Why do you think someone in Pakistan or Kenya wants to inflame in the US? Do you think they have handlers? There seem to be more layers to uncover, but this was a great start. It was the ultimate Aikido move where the energy was redirected to the perpetrator with no outward violent move.
The more we become addicted to entertainment, which all of this is but in a very dark form, we are, as you point out, easier to control. In the great anime film Spirited Away, the parents' gluttony turns them into pigs. Thus, they become livestock. But even though there is so much processed, poisonous junk, there are always life supporting media as well. You are doing important work re-establishing the importance of family and fatherhood. So consuming social media can be very helpful, but we need to remain in control and not be controlled by it.
I don’t know? For one. I figured out that Twitter X was a tool for the powers that be sometime in 2019.
I left that platform in 2021 and never went back.
My question is why even bother with Twitter X at all? Only 25 percent of the American population is on Twitter. FB has a wider reach than Twitter X.
Twitter X is for politicians, media influencers, podcasters, actors, and attention seekers. It does not surprise me at all that there are paid fake Americans cashing in on the charade.
A tremendous piece, Adam that reminds us of an important and undeniable truth! Tribalism and political polarization have broken everybody’s brains on the left and the right, making us susceptible to all these foreign bot and troll farms on social media. Everyone has turned into Fox News circa 2011 and has no principles. We’ll fall for anything because politics has become a team sport. Your with your side no matter what and you hate the other guy no matter what. You never even consider your side might be wrong. In the meantime, families and friendships break up, divorces occur, ugly fights break out between strangers, and Americans attack Americans. Our tribal and partisan mentality is why this country is the most divided it’s been and closest to civil war it’s been since the Antebellum Era.
We are governed by emotion rather than reason in this country. Partisan politics being injected into everything is also very unhealthy for society. The mainstream media dubbed by Matt Taibbi “Hate Inc.” doesn’t care about you or serve you. It’s an elite propaganda machine! It’s purpose is two fold: 1) Divide the people of the West for ratings and profits at the behest of their corporate overlords. 2) Protecting powerful people from being held accountable for bad things they’ve done. CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, FOX, Buzzfeed, Breitbart, NPR, OAN, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, etc. are all full of s***. This is why Independent journalism has taken off and grown by leaps and bounds. People want news they can trust again without sensationalism, fellow journalism or partisan spin.
The internet is awash in rage bait because they know folks will fall for it. Social media algorithms are designed to push the most divisive and extreme stuff. It doesn’t help that we’re terminally online these days and don’t go outside and talk to each other much. We also as a nation quite segregated by social class, race and political views and don’t live near each other. Civic life is also completely dead and people have reached freighting levels of apathy thus that void is filled by rigid partisans and extremists thus we get lower caliber elected officials and legislation. It’s so easy to get into an echo chamber too.
Odious figures like Abby Phillip, Rachel Maddow, Sean Hannity, Lawrence O’Donnell, Toure, Bakari Sellers, Jesse Watters, Stuart Varney, Jennifer Welch, Hasan Piker, David Pakman, Destiny, Ben Shapiro, Michael Knowles, and Dave Smith are all either essentially paid agitators or grifters who take advantage of the current political climate for their own gain. You’ll find a lot of kind of hatred on outlets like TikTok which I why I left it after trying it out for a little while. It’s a gathering place for partisan loons of all stripes. I’ve seen so many videos of liberals and conservatives talking trash about each other. Let me ask you people something, does smugly dancing to a video of the rap song “F*** Donald Trump” really do anything to help the people you care about or move forward the causes you care about? No, it just puts more hate in the world.
Furthermore, is that confidence actually real? Or is all this done to cover up emotional wounds and insecurity on your part. I’ve often found that the folks who make those videos also post something about prior trauma in life or mental health issues. How does making a cringeworthy video where you mouth the lyrics to “no Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA” help bridge the racial divide in this country or bring people closer together? We need to reunify this country and fast!
Why do you think someone in Pakistan or Kenya wants to inflame in the US? Do you think they have handlers? There seem to be more layers to uncover, but this was a great start. It was the ultimate Aikido move where the energy was redirected to the perpetrator with no outward violent move.
The more we become addicted to entertainment, which all of this is but in a very dark form, we are, as you point out, easier to control. In the great anime film Spirited Away, the parents' gluttony turns them into pigs. Thus, they become livestock. But even though there is so much processed, poisonous junk, there are always life supporting media as well. You are doing important work re-establishing the importance of family and fatherhood. So consuming social media can be very helpful, but we need to remain in control and not be controlled by it.
