A Year In The Life Of A Propagandist

As The Propagandist prepares to usher in a new year, it’s time to take a look back at what our team of political pundits, essayists and provocateurs accomplished since we launched in the summer of 2010.

How did The Propagandist come about in the first place? I first broached the idea with some fellow pub-crawling political pundits in the winter of 2009 while discussing the future of media.

The conversation revolved around a few key observations.

First, the Internet was already filled up with political blogs and news sites, most of which seemed to have staked a claim to either the political far right or far left in order to build an audience. The publishers and writers had sold their souls. The result was a hodge-podge of mostly inarticulate and demagogic rhetorical sludge.

Even (or perhaps especially) among established newspapers and magazines, there was less and less room for nuanced political commentary by fellows like us. For instance, we supported ideas like democracy, the universality of human rights and the notion that modernity and development were overwhelmingly good things.

But we also supported the idea of blasting dictators and global terrorists to smithereens, or throwing maniacs like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Hugo Chavez off the nearest tall building.

For some reason, the first and second sets of ideas don’t seem to go together.

One reason is that the bizarre transformation of the “new” left has meant that many “progressives” who could formerly be counted on to go toe-to-toe with fascists, fight racism and gender inequality and stand up for democratic freedom, are now essentially talking heads for people like Saddam Hussein, Robert Mugabe and the Taliban. A left-wing dogma of non-violent resistance has evolved into a dishonorable and supine policy of surrender to terrorists and genocidal dictators. Today, if you advocate shooting fascists in the neck, that makes you, in the eyes of the new left's self-appointed leaders, a de facto far-right whacko (even though far-right isolationists are advocating identical cowardly and retrograde policies).

This state of affairs struck my political-minded friends as perverse and unfair. It may have contributed to their longstanding abuse of alcohol and other less common substances.

Given the problems we were having with the current list of publishers at our disposal, we realized we needed a new space to publish. I had a journalistic effort entitled Why Ground Zero Still Matters To America burning a hole in my laptop. My colleagues likewise had some fiery tracts that needed a home.

Around the Spring of 2010, I drew up a plan and called the most talented website developer in the universe, a likeable fellow who shared my love of beer and general nerdy-ness. In about a week, The Propagandist was up and running. Our political magazine launched with the goal of “opening a new front in the war of ideas”. To wit:

We're fighting back against a takeover of the public space by political extremists and an unholy alliance of unrepentant Stalinists, 9/11 Truthers and thuggish religious fanatics.”

The Propagandist Manifesto followed soon after, helping both friends and foes better understand our movement’s overriding aims:

How do we define ourselves? Our cause is freedom, modernity, reason, prosperity and the pursuit of happiness. Our propagandists and allies come from both the political Right and Left.

Our roster has grown to well over 20 contributing writers of political essays, editorials about fast-breaking news and even the odd cartoon. They’re based across the USA, Canada the UK, Israel, South Korea and elsewhere. And thanks to our partnerships with other new media organizations and the generous sponsorship of the The Free Thinking Film Festival for our essay contest, we’ve been noticed by an even greater number of writers and readers.

Many of our writers are established authors, journalists and distinguished experts in the fields of human rights activism and political science. Their articles included some groundbreaking and hard-hitting political writing. Some exceptional recent examples include:

• Fight Anti-Israel Bias. Promote Freedom And Universal Values
• European Soft Bigotry Selling Out Palestinian Human Rights
• Freedom Was Not An Abstract Idea
• International Human Rights Day? Not this year at the UN
• Democracy And Culture

We’ve come a long way from our humble beginnings. And we’re excited about what the future holds. We aim to keep building our roster of talented political writers and help promote new voices.

And of course, we always welcome new opportunities to work with advertising sponsors to help support our efforts.

Confusion to our enemies!

Jonathon Narvey is the Editor of The Propagandist