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It’s interesting that the article lists PragerU as a conservative outlet. The stuff I’ve seen of theirs in the past gave me the opposite impression.

blaser-waffle 7y ago
Citation needed -- link me to something that isn't conservative.
- brightball 7y ago
  I’d have to find it. They put out one on the causes of the civil war that went viral years ago that was so misleading it was embarrassing. ( Civil War history is a hobby of mine because it’s really interesting )
  - mrguyorama 7y ago
    The only civil war cause related video of theirs I've seen is them explaining that, "No, really, the civil war was because states wanted slavery and not anything about states rights unless you think states should have the right to allow slavery" This is an odd position to take since the typical conservative angle is to pretend slavery wasn't directly called out in like 50% of the seceding state's documents of secession, and instead claim some nebulous "states rights" claim
    - brightball 7y ago
      IIRC they circulated a video along those lines in the wake of the Charleston church shooting to capitalize on the topic for marketing purposes. It was a very oversimplified video designed for the quick "FACT! In your face!" social media argument. If they are a conservative outlet then that video was specifically designed to engage non-conservatives so that they could reach them and that would make sense if that was the mission. As for the the actual causes, there really is a lot of complexity to it. The short version: - 11 states seceded - There were only 4 declarations of causes (SC, Georgia, Miss, Texas) - Secession happened slowly over the course of many months, from November to May - The border states of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Arkansas seceded in direct response to Lincoln's requisition for troops. The request bypassed Congress. Virginia legislature in particular took it as an abuse of executive power. The viral video put out by Prager quickly listed off the states that seceded and oversimplified by saying "all the declarations of causes" which insinuated that each state produced such a declaration. It gave the appearance that the secessions were something of a quick and unified action. It hit all of the necessary points for a viral share though. Gave the appearance of an educational entity delivering a quick video to support the "everybody in the south was evil" rhetoric. If you ever really deep dive into the history, there was a lot going on, so seeing something like that from an "educational" institution immediately put them on my propaganda radar. I haven't seen much else from them since.
eesmith 7y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PragerU https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PragerU points out "PragerU was founded in 2009 by conservative radio talk show host Dennis Prager and radio producer and screenwriter Allen Estrin,[7] in order to present conservative views and to offset what Prager regards as the undermining of college education by the left." ... "Vanity Fair said PragerU "packages right-wing social concepts into slick videos" and that PragerU was "one of the most effective conversion tools for young conservatives."[30]" Their home page includes "Join PragerFORCE, our student ambassador program — the fastest-growing conservative digital army, fighting the war of ideas online and on campus." Their press releases include "PragerU’s Day in Court: Ninth Circuit Court to Hear PragerU’s Appeal August 27 as Censorship of Conservative Free Speech Continues". So I think both general society and PragerU regard PragerU as "conservative."

blaser-waffle 7y ago

Citation needed -- link me to something that isn't conservative.

brightball 7y ago
I’d have to find it. They put out one on the causes of the civil war that went viral years ago that was so misleading it was embarrassing. ( Civil War history is a hobby of mine because it’s really interesting )
- mrguyorama 7y ago
  The only civil war cause related video of theirs I've seen is them explaining that, "No, really, the civil war was because states wanted slavery and not anything about states rights unless you think states should have the right to allow slavery" This is an odd position to take since the typical conservative angle is to pretend slavery wasn't directly called out in like 50% of the seceding state's documents of secession, and instead claim some nebulous "states rights" claim
  - brightball 7y ago
    IIRC they circulated a video along those lines in the wake of the Charleston church shooting to capitalize on the topic for marketing purposes. It was a very oversimplified video designed for the quick "FACT! In your face!" social media argument. If they are a conservative outlet then that video was specifically designed to engage non-conservatives so that they could reach them and that would make sense if that was the mission. As for the the actual causes, there really is a lot of complexity to it. The short version: - 11 states seceded - There were only 4 declarations of causes (SC, Georgia, Miss, Texas) - Secession happened slowly over the course of many months, from November to May - The border states of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Arkansas seceded in direct response to Lincoln's requisition for troops. The request bypassed Congress. Virginia legislature in particular took it as an abuse of executive power. The viral video put out by Prager quickly listed off the states that seceded and oversimplified by saying "all the declarations of causes" which insinuated that each state produced such a declaration. It gave the appearance that the secessions were something of a quick and unified action. It hit all of the necessary points for a viral share though. Gave the appearance of an educational entity delivering a quick video to support the "everybody in the south was evil" rhetoric. If you ever really deep dive into the history, there was a lot going on, so seeing something like that from an "educational" institution immediately put them on my propaganda radar. I haven't seen much else from them since.

eesmith 7y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PragerU https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PragerU points out "PragerU was founded in 2009 by conservative radio talk show host Dennis Prager and radio producer and screenwriter Allen Estrin,[7] in order to present conservative views and to offset what Prager regards as the undermining of college education by the left." ... "Vanity Fair said PragerU "packages right-wing social concepts into slick videos" and that PragerU was "one of the most effective conversion tools for young conservatives."[30]" Their home page includes "Join PragerFORCE, our student ambassador program — the fastest-growing conservative digital army, fighting the war of ideas online and on campus." Their press releases include "PragerU’s Day in Court: Ninth Circuit Court to Hear PragerU’s Appeal August 27 as Censorship of Conservative Free Speech Continues". So I think both general society and PragerU regard PragerU as "conservative."