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It's pretty easy to judge the US for what is happening right now, we certainly deserve it, but the decline of civic freedoms and liberalism is a global phenomen

It's pretty easy to judge the US for what is happening right now, we certainly deserve it, but the decline of civic freedoms and liberalism is a global phenomenon. We are experiencing a global assault on truth because truth provides a foundation on which to judge those in power. Social media is the powerful's most potent weapon against truth. When social media combines with privatized intelligence companies, it creates a tool that can be used to divide and conquer societies, turning one half of the people against the other, deputizing the ignorant or vulnerable to fight for despots.

OgsyedIE 2y ago
One thing I wonder, is how much of it is simply attributable to the demographic transition that happens when a society urbanizes. When birth rates start to drop the over-65s start getting more of a vote share than they've ever had before.
traject_ 2y ago
But that belies the real contention of what exactly is the truth? What is even more fundamental that has been lost is trust in nation and institutions due to a growing values divide. We must first trust before we can accept in good faith. Perhaps in some sense we should be thankful that we now have societies robust enough that even if major institutions lose legitimacy with half the population we don't get a civil war.
squigz 2y ago
> We are experiencing a global assault on truth Are we though? Can you convince me of that, as a non-American?
- energy123 2y ago
  The anti-intellectual fascist Georgescu arising from obscurity to a near winning position in Romania due to social media should be evidence enough. Trumpism is a cause in itself, but it's also a symptom of a deeper cause that is afflicting more than only the United States. The unintended consequence of social media, especially profit-driven social media infested with troll farms and bots from various governments (including China, Russia, US, Iran, Israel, to name but a few countries that have been caught), is the destruction of trust and community[0]. [0] https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/this-thing-will-fail https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/this-thing-will-fail
- codebje 2y ago
  I am convinced of it, as an Australian. Commercial interests have been assaulting truth since before I was born, nearly half a century ago. The methods for doing so have steadily improved. Social media briefly hindered it, before being co-opted thoroughly to advance it. Even where the truth hasn't been completely buried, finding what's true and what's spewed from the firehose of bullshit is a time consuming and difficult task, one that definitely doesn't scale to very many of life's decisions at all. Culminating this trend is the rise of the extreme right across the globe. This is tightly linked to politically motivated disinformation coupled with whatever the techniques are that are forming closed mind cult-like behaviours. Maybe it's not an assault on truth - maybe truth is just collateral damage - but I don't think I could even pose it as a question to ask if you could convince me these things are not happening.
  - Xelynega 2y ago
    This is not sounding like something modern then, if anything it's sounding like it's always been bad and we're only now recognizing(or having the channels to openly discuss) how bad it is.
codebje 2y ago
How far we've come from the Arab Spring.
blindriver 2y ago
[flagged]
- threeseed 2y ago
  You've posted this before in this thread without any evidence. Can you provide a source that USAID is a major donor to Civicus.
  - blindriver 2y ago
    Do a search of USAID and Civicus and you'll see a bunch of partnerships throughout the years. Most funding from USAID goes through NGOs, so you're not going to see a direct funding, but it's pretty clear they are in the same space as overt USAID funding targets like Internews. // A direct partnership between Civicus and USAID regarding data collection across the world https://www.comminit.com/health/content/citizen-generated-data-and-governments-towards-collaborative-model https://www.comminit.com/health/content/citizen-generated-da... https://x.com/CIVICUSalliance/status/1550121107092492289 https://x.com/CIVICUSalliance/status/1550121107092492289 https://www.ictworks.org/usaid-advancing-digital-democracy-rfp/ https://www.ictworks.org/usaid-advancing-digital-democracy-r... I mean there's so many partnerships, it's laughable to think that Civicus doesn't have partnerships and loyalty to USAID.
    - threeseed 2y ago
      Joint partnerships are not the same as funding. It's getting ridiculous how many lies you keep perpetuating in this thread.
      - blindriver 2y ago
        Everything is out there. Just because you don't want to believe it doesn't mean it's not real. USAID sends money through its NGOs and it makes its way through partnerships and funding to orgs like Civicus who is clearly involved in propaganda just like Internews.
Nursie 2y ago
> We are experiencing a global assault on truth Perhaps, but from where I'm sitting the effects seem to be much more pronounced in the US than (say) here in Australia or in the UK. Americans seem to have gone for it in a big way. Of course that may well be because the assault is concentrated more on the US. Or perhaps US society was just primed for it in some way. Distrust in the government has been building there for a very long time, and while trust in government is stretched in other places, it's not completely broken.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
sunny-d 2y ago
>We are experiencing a global assault on truth There is truth, half truths and narratives. I wish people try to identify what they are looking at when they are consuming news. 1. A called B's girlfriend something bad, and got punched in the face by B. Truth 2. B hit A, half truth. 3. B is a bully, narrative. At least that is how I see it.

