Can’t say I’m sympathetic to anyone who uses TikTok, that platform has been a vacuum of people’s intelligence and attention span for years. You reap what you sow.
But for every person who knows about the manipulation and censorship, I guarantee there’s another who’s ignorant of it
I wish it were 1:1. Probably more like 1:20.
Tell people. Save this article and share it. Remind people of the fuckery behind the scenes whenever you get an opportunity.
The idea is sound until you consider that people get into their own bubbles. People who avoided tiktok because they saw the imminent danger are NOT in the same space as people who are all-in. So telling the people around you is great, but 9 times out of 10 you’re going to be preaching to the choir. The vast majority who need to know will never hear, and even if they do, it will immediately be met with a response ranging from “ok boomer” to “leave me alone.”
This is legitimately a HUGE problem, and we’re seeing lots of protests NOW because of the young people who grew up in a media environment that drove home how important values, respect, and human decency were, but given 10 or 20 years, the children who grow up in this new media landscape are going to be VERY different.
My girlfriend used to be on TikTok a lot. Her page was mostly trans news and gloom. It used to be a pretty far left platform like lemmy, but it’s corpo owned, so now we’re here.
TikTok was the big left-liberal influence platform in a sea of neoliberal, conservative, and outright fascist platforms.
But one too many Tokkers posted bad things about Israel and/or good things about Iran, Venezuela, and our immortal enemy China. So President Brandon had to shut that shit down.
Now the US branch of the platform is back in line with the rest of US media
With all due respect, I think the problem is essentially two wrongs don’t make a right. Can we have media that doesn’t suck and enough proles consume it willingly? Idk. I had hope once upon a time, but we’ve sold it hard to kids that it’s uncool to care about anything for more than 5 seconds, and the absolute coolest to fry your brain and consume only impulsive fantasy bs. Beyond that, earlier generations convinced themselves that you don’t have to think critically or feel bad about stepping on others as long as it’s what your in-group is doing. So idk what the answer is, all I’m saying is all those media options suck ass.
Can we have media that doesn’t suck and enough proles consume it willingly?
Definitely. The things that “suck” in media are profit engines that can only exist in parallel with the things that proles benefit by consuming. If you have a channel that’s “Oops, all ads!” your user base shrivels up into a tiny nugget of Home Shopping Channel die-hards. But if you have a channel that’s purely public services, it relies on public sponsorship (either directly through membership or indirectly through state aid). It can’t operate at a large profit or justify outside private investment to rapidly expand.
There’s always a balancing act between content that benefits the audience and content that benefits the broadcaster.
Beyond that, earlier generations convinced themselves that you don’t have to think critically or feel bad about stepping on others as long as it’s what your in-group is doing.
That’s not true. That’s never been true. This isn’t an issue of generational divide. This is an issue of local communities partitioned by their access to modes of communication and the regional influence of the neighborhood’s industrial powerhouse.
One of the most reliable indicators of a voting district’s partisan affiliation is the presence of Oil & Natural Gas industrial activity. Like, if you want to talk about why the Gulf Coast states, Ohio, and central Pennsylvania are bleeding red, it centers heavily on their enormous concentration of O&G facilities and staff. Energy sector workers are uniformly predisposed to the party that supports expanding O&G exploration, exploitation, refinement, and export.
These people aren’t above “thinking critically”. They just see where their bread is buttered (red state plutocracy generally benefits from Oil-Friendly Republican administrations) and vote accordingly. It’s the grim math of “Do I want a five/six figure bonus at the end of the year?” which party organizers and their business allies in the state make abundantly clear during election season.
Your problem isn’t that people don’t think critically, its that they do and the conclusions they reach aren’t favorable to your partisan allies.
Replies are for the community not just the person you’re responding to. Otherwise there would just be DMs to OP.
UnderpantsWeevil made a good point, you don’t have to take that as them wanting to debate you. You don’t even need to block them. Just stop responding, it’s not complicated.
Then you don’t have to spend the effort being negative and we end up with communities that become a positive corner of the internet.
While I do think everyone should avoid short-form video because it’s junk food for the mind, non-users have to care about it because enough people use it that it steers public opinion.
Can’t say I’m sympathetic to anyone who uses TikTok, that platform has been a vacuum of people’s intelligence and attention span for years. You reap what you sow.
