You Can’t Post Your Way Out of Fascism | Authoritarians and tech CEOs now share the same goal: to keep us locked in an eternal doomscroll instead of organizing against them
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I suspect the vast majority of people turning to social media as a pressure release valve feel disempowered, and honestly don't know what more they can reasonably do. How can a fly meaningfully change the orbit of a planet?
This article is insightful, but practically useless. I think it would be better if it also presented specific actions and achievable goals that would lead to shutting down encroaching fascism.
Vast numbers of people feeling disempowered ... sounds like the Trump crowd when he appeared and proclaimed himself their savior. Liberals are in for the same treatment from someone with a different sales pitch. Some people think that's who Kamala Harris was, I truly believed in her, but maybe that was the whole plan and it's already like professional wrestling - you win this match, I'll win the next one, and we both take home the money. I dunno.
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I can't upvote this strongly enough. Social media is doing everything in the establishment's favor - especially ingraining the habit of glancing at a news item and making an instant value judgement with minimal thought before scrolling along to the next item. It's not just the endless scrolling and venting vs taking real action, it's the encouragement of superficial thinking, which is solid gold for con men like Trump who depend on people jumping to stupid conclusions. People who get all their knowledge from memes are easier to fool than people who take time to think.
I agree.
"Planet's burning up, another genocide, fascism on the rise... ugh... where are the funny memes."
Apathy is the greatest tool of the oppressor.
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Luigi 1 didn't accomplish anything, though.
You're talking about it.
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If there’s one thing I’d hoped people had learned going into the next four years of Donald Trump as president, it’s that spending lots of time online posting about what people in power are saying and doing is not going to accomplish anything. If anything, it’s exactly what they want.
Many of my journalist colleagues have attempted to beat back the tide under banners like “fighting disinformation” and “accountability.” While these efforts are admirable, the past few years have changed my own internal calculus. Thinkers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Hannah Arendt warned us that the point of this deluge is not to persuade, but to overwhelm and paralyze our capacity to act. More recently, researchers have found that the viral outrage disseminated on social media in response to these ridiculous claims actually reduces the effectiveness of collective action. The result is a media environment that keeps us in a state of debilitating fear and anger, endlessly reacting to our oppressors instead of organizing against them.
Cross’ book contains a meticulous catalog of social media sins which many people who follow and care about current events are probably guilty of—myself very much included. She documents how tech platforms encourage us, through their design affordances, to post and seethe and doomscroll into the void, always reacting and never acting.
But perhaps the greatest of these sins is convincing ourselves that posting is a form of political activism, when it is at best a coping mechanism—an individualist solution to problems that can only be solved by collective action. This, says Cross, is the primary way tech platforms atomize and alienate us, creating “a solipsism that says you are the main protagonist in a sea of NPCs.”
In the days since the inauguration, I’ve watched people on Bluesky and Instagram fall into these same old traps. My timeline is full of reactive hot takes and gotchas by people who still seem to think they can quote-dunk their way out of fascism—or who know they can’t, but simply can’t resist taking the bait. The media is more than willing to work up their appetites. Legacy news outlets cynically chase clicks (and ad dollars) by disseminating whatever sensational nonsense those in power are spewing.
This in turn fuels yet another round of online outrage, edgy takes, and screenshots exposing the “hypocrisy” of people who never cared about being seen as hypocrites, because that’s not the point. Even violent fantasies about putting billionaires to the guillotine are rendered inept in these online spaces—just another pressure release valve to harmlessly dissipate our rage instead of compelling ourselves to organize and act.
This is the opposite of what media, social or otherwise, is supposed to do. Of course it’s important to stay informed, and journalists can still provide the valuable information we need to take action. But this process has been short-circuited by tech platforms and a media environment built around seeking reaction for its own sake.
“For most people, social media gives you this sense that unless you care about everything, you care about nothing. You must try to swallow the world while it’s on fire,” said Cross. “But we didn’t evolve to be able to absorb this much info. It makes you devalue the work you can do in your community.”
It’s not that social media is fundamentally evil or bereft of any good qualities. Some of my best post-Twitter moments have been spent goofing around with mutuals on Bluesky, or waxing romantic about the joys of human creativity and art-making in an increasingly AI-infested world. But when it comes to addressing the problems we face, no amount of posting or passive info consumption is going to substitute the hard, unsexy work of organizing.
Sounds like a complicit media attempting to absolve itself.
