@shoq

so how do you explain Mamdani?

imo it's two fold. control of attention and ideas.

ideas: Dems push old ideas that nobody thinks will do much to help them. for example, they won't even embrace a public option for healthcare.

attention: the machines that push content at us (mass media and social media algos) are controlled by the wealthy who make sure that any ideas that challenge their status get less widely circulated. fixing this is why fedi is revolutionary.

@shoq people selling “messaging” as the only way to turn USA round aren’t progressives, they’re paid consultants or just influencers.

Mamdani/Ocasio Cortez showed how to do it: visit and hear door to door, visit the opposition voters, cause their party sure as hell is not, and don’t support money in politics.

Get a grip.

@shoq Progressives do not pretend our salvation is messaging in its distribution.

Progressives know that the establishment Dems are not sending the right messages. We are sick of "it's my turn" politics. We're sick of playing softball and ceding power to find a "middle ground".

Instead of blaming the future of the party for trying to right the ship, try to listen and understand what is being said. Establishment Dems are our party's problem. They resist meaningful policy change.

@shoq

Same problem in #Canada, where pretty much all mainstream media is owned by corporations and American hedge funds and billionaires. We can 'message' all want, but it's not getting through the MSM gatekeepers, to use the #MAGA term.

"Progressives waste time pretending our salvation is “messaging.” Our problem is that we have no way to distribute messages that can be heard above the near-ubiquity of MAGA media."

#cdnpoli

@shoq

From the Foreword. The book appeared 1986. #NeilPostman lived 1931 – 2003

@shoq I don't know about Huxley's idea.

Everyone was really nice to the guy and he just couldn't stand that they didn't share his principles--especially regarding sex. Girl offers to sleep with him and he freaks the fuck out. His whole problem with the society wasn't really that people were not free to think for themselves, which they ~were, it's that they didn't think like HIM. So at the end the guy saying, "You just want the freedom to be miserable; you're welcome," kinda had a point.

@shoq I've noticed a massive number of YouTube channels that regurgitate the news and not much else. Every few days it recommends several new ones.

The same thing happens on Mastodon with its Explore / Trending feed. The same few news posts being regurgitated and not much else.

Preaching to the choir.

@shoq

Yes many people think Trump is lying to us. And Since Trump is lying to us, our stated disbelief is enough to correct the lie, rebuff the attack.

But Trump is not lying to _us_ Trump is lying into the information silos and echo chambers, set up by Murdoch and billionaires. They never hear our proofs or reasons. Or evidence.

#coup #trump #musk #racism

@shoq Not loving how my 80s reading list is back in vogue.

See also: The Human Evasion; Celia Green - https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2169648.The_Human_Evasion

@shoq
Somehow Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" comes to mind...

Although admittedly Orwell's "Animal Farm" is probably a more apt comparison given the current state of the world: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"