Thread:

Dear @RobertWrighter:

I
have benefited in past from @BloggingHeads, so it is disturbing that the platform was handed over for 90 minutes to an activist pushing misinformation on #Syria, primarily to attack #WhiteHelmets and to deny #ChemicalAttacks.

In 90 minutes, the activist offered almost no reliable information. Instead, he used @BloggingHeads for a series of misrepresentations and sometimes falsehoods.

1. He claims "journalistic malpractice" in BBC Radio 4 documentary #Mayday w/o citing single example.

#Syria
2. His only "evidence" on #Douma #ChemicalAttack is a misrepresentation of tweets by @DalatRM and an incorrect claim about Robert Fisk.

3. He misrepresents creation of #WhiteHelmets

4. He falsely claims WH "took part in executions".

#Syria
5. He misrepresents #WhiteHelmets "celebrating w Al Qa'eda" in a "town in #Idlib Province" (not realizing that it is Idlib city)

6. He claims WH "ties with jihadists" w no evidence

7. His claims are ill-informed, at best, about start & course of #Syria conflict.
8. Specifically, he is ignorant re intervention by #Iran and #Hezbollah & how and why it occurred.

9. He distorts audit findings re #WhiteHelmets and #JamesLeMesurier (adding ad hominem v. LeMesurier).

10. W no evidence, he claims 2013 #EastGhouta sarin attack was "false flag".
11. He misrepresents #OPCW process & findings on #Douma (using assertions fed to him by 1 ex-OPCW staffer, personal view of 1 other ex-staffer, and no other evidence).

12. His only other "evidence" is that an #OPCW official "says 'like' a lot".
So @robertwrighter, you could have reached out to #Syria specialists who have done detailed research & analysis, discussing their evidence. You might have tried interviewing @ChloeHadj about #Mayday. You might have talked w those documenting #ChemicalAttacks.

#Syria
At least you could have pressed activist about unsupported and distorted claims, given he has been unable to answer v. 1st challenging questions on #Twitter re #WhiteHelmets and #Douma.
This is not a question of "balance". You cannot balance misinformation/misrepresentation.

It is a question of doing justice to #Syria and Syrians with a starting point of reliable information and analysis. I think that's the least you can do for viewers.

Best --- Scott

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the whole point of Dunks was you could go cop them at VIM whenever you wanted for $65. this shit is like having to enter a raffle to buy milk.


like seriously why not make a ton more of them if they're gonna be so sought-after? they land at outlets? so? nike still makes money off that.

the only reason to keep making them so limited is that they KNOW all that matters is the profit on the flip and if they were readily available FEWER people would want them, not more

the whole system is super broken, but it's just gonna go the way it goes, because at this point it all caters to the secondary market. the only reason Nike can sell Jordan 1s for $200 is because the people buying them can flip them for $500

adjusted for inflation, a $65 AJ1 in 1985 is like $160—and modern-day AJ1s are made from cheaper materials in factories staffed by cheaper workers. they don't HAVE to be $200 retail. but the secondary market nuked the whole concept of what sneakers are "worth"
I should mention, this is why I keep talking about this. Because I know so many people who legally CAN'T.

How do I know they have NDAs, if they can't talk legally about them? Because they trusted me with their secrets... after I said something. That's how they knew I was safe.


Some of the people who have reached out to me privately have been sitting with the pain of what happened to them and the regret that they signed for YEARS. But at the time, it didn't seem like they had any other option BUT to sign.

I do not blame *anyone* for signing an NDA, especially when it's attached to a financial lifeline. When you feel like your family's wellbeing is at stake, you'll do anything -- even sign away your own voice -- to provide for them. That's not a "choice"; that's survival.

And yes, many of the people whose stories I now know were pressured into signing an NDA by my husband's ex-employer. Some of whom I *never* would have guessed. People I thought "left well." Turns out, they've just been *very* good at abiding by the terms of their NDA.

(And others who have reached out had similar experiences with other Christian orgs. Turns out abuse, and the use of NDAs to cover up that abuse, is rampant in a LOT of places.)

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