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How Spotify Is Pushing To Abolish Police and Prisons
freebeacon ^ | April 11, 2022 | Collin Anderson

Posted on 04/11/2022 11:41:24 PM PDT by MarvinStinson

Spotify's Abolition X podcast pushes far-left policies, labels America 'white supremacist' state

A Spotify original podcast featuring Black Lives Matter cofounder and "trained Marxist" Patrisse Cullors calls for abolishing police and prisons, labels America a "white supremacist" state, and contends that the severely mentally ill are actually "shamans" and "spiritual guides."

Spotify launched Abolition X, which "focuses on alternatives to police, jails, and punishment," in February. And while the podcast is chock-full of anti-police and anti-prison rhetoric, it "isn't just about getting rid of police and prisons," Spotify said in a press release. Indeed, hosts Vic Mensa, Indigo Mateo, and Richie Reseda—and their guests—often wade into other topics.

One episode, for example, says gender is merely "an expression." "Gender is, like, swag, you know?" says Reseda, a convicted felon who pleaded guilty to two armed robberies in 2011. "For real, gender is literally a way of expressing one's self. Like, that's really all it is." Another episode on mental health featuring Cullors encourages listeners to microdose mushrooms, calls former president Ronald Reagan "Satan," and even labels bipolar and schizophrenic people as "shamans" whom we "throw … away" because "they don't serve capitalism."

"I'm also a firm believer, especially with people who have severe mental illness, that many of those folks are, like, shamans, and are spiritual guides," Cullors says. "And in this context of capitalism we throw them away. We don't know what to do with them—they don't serve capitalism."

Spotify's release of Abolition X came as the company navigated public scrutiny surrounding its exclusive deal to host The Joe Rogan Experience. After Rogan posted an episode featuring virologist Robert Malone that questioned Democratic policies on COVID-19, musicians asked Spotify to remove their music from the platform, prompting the company to delete thousands of podcast episodes for spreading virus "misinformation."

When it comes to Abolition X, however, Spotify seems to have no problem endorsing far-left policies that are extremely unpopular with both the American people as a whole and black Americans specifically. Just 28 percent of black Americans support the movement to defund police, a 2021 USA Today poll found. Three out of four Americans, meanwhile, say the movement to defund police "is a reason that violent crime is increasing in the United States."

Spotify's Abolition X isn't just out of touch with the American public—the policies it promotes could lead to disastrous consequences. According to a 2021 Manhattan Institute report, liberal "crime reduction" programs in Chicago did little to reduce gun and gang homicides. In Pittsburgh, violence actually went up after a similar program was introduced. High police presences in neighborhoods, on the other hand, are proven to reduce crime.

Spotify did not return a request for comment.

Conversations on gender and mental health aside, Abolition X‘s bread and butter consists of discussions centered on dismantling America's police and prisons. In Cullors's Feb. 15 episode, the hosts open the show by explicitly calling to "replace police and prisons" with "mental health care." Reseda later argues that "people who break the law" do not have a "moral problem" that requires criminal justice. Instead, the host says, people commit crimes solely due to "a health problem they're having" that requires treatment. Mensa goes on to contend that those mental health issues exist as a byproduct of America's status as an "uber-capitalist, white supremacist, violent-ass state."

Cullors's musings on the podcast include similar denunciations of capitalism. At one point, the BLM cofounder argues that in a "capitalist world," the "self doesn't exist for black women," because they "are at service to everybody." Less than a year before she joined the podcast, Cullors purchased four high-end U.S. homes for $3.2 million. Mere weeks after the episode's release, meanwhile, New York magazine revealed that, under Cullors's leadership, the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation purchased a $6 million Southern California mansion in cash using funds donated to the group. Cullors later resigned from her role as executive director of the foundation in order to focus on a multiyear television deal with Warner Bros.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: spotify

1 posted on 04/11/2022 11:41:24 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: MarvinStinson

Reseda later argues that “people who break the law” do not have a “moral problem” that requires criminal justice. Instead, people commit crimes solely due to “a health problem they’re having” that requires treatment.


2 posted on 04/11/2022 11:42:13 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: MarvinStinson

“Instead, people commit crimes solely due to “a health problem they’re having” that requires treatment.”
I agree with that.
What we probably will disagree with is what the treatment shall be.


