Every word of this - nice to see a full essay as opposed to twitter/bluesky thread. You've been on this beat for quite some time and its really helped me see what is in front of my own nose (to quote Orwell). Thank you!
The best thing I’ve read today, all thanks to your mention on Bluesky that referenced Elliott Higgins and Walter Lippmann’s ‘Public Opinion’. I’m now a subscriber here. I share earlier commenters’ strong desire to have practical strategies (or even mild suggestions) on exactly what can be done about these challenges, but I think the answer there is both simple and sad: no one has figured it out yet.
Janos is right. What's missing here is even the faintest hint of a strategy that people who want to fight the Internet tech bros could adopt. I agree with Stancil's analysis of the threat inherent in the way that the Internet functions under its current owners. (If you want to see how profoundly ignorant of the realities of how life really works under global capitalism, go back and read some of the mid-to late-1990s commentaries about how the Internet was going to be the backbone of the global triumph of small-d democracy. Letting the "market" take over the control of the Internet is looming as one of the greatest political mistakes of the last 500 years.) God knows there is no shortage of trenchant analyses of all the ways in which the billionaires are fucking over the planet. But faced with this fire-breathing dragon, what are we supposed to do to slay the beast? Suggested, well-thought-out answers would be most welcome.
Nail on the head, my man, and very well-put.
What do you suggest to do in response?
"They [Democrats] need to go to war with social media and the tech oligarchs who oversee it."
I'm not sure what this means. I'm not sure how even Khan's antitrust work would have challenged the problems you diagnose.
He means the Trump administration should regulate social media platforms but really the implication is a type of state run platform.
Every word of this - nice to see a full essay as opposed to twitter/bluesky thread. You've been on this beat for quite some time and its really helped me see what is in front of my own nose (to quote Orwell). Thank you!
What a lovely takedown of democracy as a political system.
The best thing I’ve read today, all thanks to your mention on Bluesky that referenced Elliott Higgins and Walter Lippmann’s ‘Public Opinion’. I’m now a subscriber here. I share earlier commenters’ strong desire to have practical strategies (or even mild suggestions) on exactly what can be done about these challenges, but I think the answer there is both simple and sad: no one has figured it out yet.
One more example of this.
"Russia and China systematically invest in destabilizing democratic societies": how propaganda works on TikTok
https://swi.social.ebu.io/H7XQQ5RGDCP5
Janos is right. What's missing here is even the faintest hint of a strategy that people who want to fight the Internet tech bros could adopt. I agree with Stancil's analysis of the threat inherent in the way that the Internet functions under its current owners. (If you want to see how profoundly ignorant of the realities of how life really works under global capitalism, go back and read some of the mid-to late-1990s commentaries about how the Internet was going to be the backbone of the global triumph of small-d democracy. Letting the "market" take over the control of the Internet is looming as one of the greatest political mistakes of the last 500 years.) God knows there is no shortage of trenchant analyses of all the ways in which the billionaires are fucking over the planet. But faced with this fire-breathing dragon, what are we supposed to do to slay the beast? Suggested, well-thought-out answers would be most welcome.
>Letting the "market" take over the control of the Internet is looming as one of the greatest political mistakes of the last 500 years.
Go to bed Xi
Good read but we have to also talk material solutions.
Just give the state even more power. Don't worry a republican will never win the presidency ever again so this has zero risk.