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Organising to do what exactly? A majority of the US population wants this nightmare. The Trump administration is expected to destroy norms and institutions to bring about their bigot's utopia, they ran on that promise.
It's really that dire. It's beyond the reach of the checks and balances that have kept things somewhat on-track up until just after 9/11. Checks and balances are precisely what the voters want to delete from the courts.
If Trump wants a 3rd term, he will get it, and his voters will not be moved by marches or sit-ins or AOC exquisitely calling out the scum and villainy from the floor of the senate. Either talk Luigification, or let the people post their fucking memes in peace.
A third term implies the constitution is still in place and don't see them passing an amendment without doing something ridiculous like creating a bunch of extra states.
Far easier to just never end the second term. Claim a national emergency and suspend elections/the constitution.
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I suspect the vast majority of people turning to social media as a pressure release valve feel disempowered, and honestly don't know what more they can reasonably do. How can a fly meaningfully change the orbit of a planet?
This article is insightful, but practically useless. I think it would be better if it also presented specific actions and achievable goals that would lead to shutting down encroaching fascism.
It’s super helpful to identify the issue.
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Organising to do what exactly? A majority of the US population wants this nightmare. The Trump administration is expected to destroy norms and institutions to bring about their bigot's utopia, they ran on that promise.
It's really that dire. It's beyond the reach of the checks and balances that have kept things somewhat on-track up until just after 9/11. Checks and balances are precisely what the voters want to delete from the courts.
If Trump wants a 3rd term, he will get it, and his voters will not be moved by marches or sit-ins or AOC exquisitely calling out the scum and villainy from the floor of the senate. Either talk Luigification, or let the people post their fucking memes in peace.
Barely 50%, and not even, and let’s hope a significant, even if it’s just small it’s significant, percentage didn’t want all the chaos and corruption, that they falsely believed he would be good, and when he isn’t will flip back to being more rational. Let’s hope, and let’s try to convince them.
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I agree.
"Planet's burning up, another genocide, fascism on the rise... ugh... where are the funny memes."
Apathy is the greatest tool of the oppressor.
It's probably boomers' fault for inventing PCs so GenX could create the Internet. They should have seen this coming!!!
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Well at least the article validated some of my feelings and gave me a sense identification of the problems I have been sensing around me with the flaccid liberal rebellion.
Hey wait a sec! Dammit!Most concrete action I can think of is some posts I remember seeing about coat-hanger do it yourself frontal lobotomies. I've seen plenty of very low IQ Americans with economic status as bad or worse than mine somehow perfectly happy with all the fascist shit that is going down. This seems like an opportunity to join in their bliss.
Get to know the people in your community. Take an interest in growing food, learn how to fix things. Get a gun (or two) and learn how to use them.
https://mutualaiddisasterrelief.org/
Establish secure lines of communication and start preparing for what's coming. The next decade is going to be hard but we'll probably know how it's going to shake down by then.
edit: formatting
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I can't upvote this strongly enough. Social media is doing everything in the establishment's favor - especially ingraining the habit of glancing at a news item and making an instant value judgement with minimal thought before scrolling along to the next item. It's not just the endless scrolling and venting vs taking real action, it's the encouragement of superficial thinking, which is solid gold for con men like Trump who depend on people jumping to stupid conclusions. People who get all their knowledge from memes are easier to fool than people who take time to think.
After working with computer software most of my life I've come to understand that if success relies on people 'paying attention to something, making an informed decision and then performing an action' that it is nearly impossible to get the desired outcome more than half the time.
We're so fucked.
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Maybe it's better to refrain from growing strong men, though, just average will do, with average children, not weak.
I'm not sure how it is possible to produce merely average people though? Anyway, even if humanity itself were to not change, the world around us still does. Perhaps one day aliens will show up, assuming that climate change doesn't kill us all in the moderate term future. Just like all those species of animals and plants and such that we've driven extinct: they lasted so long, but then could not survive us.
So I would argue that we always should remain strong... it's just that the definition of what that even means will constantly keep changing, in response to our circumstances.
But, Stoicism, yeah - it's literally all that we can do, so let's do that.:-)
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After working with computer software most of my life I've come to understand that if success relies on people 'paying attention to something, making an informed decision and then performing an action' that it is nearly impossible to get the desired outcome more than half the time.
We're so fucked.
