4 ms·

Again, there doesn't need to be a conspiracy behind it (as Kanye believes) it's just what the market (and "the algorithm") selects for. As C. Wright Mills wrot

Again, there doesn't need to be a conspiracy behind it (as Kanye believes) it's just what the market (and "the algorithm") selects for. As C. Wright Mills wrote in The Power Elite, "To accept either view -- of all history as conspiracy or all history as drift -- is to relax the effort to understand the facts of power and the ways of the powerful." The precise form of our situation is not inevitable. Just as algorithms are written by people, so are laws and extortion notes. The tools that oppress us may be refashioned into others that free us. We must keep in mind that tools are nothing in themselves; they take on significance when used. I do agree "that machine sells to everyone". Perhaps it makes sense to compare the situation of teen girls to that of black families like you suggest, since there is a sizable overlap between these groups. Rather than despairing of all the awful media, however, would it be better to focus on better media? The Cosby Show was produced in the 1980s, but surely there are good things happening now? Not necessarily shows on television, which is itself the sort of machine we're discussing. I've heard good things about "Black Twitter"... Conservatism seems reasonable in the face of the issues you identify, but it's not, especially if you're following Milton Friedman on the minimum wage as you indicate above. The real minimum wage right now is barely half of the inflation-adjusted $12 it was in 1968. Had it kept pace with productivity as well as inflation, it would have been $22 by now. [0] Our enemies don't care about ideology. They happily wore the skins of Republicans before they wore the skins of Democrats, and it will be no trouble for them to switch again. The lockdown did harm teen girls, even if we can't prove it to the scientific satisfaction of thread parent. That's not even the really bad part. What they have done once, they can and will do again. When it is normal for children to plug into a device instead of going to public school, it will be easy for some asshole billionaires to arrange that the children will just plug into their "education" apps and all the money we used to waste on teachers instead can just go to collateral for some asshole billionaire personal lines of credit. After they've done away with teachers, the McKinsey consultants will start examining whether the children really need parents. After all, they don't need a home if they're plugged into their devices... But seriously, give Whitlock a listen, especially one of the episodes featuring Royce White. They are both better than Steven "A" Smith, in every respect. [0] https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/21/politics/minimum-wage-inflation-productivity/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/21/politics/minimum-wage-inflati...

EGreg 4y ago
Thank you for your recommendations, I will try to make some time for those -- been so busy, as many have! By the way, I think for myself -- even though I cited Friedman, I disagree with him in various ways, after looking at the data. I am not a fiscal conservative, but I am a social conservative. I think corporations have co-opted liberal movements like women's lib, and freedom of speech, and conflated them with corporate agendas, e.g. turning feminism into "Lean In" climbing the corporate ladder for women. Freedom of speech actually suffers under capitalism, because the one who pays the piper calls the tune. Those with million of "followers" have social capital, and we should be more concerned about how they got "platformed" than whether they would be "deplatformed". Their profit motive and incentive structure leads them to corrupt society with their controversial, incorrect, corrosive rhetoric which is passed off as "entertainment" the minute it's criticized (Alex Jones' Sandy Hook bullshit comes to mind, as does FOX election conspiracies, which falls apart the minute they are sued). It corrupts society at large. That's why I started https://rational.app https://rational.app In fact, I think that safety nets and UBI and 30-hour overtime laws will help men and women opt out of the rat race, and spend more time with their kids. The increased health, IQ points and better morals / education of the children will actually provide greater monetary returns for society (even though for me they are ends in themselves). For example, the moratorium on evictions may have enabled a richer society than one where millions of people are housing-insecure. I think that UBI and gift economies (like science, open source and wikipedia) are far healthier than "private ownership" of social capital like audiences, (Twitter followers), distribution (news stations, etc.) or infrastructure. Gift economies become possible when people have their maslow's needs met and the anxiety is gone, so they can freely associate with projects they like, instead of being mercenaries 40-60 hours a week to survive. In these gift economies, there are so many small contributions that peer review is instituted (in science, open source, wikipedia, etc.) which actually increases the quality of what is published far better than competition, because most audience members are not informed enough (and will soon be bamboozled by AI bots and fake articles on a scale heretofore unseen, in the current capitalist system). That's why I believe in building decentralized solutions, like solar panels, mesh networks, open source social networks, and smart contracts. I want a world where people are healthier, safer, and more moral. Sadly, the corporations and governments collude to keep the individuals distracted and at each other's throats (glance at https://magarshak.com/blog https://magarshak.com/blog)

EGreg 4y ago

Thank you for your recommendations, I will try to make some time for those -- been so busy, as many have! By the way, I think for myself -- even though I cited Friedman, I disagree with him in various ways, after looking at the data. I am not a fiscal conservative, but I am a social conservative. I think corporations have co-opted liberal movements like women's lib, and freedom of speech, and conflated them with corporate agendas, e.g. turning feminism into "Lean In" climbing the corporate ladder for women. Freedom of speech actually suffers under capitalism, because the one who pays the piper calls the tune. Those with million of "followers" have social capital, and we should be more concerned about how they got "platformed" than whether they would be "deplatformed". Their profit motive and incentive structure leads them to corrupt society with their controversial, incorrect, corrosive rhetoric which is passed off as "entertainment" the minute it's criticized (Alex Jones' Sandy Hook bullshit comes to mind, as does FOX election conspiracies, which falls apart the minute they are sued). It corrupts society at large. That's why I started https://rational.app https://rational.app In fact, I think that safety nets and UBI and 30-hour overtime laws will help men and women opt out of the rat race, and spend more time with their kids. The increased health, IQ points and better morals / education of the children will actually provide greater monetary returns for society (even though for me they are ends in themselves). For example, the moratorium on evictions may have enabled a richer society than one where millions of people are housing-insecure. I think that UBI and gift economies (like science, open source and wikipedia) are far healthier than "private ownership" of social capital like audiences, (Twitter followers), distribution (news stations, etc.) or infrastructure. Gift economies become possible when people have their maslow's needs met and the anxiety is gone, so they can freely associate with projects they like, instead of being mercenaries 40-60 hours a week to survive. In these gift economies, there are so many small contributions that peer review is instituted (in science, open source, wikipedia, etc.) which actually increases the quality of what is published far better than competition, because most audience members are not informed enough (and will soon be bamboozled by AI bots and fake articles on a scale heretofore unseen, in the current capitalist system). That's why I believe in building decentralized solutions, like solar panels, mesh networks, open source social networks, and smart contracts. I want a world where people are healthier, safer, and more moral. Sadly, the corporations and governments collude to keep the individuals distracted and at each other's throats (glance at https://magarshak.com/blog https://magarshak.com/blog)