Topic: WorldNetDaily
Joseph Farah isn't the only WorldNetDaily bigwig who was begging for money last month. Manging editor David Kupelian took a shot at in in an Aug. 9 column by starting out being slightly conciliatory and suggsting that he knows WND's editorial product may have some issues:
Starting back in January, WND was almost alone in warning America that Google, Facebook, YouTube and the other tech giants have been trying to shut down independent news and opinion voices like ours.
Many didn’t believe it. Some thought it was sour grapes – blaming others for our problems. Others were put off because our stories often ended up asking readers for money. Still others, while realizing it was all true, didn’t care that much because, after all, WND is imperfect and in some way had offended, or let them down, in the past.
We suspect Clark Jones was a little more than "offended" when WND lied about him. We also suspect President Obama was a little more than "offended" when WND spent eight years spreading fake news about his birth certificate. Given those two examples alone, "imperfect" rather understates the case. And we weren't bothered by WND's incessant begging for money as much as the fact that one appeal was plagiarized.
And blaming others for WND's problems -- which is exactly what Farah and Kupelian are doing, by the way -- isn't "sour grapes," it's denial of reality. Kupelian never mentions that projection or how WND has been "imperfect" again in his column; instead, he echoes Farah in railing against the "Digital Cartel" of Google and Facebook, blaming them for running WND out of business. As an added bonus, Kupelian assertrf that the Southern Poverty Law Center called WND a "hate group" -- which it hasn't, according to a Wikipedia list of those groups and the SPLC's own writeup on WND.
Despite the proclaimed urgent need for money now, Kupelian is also taking refuge in the idea that WND will be vindicated somewhere down the road, touting "revered economist and technology futurist" George Gilder's claim that Google "will one day come to an end" due to "a new age of decentralization, restored privacy and individual empowerment."
Kupelian then takes a stab at an emotional appeal for cash:
Only one thing is immune to Google/Facebook’s censoring, stifling, starving and shadow-banning independent, pro-American news and analysis like WND. Only one thing can counteract Amazon sucking up all the ecommerce and crippling everyone else.
That one thing that trumps all the predatory business practices, censorship and utopian fantasies of the current Internet gatekeepers is the creativity and goodness of real people acting under the inspiration of Almighty God. Arrogant, wealthy mega-companies cannot interfere with genuine virtue and generosity working through human beings committed to helping each other.
We at WND would love nothing more than to be able to continue working our hearts out doing what we’ve been doing for you for the past 21 years. If you agree, help us. It’s just as simple as that.
But, like Farah, Kupelian has done nothing to demonstrate why -- given that fake news and conspiracies have driven WND to this sorry state and its complete unwillingness to change that failed editorial model -- WND deserves to live.
If WND doesn't address the issue of its shoddy editorial content, Farah and Kupelian are doomed to keep begging for money ... if WND doesn't go out of business first.
