So much that is being reacted to isn’t real, and so much that is real isn’t even being acknowledged.
If you’re experiencing a sense of confusion, disconnection, and unease that you can’t quite put into words, know you’re not alone.
This is what weaponized unreality feels like.
Weaponized unreality combines disinformation, conspiracy theory, and state and non-state propaganda to create a simulacrum of the world we live in.
Because we move within the simulacrum, we become unwitting participants in the destruction of our own shared perception of reality.
In the digital age, the disinformation, conspiracy theory, and state and non-state propaganda have become like the air that we breathe.
We are both in it and of it. We consume it. We expel it. We move it around as we navigate within it.
The synergy boosts the weapons’ powers.
Social media platforms serve as surfaces for the acceleration of this dangerous synergy.
If we are determined to do so, we can also use them as spaces for its deconstruction.
But we must maintain our capacities to discern, reason, and connect with others for that to happen.
It's also important to give support and confidence to people who are trying to keep strong in their convictions, but are wrestling with hopelessness and despair.
The core who openly side with fascism are irredeemable. But their attempt to gain power must not appear inevitable.
I am now dedicated to encouraging people to stay strong and hopeful, the way people like Chaplin and Dietrich did before.
I always call maga killer clowns, not merely clowns, because they only can fool you if you don't take them seriously.
If you do, they are merely cowardly bullies, who will run if you chase them.
And if you mock them first, you might not need to chase them.
Co-sign all of this ☝️
Your profile banner photo and this entire thread seem aligned with #sensemaking!
@leahmcelrath I think its important to state, loudly, that this precedes the digital age, and indeed it's been a lot harder to say, hide genocides for instance since the ability to share information has increased.
The society and its principles are sicc, not the tools.
@leahmcelrath
Hey, I knew you on twitter!
Good to see you here. It's a very quality vs quantity place. I learn so much more here, and there's much less disinformation and confusion.
The trolls are very weak without the algorithm, and the lack of ads is less distracting.
I miss Barrett—who is posting neither here nor there—but I'm hoping he's finally dealing with his traumas and addictions.
I have become very witty, erudite and eloquent in your absence.
As any good actor can tell you, you can only be as good as the people you interact with.
I sometimes say the people I Follow are "The Proud. The Few. The Best."
Those who disappoint are easily dealt with (see my profile about that.)
I know you were considering leaving Texas. If that wasn't possible—recall that Camus wrote one of his best novels while 'behind enemy lines'.
It's not NECESSARY to suffer in order to create, but it can be overcome.
Check out my dedication to Stephanik, using PJ Harvey's "A Perfect Day, Elise" as the punchline, after she called a trial postponement 'election interference'.
It's a pun you can dance to.😄
Leah McElrath
Chris Real
Coach Pāṇini ®
DieMadColonizer
Mx. Luna Corbden