All Kindle Mags Seem to be Liberal

[snookums]

I'm kind of surprised that Amazon didn't manage to snag any conservative magazines. All of the political magazines available on the Kindle are liberal. It would be nice to see The Economist or a mainstream political magazine like Roll Call (www.rollcall.com). Sure there's stuff like Forbes, but that is business. I guess Amazon knows an audience of early tech adopters are going to have a liberal bent. But a lot of those customers are probably conservative businessmen as well. I know it can't be just the e-mag thing because many conservative magazines have web subscriptions.

[kovidgoyal]

Ditch the kindle, switch to the SONY and roll your own magazines using libprs500

[Alisa]

I wouldn't assume that those were the only magazines Amazon approached.

[snookums]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Ditch the kindle, switch to the SONY and roll your own magazines using libprs500

I looked at Sony Reader when it first came out and drooled over it. I decided in the end that I didn't want it because the Sony CONNECT store had a paltry supply of books and Sony has a track record of cool gadgets with poor follow through on the software side. It's cool, but I think the Kindle better matches my needs and personality. I also looked at the iLiad, but it's not in my price range.

I chose the Kindle because of whispernet and amazon. For me reading is something that seems to get harder and harder to do with my busy schedule. The ability to find a book online, sample it, and download it without having to run back to a computer is a major feature for me. It's a major convenience that simplifies my life, and that's what I want out of an ebook reader.

The second point is wireless delivery of blogs/newspapers/magazines. A yearly subscription to Le Monde delivered to America daily is about $1300. On the Kindle, it is about $300. If you look at the difference as money saved, the reader pays for itself in only a few months. Of course, I could never subscribe before due to the cost so it isn't money saved per se, but it is worth it to me. For a French Minor and avid political reader like myself, there is tremendous value in the wireless subscriptions. As soon as I get my Kindle, I definitely plan on signing up for Slate. I'm not hot on the idea of subscribing to a lot of blogs, but there are a few I wouldn't mind parting with 99c a month to receive. Springwise and Cool Tools stick out in my mind. If PsyBlog (www.spring.org.uk) ever becomes available, I'd probably pay for that.

The third point is that it is Amazon. Sony is an electronics company with a cool track record for design but a not so hot record in the service industry. I don't get the feeling that the CONNECT store is something they're putting a lot of effort into. Amazon is a bookseller. Amazon already has five times as many books as Sony, and since it's Amazon I feel confident that the store is more than just a selling point for the device. I know that thousands of books are being added to the store every day. Just in the last couple of days I've noticed series I was interested in being filled in very rapidly. That's just older series of books. I expect that Amazon will do everything in their power to ensure that they eventually get all books released in electronic format right away.

[Ervserver]

I never though politics would enter Kindle discussions, what next...

[kovidgoyal]

Sheesh I was kidding

[snookums]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Sheesh I was kidding

Sorry. I've just seen too many people calling the Kindle garbage. I felt like I had to defend my choice.

[kovidgoyal]

Ah I apologize if if I stepped on any sore spots.

[HarryT]

What does "Liberal" mean in this context? ie what is a "liberal magazine"?

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by HarryT

What does "Liberal" mean in this context? ie what is a "liberal magazine"?

I hope this doesn't end badly.

In an American context, there are two labels, liberal and conservative. The label liberal is largely synonymous with the Democrat Party, and can include the labels progressive, socialist, communist, as well as some fringe group rights loonies (NAACP, NOW, PETA).

A liberal magazine genrally takes the position of "it's wrong if a conservative did it, but perfectly okay and wonderful if a liberal did it". They will take this position not just on editorial content, but on how the news is slanted.

[carld]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I hope this doesn't end badly.

In an American context, there are two labels, liberal and conservative. The label liberal is largely synonymous with the Democrat Party, and can include the labels progressive, socialist, communist, as well as some fringe group rights loonies (NAACP, NOW, PETA).

A liberal magazine genrally takes the position of "it's wrong if a conservative did it, but perfectly okay and wonderful if a liberal did it". They will take this position not just on editorial content, but on how the news is slanted.

For not wanting this to end badly you certainly went out of your way to ensure that it did. What an insulting bunch of tripe.

[JSWolf]

snookums, Amazon has a KNOWN HISTORY FOR ABANDONING EBOOKS AND LEAVING THE USER WELL AND TRULY SCREWED. This is NO JOKE. This is FACT. And you complain about Sony? Sometimes I just don't get some people.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I hope this doesn't end badly.

In an American context, there are two labels, liberal and conservative. The label liberal is largely synonymous with the Democrat Party, and can include the labels progressive, socialist, communist, as well as some fringe group rights loonies (NAACP, NOW, PETA).

A liberal magazine genrally takes the position of "it's wrong if a conservative did it, but perfectly okay and wonderful if a liberal did it". They will take this position not just on editorial content, but on how the news is slanted.

If you really wanted to keep things civil then calling folks like the NAACP "loonies" wasn't a very wise way to go about it. I wish I could give you negative karma.

[snookums]

Woah, woah. I didn't intend to start any arguments.

HarryT: In the context of U.S. politics, Liberal and Conservative are opposite of their meanings in the UK. They're both blanket terms really though.

Social conservatives believe that the government should support things like traditional marriage and oppose things like gay marriage, abortion, raunchy television. Economic conservatives believe in the free market, meritocracy, and oppose government support programs like nationalized health care and welfare. Foreign Policy conservatives support putting American interests first, strong national defense, and support the U.N. as a tool for diplomacy, but don't think the U.S. should defer to it.

Social liberals support gay marriage, abortion rights, non-traditional values, quotas for minorities, etc. Economic liberals favor safety nets such as welfare, nationalized health care, usually increased taxes on the rich, and strict regulation of business. Foreign Policy Liberals support multilateralism, U.S. adherence to U.N. sanctioned international law, etc.

No one individual is really an ideologue. I've met people who are Social liberals but Foreign Policy Conservatives.

As for what a liberal magazine is, most of the political magazines on Amazon are described as liberal in their description. I'm not being subjective here. I just thing it is odd that Amazon didn't manage to get something like Pat Buchanan's magazine, The American Conservative.

Nate the great: All politicians do the "it's wrong if our opponents did it, but perfectly okay and wonderful if my friends did it" thing. That's why conservatives ranted and raved over Clinton's infidelity, but stood quiet when it was revealed that Gingrich was doing the same or later when Swarzenegger (spelling?) had to apologize for sexually harassing all those women or when that one guy was found to have made sexual advances on his underage pages or when Bill O'Reilly got caught on tape sexually harassing his producer. There are a million examples from both sides of this issue. I didn't intend to start a great political debate on this forum. I am actually and independent and I like to read both liberal and conservative magazines. I like to look at all sides of the issues.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Alisa

If you really wanted to keep things civil then calling folks like the NAACP "loonies" wasn't a very wise way to go about it. I wish I could give you negative karma.

You are correct. Since this isn't a site about politics, naming specific groups was inappropriate as well as not needed to answer Harry's question. I apologize.