suggest resources for budding liberal

December 18, 2007 2:09 PM

A student of mine (college junior) asked me to give him a list of progressively-oriented blogs, films, and websites. I have a few ideas for him, but would like to solicit the hive mind for more.
posted by chicainthecity to society & culture (10 answers total)

The Progressive Review.
The Progressive magazine.
posted by Floydd at 2:21 PM on December 18, 2007

Websites:
Truthdig
Truthout
Salon
CommonDreams
Antiwar
Alternet
MotherJones
TheNation
posted by HotPatatta at 2:37 PM on December 18, 2007

Blogs/websites:
Open Left
Drinking Liberally
AlterNet
Credo
The American Prospect
posted by Ash3000 at 2:41 PM on December 18, 2007

Metropolis by Fritz Lang
Citizen Kane by Orson Welles
The Constant Gardener by Meirelles/le Carre
City of God by Meirelles too
Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator
Les Misérables

Also tell him books don't bite ;) I wouldn't only give him overtly political/progressive material. Throw in a book of poetry for good measure, doing things for their aesthetic and emotional effect is a political statement.
posted by ersatz at 2:55 PM on December 18, 2007

Digby's Hullaballoo, Duncan Black's Eschaton and Glenn Greenwald at Salon are my top three Progressive (well, in GG's case, rule of law) blog recommendations.

I also recommend adding conservative blogs as well. Help keeps the righteous indignation level piqued. Hugh Hewitt at Townhall, Michelle Malkin, Little Green Footballs and Power Line are as good a starting point for good ol' fashioned I-Can't-Believe-These-People outrage if you're a budding progressive. I also highly recommend a book called The Neocon Reader, which is a pretty terrific point of entry to the political theory behind our current leadership's foreign policy argument.

When he gets angry enough to know which Kagan or Podhoretz he should be irritated at this week, then you'll know you've got yourself a liberal that's paying attention.
posted by peacecorn at 3:02 PM on December 18, 2007

The Rachel Maddow Show on Air America is great.

Two more liberal blogs:
Sadly, No!
Crooks and Liars

I can't stand reading the likes of Michele Malkin, but your student may have a stronger stomach than I.
posted by lukemeister at 7:38 PM on December 18, 2007

Cursor
Counterpunch
Buzzflash

Cursor is a daily must for me.
Your friend might also like Smirking Chimp.
And David Rees's Get Your War On! is hilarious, rude, and progressive.
posted by Jezebella at 8:52 PM on December 18, 2007

Strong second for Cursor.org; it's my home page and is a wonderfully, clean, simple and easy-to-read site with an excellent selection of daily political news links (updated Mon-Fri), with deftly done, relatively minimal editorializing and zero idiotic comments to bother with.

I'm surprised it's not listed in every comment above.
posted by mediareport at 11:47 PM on December 18, 2007

Also seconding Glenn Greenwald, who's probably the smartest progressive blogger - and definitely one of the best political *writers* - I've seen online. Very, very sharp, convincing and human analysis.
posted by mediareport at 11:51 PM on December 18, 2007

For seriously caustic left-wing vitriol, progressive (Kucinich) talk radio, from an old-school liberal (from Toledo, Ohio originally), try Mike Malloy. Airs from 9pm to midnight, eastern time, listen here.

If you want more intellectual talk radio, that explains serious details, try Thom Hartmann, also available at the same link above, from noon til 3pm. Thom's very different from Mike.
posted by Goofyy at 5:08 AM on December 19, 2007