Tl;dr…but…Depends on the person, of course. And in imo, if one watches Network News and worse, believes what they say, they’d have a problem. On the other hand, most people can't do exhausting research and spend their lives investigating, so they go for the comfortable next choice. Network News, LOL.
It's comforting, inviting the same person into your living room every night -- I guess, I don't have TV, lol. Sometimes I wish I did, though, so I didn't feel so alone in the insanity.
Summer, these stats and the info here are horrible. I read about the horrors daily but when you put it in one itemized agenda like this, it's even worse. And re the algo's- I guess they do selectify us and keep showing the same things. But at times stuff is so horrific, I wonder if it's not real, or is it? No matter what, when it gets this bad, we know it is BAD. And it is. Thanks for posting this, and btw- congratulations on having your Tiny Story in the NYT!!!! PS, the most notable remark from Greta (to me) was at the last -for her- environmental summit she attended, they took apart all the edicts that were worthwhile and came up w. gobbledygook. Her comment at the podium was her final comment, "Blah, blah, blah."
You know Summer, you're right, sometimes the really awful, terrible, unbelievable things that we see outside the filtered mainstream are true and should be believed! I appreciate your curated list of links that you provided for this essay! We all must find our personal trust but verify algorithm to find that undertone that tells us how to spot the truth and what is not being said!
As you thanked WIRED (me, too!) for reporting more fully and revealingly, I thank you, Summer for doing the same. Just totally fucking gut-wrenching what’s happening in real time. For myself, I fear if everything was shown clearly, and things are as deranged as you showed, I would have to look away from all of it just to survive. How do us ultra-sensitive ones do this? How do we keep looking and acknowledging and speaking out against crimes against humanity and still function and maintain a semi-normal living experience?! It’s a daily struggle for me to find balance and sanity—and still feel okay (wouldn’t “good” be nice?) about myself. Am I doing enough? Am I doing ANYTHING at all that’s meaningful? 🙏🏼
Excellent questions. Maybe AI has the answer, lol. Jk. I don't know. I try different thngs. Some things that work one day don't work the next, depending on the moon cycle and weather and EVERYTHING ughhhhh
I don't think getting hooked on the fear dopamine of my social media is the answer, though. Although I can't look away. It's so horrible.
Thanks, Summer… My ranting questions were mostly rhetorical. I do know there’s no answers to these things, only a seeking for balance day by day. The pain makes me desperately cry out for answers when I know deep inside there are none.
You are right, Summer, governments' inflicted horror is out there daily, unavoidable, only diluted to different degrees in reporting, scaled between NYT (low) to social media (high). However...I think the level we read at may relate to our personal tolerance for horror. I've never been able to read horror fiction (I get nightmares). I find the empathy involved with reading real versions is too painful for my heart and my brain. I want to cry...and I can't spend my remaining years doing that. So I NEED to stick to NYT and The Guardian's more disassociated versions of what is going on, together with limited, selected Substack writers (mostly personal referrals, not algorithm-driven); no X or Insta or FB. It's a coping mechanism. ....And thank you for your service, brave heart.
I hear you! I hate horror. Never could stomach it. I reach to social media for connection and community, since I can't talk to my husband or kids about current events. And of course I get swept up in the videos. Then it becomes like a fear dopamine rush. Almost addicting in its own way. Which is also scary... and weird. Send help. Lol.
In re. the title of this piece: Both. And as you point out, there's a causal relationship. A couple thoughts, for what they're worth:
The NYT will do the right thing when their ox is gored. See, for example, their forceful and clear response to a Trump attorney's request for a retraction, after the Times quoted Trump saying something he'd rather forget he said: https://x.com/maxwelltani/status/1938352292807221619 But they will probably not do the right thing on a day to day basis. They'll downplay the extent of the ongoing Kristallnacht for whatever reason; probably because they don't want to lose their front-row seat at the circus that presidential "press conferences" have become. That is serious, and fatal, old-school thinking and Wired and The Intercept and other real news outlets are kicking their ass. (That said, I keep my NYT subscription because even if the world goes down in flames, I can still solve most weekend Times crossword puzzles in less than an hour, and one must have some small, non-fattening pleasures in life.)
