That was interesting and sad account of your brother's descent into the mostly right-wing, authoritarian-minded, and white supremacist conspiracy-theory echo chamber of social media such as Facebook and Twitter. (That is one reason I have declined innumerable "invitations" to join Facebook, the algorithms of which are designed to favor emotional responses at the expense of critical thinking and thereby send users down rabbit holes of extremist ideology.) I would agree with you that the ascendancy of these social media corporate behemoths like FB and Twitter has a direct connection with the descent into extremist polarization and tribalism not just in the US, but around the world, with the Philippines under the bloody authoritarian Duterte being an especially sad example of how terrible the effects of social media can be. Extreme inequalities of wealth since at least the 1980s in the US with ever-more corporate capture of federal and state governments and the gaming of the tax system to favor multi-millionaires and corporations at the expense of working families and the middle class--this has also encouraged the lower 90% of the populace who see their wages and salaries mostly stagnant in inflation-adjusted terms to become susceptible to an amoral demagogue like Trump's scapegoating of ethnic minorities and foreigners.
The lack of literal (not virtual) third spaces due to the pandemic is getting to me. To the question of what’s causing people to believe and defend trump, is it too simplistic to think the problem emanates from not teaching students in our schools how to think clearly, not teaching the need for evidence for claims, not teaching how to analyze the emptiness of so much rhetoric?
Your story brought tears to my eyes. I have cousins I love but have to talk to very carefully snce their views of reality are very different from mine.
Sorry this went out at such a weird time - 2.30pm on Friday. I had some trouble getting the Send to work, and the Substack folks seemed busy with their first conference, so I finally had the brilliant - not! - idea of trying again, just copying the letter into a new post. Then the Send was easy! I'll get better at this, promise.
That was interesting and sad account of your brother's descent into the mostly right-wing, authoritarian-minded, and white supremacist conspiracy-theory echo chamber of social media such as Facebook and Twitter. (That is one reason I have declined innumerable "invitations" to join Facebook, the algorithms of which are designed to favor emotional responses at the expense of critical thinking and thereby send users down rabbit holes of extremist ideology.) I would agree with you that the ascendancy of these social media corporate behemoths like FB and Twitter has a direct connection with the descent into extremist polarization and tribalism not just in the US, but around the world, with the Philippines under the bloody authoritarian Duterte being an especially sad example of how terrible the effects of social media can be. Extreme inequalities of wealth since at least the 1980s in the US with ever-more corporate capture of federal and state governments and the gaming of the tax system to favor multi-millionaires and corporations at the expense of working families and the middle class--this has also encouraged the lower 90% of the populace who see their wages and salaries mostly stagnant in inflation-adjusted terms to become susceptible to an amoral demagogue like Trump's scapegoating of ethnic minorities and foreigners.
The lack of literal (not virtual) third spaces due to the pandemic is getting to me. To the question of what’s causing people to believe and defend trump, is it too simplistic to think the problem emanates from not teaching students in our schools how to think clearly, not teaching the need for evidence for claims, not teaching how to analyze the emptiness of so much rhetoric?
Your story brought tears to my eyes. I have cousins I love but have to talk to very carefully snce their views of reality are very different from mine.
Sorry this went out at such a weird time - 2.30pm on Friday. I had some trouble getting the Send to work, and the Substack folks seemed busy with their first conference, so I finally had the brilliant - not! - idea of trying again, just copying the letter into a new post. Then the Send was easy! I'll get better at this, promise.