From the author of the article who was not at Rolling Stone at the time:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/matt-taibbi-rolling-stone-uva...

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The point of these articles is to be aware of the past so as to avoid the same often repeated mistakes as societies. Especially when he was denounced for advocating peace and against wars and militarism by the mainstream media which seems to be a societal constant like our addiction to forever wars and bombings and economic sanctions.