Is deplatforming good? What about incremental police budget changes?
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This has been a busy week. My back has felt significantly better, albeit still stiff. I’ve been working on lifting a bit before and I plan on getting back to it when it feels safe to do so.
This week also contained my birthday! It was a nice, relaxing day made all the better by the kind folks in my life. Even before the pandemic I’ve been slowly inching away from a lot of spaces that I used to be very active in, especially some online spaces. I’ve been noticing and feeling that a lot more, mainly around how I’ve been catching up with people on what’s been going on in our respective lives, and realizing that things that used to mean a lot to me don’t really mean so much anymore.
I’m still working on finding replacements for some of those things, but I also feel like I’m in a good place to do so. How have you weathered changes in your social circles over the past year?
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There have been a lot of great takes this week about GameStop, which is still an ongoing story. The Vox explainer gets regular updates and is a good entry if you don’t know anything at all that is going on. Unsurprisingly, this is going the route of all sorts of misinformation online. As an example, take a look at the terrible financial advice that’s being spread on TikTok.
If we’re lucky, this’ll lead to some sort of reckoning around the endless growth of the economy. Which is good, because we probably need to start shrinking the economy immediately if we want to not destroy the world.
At least it’s making it more obvious that Wall Street Bros aren’t any smarter or more worthy or anything, they just have capital leverage and a system built to forgive them.
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Most of my reading this week has been some delayed takes about deplatforming and the former president. Besides him, Twitter also banned around 70,000 QAnon accounts and there was a measurable drop in misinformation spread in the week after he was gone.
But now we need to know what to do next. We may be better off with him gone, but are we better of with Twitter itself? Shouldn’t we extend these restrictions to people causing harm on social media outside of the United states (yes)?
I don’t have the answer, but here are ten suggestions on what to do to fix the internet. I don’t agree with them all, and a few seem contradictory. But surely we have to try a few things out as opposed to letting private companies push specifically toward whatever selfish aims that they have.
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The Michael Scott Theory of Social Class – Alex Danco
This makes way too much sense and now I’m just going to think of how much code switching I do when talking to people about work.
Web Conversations With the Year 2000 – Paul Ford
Oh no, the web looked so promising in 2000 and now in 2021 it looks… I don’t really know what it looks like. Not great? But not dead either. Just changed.
Paul Ford later wrote a response to himself from the other side of that conversation.
I know those games have difficulty leveled for me to play when I’m ten, but dang, bested by a hamster.
An Alternative to Police That Police Can Get Behind – Rowan Moore Gerety, The Atlantic
I guess if we’re taking an incrementalist approach, sure, why not. Let’s find out what works for them if that’s the most realistic path forward that we’re going to get to finding something that works for us. Austin and Seattle are some of the latest cities to give this whole, “taking exorbitant budgets and putting them toward more useful public ends” a try.
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I think that The Theorists should have definitely been sponsored for these videos. Because they devoted all of their channels this past weekend to KFC. Trying to examine the Lifetime movie for the secret to the chicken recipe. Using several recipes that claim to be the match and judging which comes closest. And the KFConsole? It’s actually not the worst idea ever, albeit maybe the smell and texture of greasy chicken isn’t best for gaming time.
Welcome Home: The power of playful communities (Pax Online 2020) – Psychgeist
I’ve started following Psychgeist recently for some knowledgeable discussion about studies on games and gamers from an academic research perspective, and not just media hype. This nicely overlaps with my interest in online communities.
Sci-Fi Short Film: “Flyby” | DUST
I’m a sucker for “time travel makes me sad about life” stories, and this one is even more interesting since there really isn’t any time traveling going on.
Sci-Fi Short Film: “Protocole Sandwich” | DUST
I love the work from the Gobelins school. I would love to see this short expanded into a longer story, especially in this style.
Soul: Deep or Dumb? – Wisecrack
After watching this recap of the movie, I’m gonna go with not needing to see it 😅
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Episode 52: South of the Border w/ Hyperlink – Commune College
Commune College is back baybeeee!!!!
I love this show, love the hosts, and always find something interesting even if it’s a topic that I never gave much thought to. This week it’s about a racist tourist trap that I’ve seen signs before but never gone to.
52: Writing is a technology – Lingthusiasm
Also hitting episode 52 this week is Lingthusiasm, one that I recently got back into. It’s nice coming back to things and seeing them still going.
Decriminalizing Drugs with Dr. Carl Hart – Factually! with Adam Conover
Someone who intimately knows about drug use and the penal system is a good guest to talk about what decriminalizing means and what some of the things to watch out for during the discussion are.
Airplane Mode ◣ zone-out & destress with these carefully curated jazz / lofi beats 😎
Ending the week with something chill and hop. Chillhop!
Remember to share the stuff that you liked this week, or let me know what you think of my shares. See yall in a week and stay safe! 💝
