website where there's no opinion too ugly, too divisive, or too outright crazy to be worth breathless promotion.

The one about President Obama being a secret Muslim born in Kenya? Breitbart was all over that "story."

Or maybe you heard abut the time they attacked an opponent — a conservative Republican, no less — by calling him a "renegade Jew."

Why does this matter?

Donald Trump just hired Breibart's executive director to be his new campaign CEO.

Now, we've had a conservative media in this country for a while. I don't always like what they have to say, but I respect their role and their right to exist.

Breitbart is something different. They make Fox News look like a Democratic Party pamphlet. They're a different breed altogether — not just conservative but radical, bigoted, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic conspiracy peddlers who haver have been and never should be anywhere near the levers of power in this country.

But Donald Trump just gave them a broad new mandate to shape his campaign, his message, the future of the Republican Party, and quite possibly the country.

It goes without saying that we have to beat these people. But I want to beat them so decisively that their kind never rises again.

Doing that is going to take hard work, moral clarity, unshakeable determination, and enough resources to make sure that every last voter in America hears from us every single day abut the choice in this election.

We'll never face a challenge more important than this. Please, chip in to stand on the right side of history and help us send Donald Trump and Steve Bannon back to the fringes where they belong. When you do, we'll send you a free sticker as a thank you for your support:

[Donate $1 red button]

Thanks,
Christina
Christina Reynolds
Deputy Communications Director

1. It's not from Hillary Clinton. It's not even from her Communications Director; it's from a Deputy Communications Director.

2. It doesn't say anything about taking down Breibart or any other site; in fact it says they have a right to exist.

3. It's not stellar prose; but I do not see "these people" as referring to Breibart. I think it's referring to Trump and the Republican Party. And I'd sorta assume that the Hillary Clinton campaign want to beat them.
 
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robeiae

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That email isn't even from Hillary Clinton.

Here's the image.

It's so damn tiny my screen reader can't read it at all. I printed it out, and used a magnifying glass to produce the transcript below.

* I am deeply unsure of the punctuation; the commas are almost invisible.
* Let me know where I've got it wrong and I'll correct.



1. It's not from Hillary Clinton. It's not even from her Communications Director; it's from a Deputy Communications Director.

2. It doesn't say anything about taking down Breibart or any other site; in fact it says they have a right to exist.

3. It's not stellar prose; but I do not see "these people" as referring to Breibart. I think it's referring to Trump and the Republican Party. And I'd sorta assume that the Hillary Clinton campaign want to beat them.
I agree with all of this (almost). As I said, I linked to the DC piece in an effort to show where the claim in the OP--Clinton talking about taking down alt right media sites--was coming from. It's not my OP, obviously, but I think I have the right locus for the claim. Following that e-mail release in August, there were many stories like the DC piece--mostly on highly partisan sites, to be sure--saying the same sorts of things, that Clinton wanted to take down these alt right sites (or that she wanted to destroy them). And imo, it's easy to see how someone could make that jump from this e-mail.

But as you say, it's not actually Clinton saying these things (though it did come from HillaryClinton.com). And I read it as you read it. Except for one thing: it doesn't say Breitbart has a right exist, it specifically says that Breitbart is "something different," which is a part of what the DC piece--and the others out there on this--quotes from the e-mail. But their conclusion that the e-mail is implying Breitbart should be taken down is not well-supported, imo, because the e-mail doesn't suggest any silencing of the media. And more significantly--imo--I think Clinton knows full well that she couldn't "take down" these sites as President, so drawing such a conclusion from the e-mail is wrong-headed, is interpreting the e-mail incorrectly.
 
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Vince524

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I agree with all of this (almost). As I said, I linked to the DC piece in an effort to show where the claim in the OP--Clinton talking about taking down alt right media sites--was coming from. It's not my OP, obviously, but I think I have the right locus for the claim. Following that e-mail release in August, there were many stories like the DC piece--mostly on highly partisan sites, to be sure--saying the same sorts of things, that Clinton wanted to take down these alt right sites (or that she wanted to destroy them). And imo, it's easy to see how someone could make that jump from this e-mail.

But as you say, it's not actually Clinton saying these things (though it did come from HillaryClinton.com). And I read it as you read it. Except for one thing: it doesn't say Breitbart has a right exist, it specifically says that Breitbart is "something different," which is a part of what the DC piece--and the others out there on this--quotes from the e-mail. But their conclusion that the e-mail is implying Breitbart should be taken down is not well-supported, imo, because the e-mail doesn't suggest any silencing of the media. And more significantly--imo--I think Clinton knows full well that she couldn't "take down" these sites as President, so drawing such a conclusion from the e-mail is wrong-headed, is interpreting the e-mail incorrectly.


This reads to me as a case where they sent out a fundraising email that could be read in such a way that you might think electing Clinton would be the end of Breitbart in order to appeal to certain parts of the Left's base. The email got out and the other side has reacted to the same part. Either way, it's not going to happen.