I don’t know? For one. I figured out that Twitter X was a tool for the powers that be sometime in 2019.
I left that platform in 2021 and never went back.
My question is why even bother with Twitter X at all? Only 25 percent of the American population is on Twitter. FB has a wider reach than Twitter X.
Twitter X is for politicians, media influencers, podcasters, actors, and attention seekers. It does not surprise me at all that there are paid fake Americans cashing in on the charade.
Here’s some recommended reading for everyone on this crucial topic:
• Broken News: Why the Media Rage Machine Divides and How America Fights Back by Chris Stirewalt
• The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded Americans is Tearing Us Apart by Bill Bishop
• Bowling Alone: Revised and Updated: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert D. Putnam
• Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations by Amy Chua
• American Schism: How the Two Enlightenments Hold the Secret to Healing Our Nation by Seth Radwell
• Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less From Each Other by Sherry Turkle
• Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age by Sherry Turkle
• The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Religion and Politics by Jonathan Haidt
• Uncivil Agreement: How Politics Became Our Identify by Lilliana Mason
• What Black and White America Must Do Now: A Prescription to Move Beyond Race by Armstrong Williams
• Creating Equal: The Painful Past, Confusing Present, and Hopeful Future of Race in America by Ben Carson
• I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times by Monica Guzman
A tremendous piece, Adam that reminds us of an important and undeniable truth! Tribalism and political polarization have broken everybody’s brains on the left and the right, making us susceptible to all these foreign bot and troll farms on social media. Everyone has turned into Fox News circa 2011 and has no principles. We’ll fall for anything because politics has become a team sport. Your with your side no matter what and you hate the other guy no matter what. You never even consider your side might be wrong. In the meantime, families and friendships break up, divorces occur, ugly fights break out between strangers, and Americans attack Americans. Our tribal and partisan mentality is why this country is the most divided it’s been and closest to civil war it’s been since the Antebellum Era.
We are governed by emotion rather than reason in this country. Partisan politics being injected into everything is also very unhealthy for society. The mainstream media dubbed by Matt Taibbi “Hate Inc.” doesn’t care about you or serve you. It’s an elite propaganda machine! It’s purpose is two fold: 1) Divide the people of the West for ratings and profits at the behest of their corporate overlords. 2) Protecting powerful people from being held accountable for bad things they’ve done. CNN, CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, FOX, Buzzfeed, Breitbart, NPR, OAN, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, etc. are all full of s***. This is why Independent journalism has taken off and grown by leaps and bounds. People want news they can trust again without sensationalism, fellow journalism or partisan spin.
The internet is awash in rage bait because they know folks will fall for it. Social media algorithms are designed to push the most divisive and extreme stuff. It doesn’t help that we’re terminally online these days and don’t go outside and talk to each other much. We also as a nation quite segregated by social class, race and political views and don’t live near each other. Civic life is also completely dead and people have reached freighting levels of apathy thus that void is filled by rigid partisans and extremists thus we get lower caliber elected officials and legislation. It’s so easy to get into an echo chamber too.
Odious figures like Abby Phillip, Rachel Maddow, Sean Hannity, Lawrence O’Donnell, Toure, Bakari Sellers, Jesse Watters, Stuart Varney, Jennifer Welch, Hasan Piker, David Pakman, Destiny, Ben Shapiro, Michael Knowles, and Dave Smith are all either essentially paid agitators or grifters who take advantage of the current political climate for their own gain. You’ll find a lot of kind of hatred on outlets like TikTok which I why I left it after trying it out for a little while. It’s a gathering place for partisan loons of all stripes. I’ve seen so many videos of liberals and conservatives talking trash about each other. Let me ask you people something, does smugly dancing to a video of the rap song “F*** Donald Trump” really do anything to help the people you care about or move forward the causes you care about? No, it just puts more hate in the world.
Furthermore, is that confidence actually real? Or is all this done to cover up emotional wounds and insecurity on your part. I’ve often found that the folks who make those videos also post something about prior trauma in life or mental health issues. How does making a cringeworthy video where you mouth the lyrics to “no Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA” help bridge the racial divide in this country or bring people closer together? We need to reunify this country and fast!
You are correct. I've been trying to pull back from all politics all the time. It's not real life!
Amen