Agreed. After 30 years working in IT for various companies from 40 employees to 300,000 employees, I believe about 70-80% of the corporate work force has an elementary school level of reading comprehension at best.
In the last 10 years of my career I stopped writing emails with more than 1 question, because otherwise most people would reply and only answer the first thing I asked (often poorly), ignoring the entire rest of the email.
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I’m afraid you can’t vote or protest your way out of fascism. Only way out is to shoot.
You are correct. These people won't be stopped with words or rational arguments. They are past the point of being able to cooperate. We will be killing each other before long. Sorry to say, but if you don't have the tools and skills to do that, you might want to learn. Or be prepared to be owned or killed by those that do. Adolph Musk and crew want to OWN you or DESTROY you depending on how you look. Start preparing for what that means.
I fucking hate that it's coming to this, but without a major change of direction (that I see no evidence of yet) that's where this ends up. The red menace was in our own country the whole time.
I am an infantry veteran and I will be fighting on the correct side of history until I can't anymore. I do wonder how many of my fellow comrades I might come into conflict with once this all kicks off.
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I’m afraid you can’t vote or protest your way out of fascism. Only way out is to shoot.
Not enough ammo...
They have the popular vote, most gun nuts are right wing. And they have the military, most of which voted trump. Are there even enough people who are left of center to fight against that?
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Plus, there are a lot of folks here (it seems like a majority sometimes in my personal experience) that are quick to advocate violence/sabotage in lieu of negotiation and debate. That reeks of puppeteering; there can’t be that many arseholes here, right?
That's because there are a lot of marginlized folks here - gay, trans, autistic, linux users - who have spent decades disucssing politely and negotiating.
Problem is the people throwing Nazi salutes and writing all these executive orders have, quite clearly, said they want us all either dead or in camps.
Now I wouldn't dream of speaking for everyone else, but I'm certainly not going to be attempting to politely debate myself out of a one-way train ride, if it comes to that.
So, yeah, while I don't encourage violence for the sake of violence, the neoliberal 'oh dear we must all be very polite at all times and let rationality solve all our issues!' is dead and worthless.
I've taken classes for and armed myself, and I have zero qualms with defending myself and friends and family by any means necessary if it comes down to a situation where it's us-or-them, regardless of who 'them' is.
If you told me even five years ago that I'd be carrying a gun and be fully prepared to use deadly force to defend myself I'd have called you goofy, and if you told me that I'd be willing to use it against agents of the state if they came after me, I'd think you have lost your damn mind.
But, well, it's been a long 5 years, and frankly, IMO, the rule of law and the trust in any governmental institutions have been eroded into nothing.
That's because there are a lot of marginlized folks here - gay, trans, autistic, linux users
I feel seen
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I’m afraid you can’t vote or protest your way out of fascism. Only way out is to shoot.
Except you won't, because you are already coping on Lemmy
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You're talking about it.
I'm talking about a guy who made no impact on a single company much less an industry and then went to prison, throwing away all of his rich boy ivy league education.
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constitutional rights
Hate to say it, but there's the very real possibility those days are numbered.
As it sits, those of us that are savvy need to be actively using and promoting privacy-centric communications methodology to ensure we have a means to communicate safely and effectively as time goes on and those tights are further eroded. I don't see the internet completely dying, given the technical nature of it, but peering and connectivity will likely be hampered in the coming months and years, so it is in our best interest to find and employ feasible solutions now to attempt getting out ahead of anything those muppets come up with.
You are missing the point.
Those days might be numbered, but these places are the last bastion.
They will invade private homes, businesses and offices with impunity first.
Churches in particular have a long history of being relatively safe in (civil) war.
Not immune, just relatively.
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I'm talking about a guy who made no impact on a single company much less an industry and then went to prison, throwing away all of his rich boy ivy league education.
I'm talking about a guy
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I’m afraid you can’t vote or protest your way out of fascism. Only way out is to shoot.
Violence is bad. And it won't help anyway, unless it only makes things worse and society even more divided, leading the country into cycles of endless dictatorship.
The only way to get rid of illegitimate leaders is for at least 50%+ of the entire country to get together and protest all the way to Washington.
There is another way - if it's in your power, don't obey the regime in any way.
That's the whole point of dictators - they come in when some economic crisis starts and/or the people are fragmented.
By the way, dictators thanks to the fact that people are divided, and continue to rule. And also political apathy and social conservatism are only to the advantage of dictators, so they should have been regarded as evil from the beginning
