mekka okereke Apr 15, 2023

Mega corporations have an unapologetic and unhidden profit motive. They take much criticism for this motive.

But there's a big difference between the approach to resisting racism and fascism taken by companies like Disney and Nike (push back hard), and the approach taken by organizations like the New York Times, the College Board, and now the book publisher Scholastic (enable).

https://www.npr.org/2023/04/15/1169848627/scholastic-childrens-book-racism

You can't appease both fascists and their victims at the same time. You have to choose.

infinite_loopyApr 15, 2023
Show threadmekka okereke 

We should all be embarrassed that companies in the entertainment industry are taking leadership positions on pushing back against fascism, while companies involved in journalism, education, and publishing, are taking the collaborator stance.

The parts of society that everyone promised would save us from fascism, are failing. The parts of society that the Very Serious People (tm) saw as frivolous pastimes, are providing more truth and safety.

This is the Teen Vogue'ification of the world.

Apr 15, 2023 at 4:44pmWeb
Show threadLaura J MixonApr 15, 2023
@mekkaokereke Amen, brother. The patterns of fascism are so clear. I find it baffling how the news media continue to allow themselves to be led in circles and jump through hoops like trained circus animals for the sake of the powerful, for entertainment of comfortable bystanders, while the suffering of the afflicted goes unremarked.
Show threadHalJor Apr 15, 2023
@LauraJMG @mekkaokereke The people controlling "the news media" often /are/ "the powerful". They're the ones who dictate which stories are published, not the people writing the stories (who are likely more on the side of the afflicted).
Show threadLeisureguyApr 15, 2023

@LauraJMG @mekkaokereke

I imagine the news media follow the dictates of their owners, who tend to be powerful and want to preserve and increase that power and see fascism as a way to do that. The owners are not interested in empowering the public so much as they are in controlling the public.

#power #owners #media #control #fascism

Show threadGary E. WalkerApr 15, 2023
@mekkaokereke Well said, but as proud as I am of Teen Vogue, I cannot help but point out that this is more about the exclusion of an abundance (It's raining soup! @parkermolloy for instance) of coverage than it is about the failure of the profession as a whole. Encouraging skepticism about mainstream, evidence-based ways of knowing is always suspet.
Show threadicasticoApr 15, 2023

@mekkaokereke

Here is a good example. AP headline on the loss of rights by half of Florida’s citizens is “Abortion bans raise fears inside GOP about backlash in 2024”. Framing this as a weak rhetorical move rather than active oppression. Pretty consistent framing of these moves across the country. Rather than “GOP takes away more rights from citizens” it is “GOP appeals to base - will it improve their chances in 2024?”

Pathetic

Show threadAwakened Dragon 🏳️‍🌈🦒🌊🌻Apr 15, 2023
@icastico @mekkaokereke "The GOP continues to strip women & girls of any rights to life or medical treatment. The GOP war to kill women/girls (anyone with a uterus) continues unabated. Current death counts and other debilitating health impacts are unknown. Banning abortions is a weapon used in addition to the unrestricted/unlimited access to firearms used against the general population." There, fixed it.
Show threadSeppo HelavaApr 15, 2023
@icastico @mekkaokereke Those of us who were adults and cognizant of this sort of thing in the GWB era (and I can only assume for older folks before), the repetition of this bullshit framing/coverage is *infuriating*. These institutions have learned jack and squat.
Show threadCJ PalomaApr 15, 2023

@helava @icastico @mekkaokereke

exactly, it goes way back: You can find clips of (the singer) Linda Ronstadt dissing on Rupert Murdoch (by name) in the early 1980's! (She was active in justice causes and involved with Dem governor of California at the time).

Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent came out in 1988...it's been going on for a long time.

Show threaddibi58Apr 15, 2023

@icastico @mekkaokereke

the ap is unreliable just as kim john press agency in north korea ...

Show threadNicole ParsonsApr 15, 2023

@icastico @mekkaokereke

#TranslatedFromTheRepublican

"Republican billionaire donors bought a state government.

The GOP pays them back with civil rights rollbacks and fascism.

The GOP do nothing but donor maintenance, even overthrowing the will of the people & ending democracy for them."

Show threadJ.H.NoyesApr 29, 2023

@Npars01 @icastico @mekkaokereke

Headlines should read 'What will they take next.'

Show threadÇ'thûłhů👾Rants! 🇺🇦 🇵🇸 🇨🇦Apr 16, 2023
@icastico @mekkaokereke
It's always the horserace, rarely the substance.
Show threadBishop WhitewindApr 16, 2023
@icastico @mekkaokereke wouldn't want to offend the racist would we? 🤮
Show threadSatelliteOfLoveApr 16, 2023

@icastico @mekkaokereke

With a slick attempt to ignore the GOP weakness since 2020 too.

its layers of treating reality as something to abstractify and render into a question

Show threadJim GrishamApr 16, 2023
@icastico @mekkaokereke Hahaha, should have thought of that way long ago
Show threadDoug KappelerApr 16, 2023

@icastico @mekkaokereke

This is the core of the issue, as these "mainstream" sources label
every issue in fascist-empowering terms. The nightly news gives more airtime to radical insurrectionists than to any progressive, or even middle of the road, viewpoints

Show threadAntonio Páez 🇲🇽🇨🇦Apr 15, 2023

@mekkaokereke @_L1vY_

Could it be that Teen Vogue wants to make money and they know that what sells with teenagers is quality analysis and information?