3 posted on 04/11/2022 11:58:44 PM PDT by rellic
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To: rellic

Or who qualifies for medical treatment and who should just get prison.


4 posted on 04/12/2022 12:01:00 AM PDT by Jonty30 (Ask a liberal if they have a soul or do they just collect them from lives they destroy. )
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To: rellic

There are pills that can cure that health problem, rich in nutrients such as lead, copper and brass.


5 posted on 04/12/2022 12:09:37 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (Florida: America's new free zone.)
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To: MarvinStinson

Once they are in charge they will replace police with secret police and will replace prisons with gulags.


6 posted on 04/12/2022 12:12:52 AM PDT by reg45 (Barack 0bama: Gone but not forgiven.)
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To: MarvinStinson

BTTT


7 posted on 04/12/2022 12:19:40 AM PDT by nopardons
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To: MarvinStinson

Has Patrisse shown up to protest the incarceration of January 6th people?


8 posted on 04/12/2022 1:30:57 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: reg45

correct.

no functioning society is policeless. never has been and most likely never will be.

Their plan is to perhaps federalize all police and eliminate local/county/state law enforcement.

but the end result will be as you suggest below:
they will replace police with secret police and will replace prisons with gulags.


9 posted on 04/12/2022 1:49:28 AM PDT by Jaysin (Trump can’t be beat, unless the democrats cheat)
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To: MarvinStinson

Release the prisoners on Spotify’s doorstep.

Then, wait to see how long it takes for the first crime to be committed.


10 posted on 04/12/2022 3:01:05 AM PDT by ptsal (Vote R.E.D. >>>Remove Every Democrat ***)
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To: MarvinStinson

Cancerous corporations


11 posted on 04/12/2022 3:49:42 AM PDT by ronnie raygun
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To: MarvinStinson

I hate to scare anybody, but this is hardly the only left-wing podcast that is produced at Spotify Studios.

On the other hand, they distribute a bunch of more reasonable podcasts also, including Levin, Savage, Bongino, Timcast, Human Events Daily, Rogan, and Crowder.

I don’t expect a left-wing media company to produce anything but left-wing content. Just won’t happen.

On balance, they aren’t as bad as Alphabet or Apple. I wish they’d have kept to streaming music and left podcasts to other platforms, but it is what it is.

If you have a Spotify subscription and you don’t want your money to go to subsidizing the production of these podcasts, then there are viable alternatives. Napster is still around and, as far as I know, they only do music (Napster doesn’t work in my part of the world so I can’t use them...but it works in the US and Europe).

There are other alternatives as well or you could just do it the old fashioned way and rip your own MP3s. But you shouldn’t expect a bunch of lefties to go out and not produce left-wing content.


12 posted on 04/12/2022 4:01:42 AM PDT by markomalley (Directive 10-289 is in force)
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To: rellic

Prison’s as they exist now are a relatively new development. In the Middle Ages if people were too anti social they were executed. Keeping them locked up was considered too harsh and inhumane.


13 posted on 04/12/2022 4:48:07 AM PDT by Gen.Blather (Wait! I said that out loud. Sorry.)
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To: MarvinStinson

Charlie Manson comes to mind....

Jeffrey Dahmer......

Night Stalker in LA

Green River Killer


14 posted on 04/12/2022 10:24:29 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: MarvinStinson

Currently, Spotify is owned by Swedish billionaires Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. Ek, 38, is the streaming service’s CEO, and according to Forbes owns 9% of the business, but also has 37% ‘voting control’ – meaning he has a big say in company decision-making.Jan 31, 2022

Someone needs to publicly ask Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon if Sweden is a “white supremacist” society???


15 posted on 04/12/2022 11:01:37 AM PDT by Wuli
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To: ptsal

Exactly.

Dump the prisoners in every leftist enclave with the stipulation: they are your responsibility; if they are caught outside your enclave committing crime, they — and you — will be summarily executed.

End of discussion.


16 posted on 04/12/2022 4:22:57 PM PDT by Ban Draoi Marbh Draoi ( Gen. 12:3: a warning to all anti-semites)
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