Obama’s Netflix deal and ‘digital’ Hillary

Hillary Clinton, who had lost in the presidential elections against Donald Trump, did not hesitate to voice her desire to be the CEO of Facebook, the most famous social media platform.

According to the Financial Times, Hillary was asked at Harvard last week which company she would like to be the CEO of. She said she wanted to be the CEO of Facebook because “it's the biggest news platform in the world… Most people in our country get their news, true or not from Facebook.”

Earlier this month, Netflix, the biggest digital streaming platform, announced that it secured a deal with former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.

Netflix said that Barack and Michelle Obama "have entered into a multi-year agreement to produce films and series for Netflix, potentially including scripted series, unscripted series, docu-series, documentaries, and features.”

Netflix’s agreement with the couple was announced a few months ago. At the time, the New York Times said that among the proposed programs include Obama conducting debates about healthcare, climate change and immigration. These are all topics which dominated the scene during the eight years of Obama’s term. According to the New York Times and Obama’s supporters, Obama will produce “inspirational” shows.

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What will be discussed in the Obama “show” will not be any different than the news piece reported by Reuters which said that Obama opened the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, which he hopes will become a center to “train” future leaders.

What's the harm?

These are two American symbols, or rather global leftist and liberal symbols, who believe in values like the Arab Spring, and who are politically dragged behind naïve ideas like betting on the fictitious Iranian moderation.

The latter idea was the dangerous cultural motive behind the worst deal in our region – the P5+1 deal with Iran, the “actual” conclusion of which was to empower Iran’s position in the Arab world in exchange for suspending its “military” nuclear program and opening up the Iranian market for western companies.

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Barack and Michelle Obama and Hillary, and I won’t include her husband Bill Clinton here, represent a political and cultural threat that’s dangerous to stability in the Arab world due to their delusional ideas they have about change and revolution and other leftist illusions. Becoming leading and influential figures on social media platforms and modern production services must be thoroughly contemplated and paid attention to.

Barack and Michelle entered the world of Netflix and Hillary is waiting for her turn at Facebook. We must develop solid means of protection from the disadvantages of this propaganda which will infiltrate the hearts and minds of the youth, and we must do so soon.

This article is also available in Arabic.

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Saudi journalist Mshari Al Thaydi @MAlthaydy presents Al Arabiya News Channel’s “views on the news” daily show “Maraya.” He has previously held the position of a managing senior editor for Saudi Arabia & Gulf region at pan-Arab newspaper Asharq al-Awsat. Al Thaydi has published several papers on political Islam and social history of Saudi Arabia. He appears as a guest on several radio and television programs to discuss the ideologies of extremist groups and terrorists.