Jeff Jarvis

Palantir CEO Alex 'Karp has a different take. He says China is deliberately and strategically using TikTok to make us, meaning the West, “dumber and slower.”'
Oh, FFS.

TikTok might be part of a plot to make us dumber https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/04/14/tiktok-ban-threat-america-ignorance/

TikTok might be part of a plot to make us dumber

TikTok will help Americans bury themselves from within by becoming a nation of ignorant sloths.

The Washington Post
Apr 15, 2023 at 11:22amWeb
Show threadBrynawelApr 15, 2023
@jeffjarvis
As if the West needs China to accomplish that.
Show threadtom4okstateApr 15, 2023
@jeffjarvis unlike our own social media which had us all discussing classic literature all the time.
Show threadBob DavidsonApr 15, 2023
@jeffjarvis
he made me do it!
Show threadJorge StolfiApr 15, 2023

@jeffjarvis

I firmly believe (well, maybe just wobblingly suspect) that _The Simpsons_ is the key item in the Great Fascist Conspiracy to (1) make Americans stupid and (2) make them love stupid candidates.

Think of children growing up watching it from toddler to adult. How they must now believe that being stupid is not only harmless (the consequences of Homer's blunders are never permanent) but also _fun_. That they have the _right_ to be stupid, and must be respected as such.

#Simpsons

Show threadJorge StolfiApr 15, 2023

@jeffjarvis

PS. It cannot be a mere coincidence that _The Simpsons_ shows on the Fox channel...

Show threadEmelia 👸🏻Apr 15, 2023
@jeffjarvis wait til he stumbles across bimbo subculture on tumblr 😂
Show threadEmelia 👸🏻Apr 15, 2023
@jeffjarvis at least TikTok got kids moderately physically active, unlike the US social media giants.. so yay?
Show threadGorbaApr 15, 2023
@jeffjarvis or palantir might be part of a bunch of rich pricks informal network to increase their power, wealth & control over us peasants, the government & anything they can get their mitts on
Show threadActiveCulturesApr 15, 2023
@jeffjarvis I graduated from college with Alex!
Show threadJohn3182Apr 15, 2023
@jeffjarvis I’ve heard this argument before, with books, television, comics, etc…
Show threadKatherine ☘️Apr 15, 2023
@jeffjarvis weird since tiktok is what alerts me to all the bad shit republicans are doing and makes me a better public citizen, which is probably why they want to ban it
Show threadVirginia MurrApr 15, 2023

@jeffjarvis

If, for some reason, we needed more evidence that nobody should listen to anything from Thiel and his crew, this would be it.

Show threadloucoveyApr 15, 2023
@jeffjarvis well, so Is the GOP
Show threadPratik PatelApr 15, 2023
@jeffjarvis No wonder the "West" is dumber with that kind of logic.