With that mindset, we are all doomed.
I wish it were 1:1. Probably more like 1:20.
The idea is sound until you consider that people get into their own bubbles. People who avoided tiktok because they saw the imminent danger are NOT in the same space as people who are all-in. So telling the people around you is great, but 9 times out of 10 you’re going to be preaching to the choir. The vast majority who need to know will never hear, and even if they do, it will immediately be met with a response ranging from “ok boomer” to “leave me alone.”
This is legitimately a HUGE problem, and we’re seeing lots of protests NOW because of the young people who grew up in a media environment that drove home how important values, respect, and human decency were, but given 10 or 20 years, the children who grow up in this new media landscape are going to be VERY different.
Unfortunately everyone else also reaps in this case.
My girlfriend used to be on TikTok a lot. Her page was mostly trans news and gloom. It used to be a pretty far left platform like lemmy, but it’s corpo owned, so now we’re here.
TikTok was the big left-liberal influence platform in a sea of neoliberal, conservative, and outright fascist platforms.
But one too many Tokkers posted bad things about Israel and/or good things about Iran, Venezuela, and our immortal enemy China. So President Brandon had to shut that shit down.
Now the US branch of the platform is back in line with the rest of US media
I don’t care what political affiliation it was to be or whatever.
It’s still all brain-drain to me.
I mean, tell it to the folks watching CBS Evening News. Or reading the New York Post.
For some reason, its only the newer forms of media that ever take flak as “brain rot”. As though the style carries more weight than the substance.
With all due respect, I think the problem is essentially two wrongs don’t make a right. Can we have media that doesn’t suck and enough proles consume it willingly? Idk. I had hope once upon a time, but we’ve sold it hard to kids that it’s uncool to care about anything for more than 5 seconds, and the absolute coolest to fry your brain and consume only impulsive fantasy bs. Beyond that, earlier generations convinced themselves that you don’t have to think critically or feel bad about stepping on others as long as it’s what your in-group is doing. So idk what the answer is, all I’m saying is all those media options suck ass.
Definitely. The things that “suck” in media are profit engines that can only exist in parallel with the things that proles benefit by consuming. If you have a channel that’s “Oops, all ads!” your user base shrivels up into a tiny nugget of Home Shopping Channel die-hards. But if you have a channel that’s purely public services, it relies on public sponsorship (either directly through membership or indirectly through state aid). It can’t operate at a large profit or justify outside private investment to rapidly expand.
There’s always a balancing act between content that benefits the audience and content that benefits the broadcaster.
That’s not true. That’s never been true. This isn’t an issue of generational divide. This is an issue of local communities partitioned by their access to modes of communication and the regional influence of the neighborhood’s industrial powerhouse.
One of the most reliable indicators of a voting district’s partisan affiliation is the presence of Oil & Natural Gas industrial activity. Like, if you want to talk about why the Gulf Coast states, Ohio, and central Pennsylvania are bleeding red, it centers heavily on their enormous concentration of O&G facilities and staff. Energy sector workers are uniformly predisposed to the party that supports expanding O&G exploration, exploitation, refinement, and export.
These people aren’t above “thinking critically”. They just see where their bread is buttered (red state plutocracy generally benefits from Oil-Friendly Republican administrations) and vote accordingly. It’s the grim math of “Do I want a five/six figure bonus at the end of the year?” which party organizers and their business allies in the state make abundantly clear during election season.
Your problem isn’t that people don’t think critically, its that they do and the conclusions they reach aren’t favorable to your partisan allies.
You’re barking up the wrong tree. Here’s an idea - leave me alone.
Actually, I’ll do you a favor and block you.
Replies are for the community not just the person you’re responding to. Otherwise there would just be DMs to OP.
UnderpantsWeevil made a good point, you don’t have to take that as them wanting to debate you. You don’t even need to block them. Just stop responding, it’s not complicated.
Then you don’t have to spend the effort being negative and we end up with communities that become a positive corner of the internet.
Do you always announce your blocks?
“Attention everyone, i am replying to fyrilsol!”
“Attention everyone, I am clicking the reply button!”
Yes, gives me a boner. I’m blocking you now.
While I do think everyone should avoid short-form video because it’s junk food for the mind, non-users have to care about it because enough people use it that it steers public opinion.