To your very worthy reading list I would add: Ruth Ben-Ghiat, probably America's foremost historian of Italian fascism. Every time I hear some talking head say "The MAGA movement bears little resemblance to actual fascism," I want to beat him (always a man) over the head with her book "Strongman." I'd also add Sarah Kendzior, who pulls no punches in her connection of prominent members of both parties to what she deems an organized crime syndicate maneuvering for control of most, if not all, aspects of American economic and social life. It's very hard to believe what Sarah writes. I don't want to. But she researches, and cites her research, and so reluctantly I am coming around.
There are probably others. Mary Geddry, Lucian Truscott III, Jill Filipovic. The list grows.
I wish you peace. It's been hard to find here, just a few miles from the homes of murdered and wounded Minnesota legislators and their families. But we hope, and we work.
Ooof, no kidding. That's right, I forgot you're in Minnesota. I'm so so sorry. Absolutely horrifying. Thank you for this list! I'm going to see if any are on substack. I love when people pop up in my inbox as a reminder for what to read, who to listen to. Strongman is a great recommendation, thank you. And crosswords in less than an hour?! I'm impressed! I'm also not giving up my subscription, for some reason, haha.
Thank you for that clear but disturbing essay. I realized years ago that my son's feed was showing one image and mine another. It was the same chart, same design, same font, same information, same statistics.......exactly reversed, depending what FB determined we wanted to see. I knew then that we were in big trouble.
Yep. The real war is one of information and separate realities. My husband and I are living in two different realities. Gratefully, Brant is still friends with him! lol
Tl;dr…but…Depends on the person, of course. And in imo, if one watches Network News and worse, believes what they say, they’d have a problem. On the other hand, most people can't do exhausting research and spend their lives investigating, so they go for the comfortable next choice. Network News, LOL.
It's comforting, inviting the same person into your living room every night -- I guess, I don't have TV, lol. Sometimes I wish I did, though, so I didn't feel so alone in the insanity.
Awww….🙏
Summer, these stats and the info here are horrible. I read about the horrors daily but when you put it in one itemized agenda like this, it's even worse. And re the algo's- I guess they do selectify us and keep showing the same things. But at times stuff is so horrific, I wonder if it's not real, or is it? No matter what, when it gets this bad, we know it is BAD. And it is. Thanks for posting this, and btw- congratulations on having your Tiny Story in the NYT!!!! PS, the most notable remark from Greta (to me) was at the last -for her- environmental summit she attended, they took apart all the edicts that were worthwhile and came up w. gobbledygook. Her comment at the podium was her final comment, "Blah, blah, blah."
You know Summer, you're right, sometimes the really awful, terrible, unbelievable things that we see outside the filtered mainstream are true and should be believed! I appreciate your curated list of links that you provided for this essay! We all must find our personal trust but verify algorithm to find that undertone that tells us how to spot the truth and what is not being said!
Thanks, Frank! As always!
As you thanked WIRED (me, too!) for reporting more fully and revealingly, I thank you, Summer for doing the same. Just totally fucking gut-wrenching what’s happening in real time. For myself, I fear if everything was shown clearly, and things are as deranged as you showed, I would have to look away from all of it just to survive. How do us ultra-sensitive ones do this? How do we keep looking and acknowledging and speaking out against crimes against humanity and still function and maintain a semi-normal living experience?! It’s a daily struggle for me to find balance and sanity—and still feel okay (wouldn’t “good” be nice?) about myself. Am I doing enough? Am I doing ANYTHING at all that’s meaningful? 🙏🏼
Excellent questions. Maybe AI has the answer, lol. Jk. I don't know. I try different thngs. Some things that work one day don't work the next, depending on the moon cycle and weather and EVERYTHING ughhhhh
I don't think getting hooked on the fear dopamine of my social media is the answer, though. Although I can't look away. It's so horrible.