Just like #NYT knows that what sells with very serious people is softcore Fox News.

Show threadKnowAttitudeApr 15, 2023

@paezha @mekkaokereke @_L1vY_

NYT is softcore Fox News - that hits the nail on the head. Thank you for your words.

Show threadShoq 🌿Apr 15, 2023
@mekkaokereke Gr8 post and I completely agree, although I'd like to see enough examples to say it's a hard truism. A lot of E companies just seem to virtue-signal better than most, without taking really meaningful stances. But still, there are some who do, while so much of the former gatekeeper class that should always be taking harsh stances are complicitly silent and largely inert. It's really infuriating.
Show threadpgcdApr 15, 2023
@shoq @mekkaokereke You're probably right, and it's virtue signalling.
Yet, I think virtue signalling is preferrable to the asshole signalling and wholesale cruelty you get from Very Serious Publications.
Show threadAndrewApr 15, 2023

@mekkaokereke part of this I think is entertainment is one of the fields where “rags to riches” is actually possible and not gatekept by an expensive degree

(not to say this is always to case of course)

Show threadAmadi LovelaceApr 15, 2023
@mekkaokereke the “Teen Vogue-ification” of Teen Vogue happened when a 29 year old Black woman, Elaine Welteroth, became editor in chief. Legacy media editorial control remains too male and too pale and it impacts its ability to adequately and accurately function in our current climate. When decisions are being made by a room that looks more like a supermarket than a country club, everything improves.
Show threadBilly Bragg's Liquid AminosApr 15, 2023
@amaditalks @mekkaokereke oh HELL yeah
Show threadLaura LangdonApr 15, 2023

@amaditalks @mekkaokereke “When decisions are being made by a room that looks more like a supermarket than a country club, everything improves.”

If you sold shirts with this truth bomb on them, I would so buy a few!

Show threadJeff ByrnesApr 15, 2023
@amaditalks 👏🏻 from this male, pale guy, this is 100% accurate
Show threadFeralRobotsApr 25, 2023
@amaditalks
I have often wondered how that happened - thanks!
@mekkaokereke
Show threadJon (now at neuromatch.social)Apr 29, 2023
@amaditalks 💯!
Show threadAviva GaryApr 15, 2023

@mekkaokereke Don't know about embarrassed but everything else here is correct...

But this is how it always is. Over time The Powerful TM (read money interests) always coopt the levers of society that are *supposed* to protect society from their money and power.

Comedy, the jester, entertainment can't be completely and simply owned, as such, they can't be completely turned. Some, sure... but not completely.

This struggle is supposed to keep the peace... but if they ever join the powers...

Show threadJeff ♨️ DarcyApr 15, 2023
@mekkaokereke I remember around the 2016 elections, realizing that some of the best reporting had come from Rolling Stone, Cracked, and Teen Vogue. Seemed odd.
Show threadThe Animal and the MachineApr 15, 2023
@mekkaokereke
Don’t worry. They can solve this by banning TicTok.
Show threadDamnKimberleeApr 16, 2023
@mekkaokereke @mekkaokereke we have to know the enemy to understand the response. Putin targeted those institutions. They’re not failing because they didn’t matter--they’re failing because of the Republican anti-education/education for profit and war on formal education. That is directly from Putin’s playbook and what he did to his own people--and what he’s doing here now with Republican’s help. #republicansarenazis
Show threadInsecurity Princess 🌈💖🔥Apr 16, 2023
@joelle 🙃
Show threadTakayaApr 16, 2023
@mekkaokereke true, but I do feel that Teen Vogue would be on fleek about calling facism out. It’s the business publications one has to watch out for
Show threadCoach Pāṇini ®Apr 23, 2023
@mekkaokereke 🔥
Show threadOrca 🌻 | 🎀 | 🪁 | 🏴🏳️‍⚧️Apr 24, 2023
@mekkaokereke
Let's not forget that Walt Disney faced backlash for their silence against 'Don't Say Gay' bill last year.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60714063

It's so absurd that now we are embracing them for taking the stance against prosecution of LGBTQ+, while news agencies are siding with the reactionaries. What a year to live in…
Disney apologises for 'silence' on 'Don't Say Gay' bill

It comes after the BBC is shown a letter which also claims "gay affection" is cut from Pixar content.

Show threadJ.H.NoyesApr 29, 2023

@mekkaokereke

Yes, but can you convince me that the same isn't true of Democrats? It looks to me that the stand that sells beef and the stand that sells chicken are owned by the same people, and that the strident competition is really just pageantry meant to discourage any other vendors from entering the market.