OgsyedIE 2y ago

One thing I wonder, is how much of it is simply attributable to the demographic transition that happens when a society urbanizes. When birth rates start to drop the over-65s start getting more of a vote share than they've ever had before.

traject_ 2y ago

But that belies the real contention of what exactly is the truth? What is even more fundamental that has been lost is trust in nation and institutions due to a growing values divide. We must first trust before we can accept in good faith. Perhaps in some sense we should be thankful that we now have societies robust enough that even if major institutions lose legitimacy with half the population we don't get a civil war.

squigz 2y ago

> We are experiencing a global assault on truth Are we though? Can you convince me of that, as a non-American?

energy123 2y ago
The anti-intellectual fascist Georgescu arising from obscurity to a near winning position in Romania due to social media should be evidence enough. Trumpism is a cause in itself, but it's also a symptom of a deeper cause that is afflicting more than only the United States. The unintended consequence of social media, especially profit-driven social media infested with troll farms and bots from various governments (including China, Russia, US, Iran, Israel, to name but a few countries that have been caught), is the destruction of trust and community[0]. [0] https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/this-thing-will-fail https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/this-thing-will-fail
codebje 2y ago
I am convinced of it, as an Australian. Commercial interests have been assaulting truth since before I was born, nearly half a century ago. The methods for doing so have steadily improved. Social media briefly hindered it, before being co-opted thoroughly to advance it. Even where the truth hasn't been completely buried, finding what's true and what's spewed from the firehose of bullshit is a time consuming and difficult task, one that definitely doesn't scale to very many of life's decisions at all. Culminating this trend is the rise of the extreme right across the globe. This is tightly linked to politically motivated disinformation coupled with whatever the techniques are that are forming closed mind cult-like behaviours. Maybe it's not an assault on truth - maybe truth is just collateral damage - but I don't think I could even pose it as a question to ask if you could convince me these things are not happening.
- Xelynega 2y ago
  This is not sounding like something modern then, if anything it's sounding like it's always been bad and we're only now recognizing(or having the channels to openly discuss) how bad it is.

codebje 2y ago

How far we've come from the Arab Spring.

blindriver 2y ago

[flagged]

threeseed 2y ago
You've posted this before in this thread without any evidence. Can you provide a source that USAID is a major donor to Civicus.
- blindriver 2y ago
  Do a search of USAID and Civicus and you'll see a bunch of partnerships throughout the years. Most funding from USAID goes through NGOs, so you're not going to see a direct funding, but it's pretty clear they are in the same space as overt USAID funding targets like Internews. // A direct partnership between Civicus and USAID regarding data collection across the world https://www.comminit.com/health/content/citizen-generated-data-and-governments-towards-collaborative-model https://www.comminit.com/health/content/citizen-generated-da... https://x.com/CIVICUSalliance/status/1550121107092492289 https://x.com/CIVICUSalliance/status/1550121107092492289 https://www.ictworks.org/usaid-advancing-digital-democracy-rfp/ https://www.ictworks.org/usaid-advancing-digital-democracy-r... I mean there's so many partnerships, it's laughable to think that Civicus doesn't have partnerships and loyalty to USAID.
  - threeseed 2y ago
    Joint partnerships are not the same as funding. It's getting ridiculous how many lies you keep perpetuating in this thread.
    - blindriver 2y ago
      Everything is out there. Just because you don't want to believe it doesn't mean it's not real. USAID sends money through its NGOs and it makes its way through partnerships and funding to orgs like Civicus who is clearly involved in propaganda just like Internews.

Nursie 2y ago

> We are experiencing a global assault on truth Perhaps, but from where I'm sitting the effects seem to be much more pronounced in the US than (say) here in Australia or in the UK. Americans seem to have gone for it in a big way. Of course that may well be because the assault is concentrated more on the US. Or perhaps US society was just primed for it in some way. Distrust in the government has been building there for a very long time, and while trust in government is stretched in other places, it's not completely broken.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

sunny-d 2y ago

>We are experiencing a global assault on truth There is truth, half truths and narratives. I wish people try to identify what they are looking at when they are consuming news. 1. A called B's girlfriend something bad, and got punched in the face by B. Truth 2. B hit A, half truth. 3. B is a bully, narrative. At least that is how I see it.