Thanks, Summer… My ranting questions were mostly rhetorical. I do know there’s no answers to these things, only a seeking for balance day by day. The pain makes me desperately cry out for answers when I know deep inside there are none.
You are right, Summer, governments' inflicted horror is out there daily, unavoidable, only diluted to different degrees in reporting, scaled between NYT (low) to social media (high). However...I think the level we read at may relate to our personal tolerance for horror. I've never been able to read horror fiction (I get nightmares). I find the empathy involved with reading real versions is too painful for my heart and my brain. I want to cry...and I can't spend my remaining years doing that. So I NEED to stick to NYT and The Guardian's more disassociated versions of what is going on, together with limited, selected Substack writers (mostly personal referrals, not algorithm-driven); no X or Insta or FB. It's a coping mechanism. ....And thank you for your service, brave heart.
I hear you! I hate horror. Never could stomach it. I reach to social media for connection and community, since I can't talk to my husband or kids about current events. And of course I get swept up in the videos. Then it becomes like a fear dopamine rush. Almost addicting in its own way. Which is also scary... and weird. Send help. Lol.
Regretably, I can't send help, only kind thoughts and good karma. 🥰
In re. the title of this piece: Both. And as you point out, there's a causal relationship. A couple thoughts, for what they're worth:
The NYT will do the right thing when their ox is gored. See, for example, their forceful and clear response to a Trump attorney's request for a retraction, after the Times quoted Trump saying something he'd rather forget he said: https://x.com/maxwelltani/status/1938352292807221619 But they will probably not do the right thing on a day to day basis. They'll downplay the extent of the ongoing Kristallnacht for whatever reason; probably because they don't want to lose their front-row seat at the circus that presidential "press conferences" have become. That is serious, and fatal, old-school thinking and Wired and The Intercept and other real news outlets are kicking their ass. (That said, I keep my NYT subscription because even if the world goes down in flames, I can still solve most weekend Times crossword puzzles in less than an hour, and one must have some small, non-fattening pleasures in life.)
To your very worthy reading list I would add: Ruth Ben-Ghiat, probably America's foremost historian of Italian fascism. Every time I hear some talking head say "The MAGA movement bears little resemblance to actual fascism," I want to beat him (always a man) over the head with her book "Strongman." I'd also add Sarah Kendzior, who pulls no punches in her connection of prominent members of both parties to what she deems an organized crime syndicate maneuvering for control of most, if not all, aspects of American economic and social life. It's very hard to believe what Sarah writes. I don't want to. But she researches, and cites her research, and so reluctantly I am coming around.
There are probably others. Mary Geddry, Lucian Truscott III, Jill Filipovic. The list grows.
I wish you peace. It's been hard to find here, just a few miles from the homes of murdered and wounded Minnesota legislators and their families. But we hope, and we work.
Ooof, no kidding. That's right, I forgot you're in Minnesota. I'm so so sorry. Absolutely horrifying. Thank you for this list! I'm going to see if any are on substack. I love when people pop up in my inbox as a reminder for what to read, who to listen to. Strongman is a great recommendation, thank you. And crosswords in less than an hour?! I'm impressed! I'm also not giving up my subscription, for some reason, haha.
Thank you for that clear but disturbing essay. I realized years ago that my son's feed was showing one image and mine another. It was the same chart, same design, same font, same information, same statistics.......exactly reversed, depending what FB determined we wanted to see. I knew then that we were in big trouble.
Yep. The real war is one of information and separate realities. My husband and I are living in two different realities. Gratefully, Brant is still friends with him! lol
Yep. Radicalized reality has been around for thousands of years. It's up to us to normalize it. :(
Normalize the radicalized!