#salon
Not that I condone the idolatry of the headline, but: Joyful warrior Tim Walz and the last days of patriarchy
Veterans lost more than their innocence. They lost the god of their childhood. Sometimes they came out of it with a new and more mature faith, climbing from patriotic mythology to genuine religion. And sometimes they bore the image of deicide, and went the way of despair. Their journey runs parallel to that which modern men in crisis must make: a journey to emerge from the male fantasies of their childhood and their culture, and grow into a mature version of masculinity — or else to live in despair, prey to false prophets who preach the familiar idols.
We are at a turning point in human history. An epoch of many millennia is ending. The social order is making a profound shift. It is impossible for humans to navigate such a transition without turmoil. It’s bound to be messy.
The MAGA movement is a kind of latter-day Ghost Dance: a desperate attempt to recover the supposed lost birthright of men and restore a perceived rightful power. But just as for the Lakota, who wished to make their nation great again, it’s too late. [...] Ghost dancers stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. [...] Terrorist violence is the grisliest Ghost Dance of all, a weapon of the weak, the conquered. Those secure in their own power don’t need terrorism: They have nations, police, armies. American far-right terrorism, both in deed and word, is first and foremost a misogynist phenomenon. We see it online in the sickening, violent, sexualized hate directed at women who have power or who merely speak up for themselves.
Really, #Salon, must you? Five out of six top news about that orange jerk?
https://podbay.fm/p/the-cosmic-salon/e/1711396818
A chat with #HaraldKautz (-Vella) from The #Cosmic #Salon | #Podcast Episode on #Podbay
Cancel the Donald Trump reality show: War in the Middle East makes Don's courtroom antics irrelevant
[A] president who has worked a bipartisan mini-miracle to pass an infrastructure bill and help keep the government open and is dealing with border issues no president has dealt with in 40 years, all while bringing down prescription drug prices and managing two proxy wars in Asia and the Middle East, still trails a former president who has been impeached twice, found liable for fraud and rape in civil court and is currently facing 91 felony charges in four different jurisdictions. If you presented it as a Hollywood script it would only be bought if it were labeled satire.
The world teeters on the brink of war. Trump is whining about his problems.
The secret to Trump's revenge plot: He's making his plans for vengeance public
From the bothsidesism to access journalism to confusing neutrality with objectivity and an emphasis on the horserace instead of the consequences, the media's obsession with gossip and personalities has provided an undue platform for Trump and other malign right-wing actors to rehabilitate their reputations and circulate their propaganda and lies. Careerism, a lack of intellectual curiosity, and emphasizing profits over bold truth-telling allow the cycle to continue as our democracy languishes.
Not exactly in my backyard, plus, it's a longo reado. But interesting nonetheless:
Moms for Liberty meets its match: Parents in this swing suburban district are fighting back
Shutting down the right-wing rabbit hole is possible: First, follow the money
"The end goal is to make young people engage with and stay on the platforms as long as possible, because that means they can sell more advertising," lawyers for the Cabrillo Unified School District in Northern California argue in a district court lawsuit filed in May. "The YouTube, TikTok, Snap and Meta companies have learned that this is best accomplished by catering an endless flow of the lowest common denominator of content that is most provocative and toxic that they can get away with."
That's exactly the kind of content that Facebook's algorithms have favored, according to Frances Haugen. "When you give more distribution to content that can get reactions," she said in a recent MSNBC interview, "you end up rewarding more extreme content. Because the shortest path to 'like' is anger."
As the complaint in the California parents lawsuit argues, the issue is not the existence of social media but the companies' reliance on an "algorithmically-generated, endless feed to keep users scrolling in an induced 'flow state'; 'intermittent variable rewards' that manipulate dopamine delivery to intensify use; 'trophies' to reward extreme usage" and other features that keep people overstimulated and unable or unwilling to log off.
Andrew Tate was never "just trolling"
It's a persistent bit of wishful thinking in our culture, that misogynist talk somehow has no relationship to actual violence against women. Donald Trump, for instance, was able to wave away a tape of him bragging about sexual assault by claiming it was just "locker room talk." It was not, as a jury found just this spring, ruling that journalist E. Jean Carroll told the truth when she said Trump sexually assaulted her in the 90s.
The pandemic, of course, is the most dramatic event in the lives of kids (and everyone) in the past few years and got the lion's share of the blame for these stomach-churning numbers. But what cannot be overlooked as a likely factor: American boys are swimming in online propaganda that celebrates sexual violence as both their god-given right and as a way to demonstrate their manliness. One of the most famous figures in the world of teenage boys right now is imprisoned in Romania on charges of rape and forcing women into sex work. It's highly unlikely that the legions of boys who admire Tate and imitate his workouts, his tastes, and his rhetoric aren't also emulating the violence against women celebrated in Tate's videos.
John Mearsheimer Ukraine Salon
https://invidious.lunar.icu/watch?v=v-rHBRwdql8
What comes next?
#johnmearsheimer #ukraine #salon #speech #analysis #international-affairs #us #west #russia #q-a #raymcgovern
