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homunculus
@homunculus_mefi
, 12 tweets, 5 min read Read on Twitter
Thread: 1/ This is a great piece by Michiko Kakutani @michikokakutani on the hyperreal media world of pseudo-events we live in: "The Vanishing of Reality: Politicians had always spun reality, but television—and later the Internet—gave them new platforms on which to prevaricate."
2/ For an intro to pseudo-events, see Megan Garber's @megangarber great piece: "The Image in the Age of Pseudo-Reality: Daniel Boorstin’s 1962 classic on celebrity, fame, and America’s tenuous relationship to facts remains as poignant as it is prophetic." theatlantic.com/entertainment/…
3/ This 2016 piece was my intro to Boorstin, and it shows how pseudo-events impact our world & politics: "How the Media Enabled Donald Trump by Destroying Politics First: The mainstream media is to blame for Donald Trump’s rise, but not for the reasons most people think." ...
4/ ... "To enable Trump, what the media did is fulfill what almost seemed to be a longtime mission: to create the first 'pseudo-campaign' with the first 'pseudo-candidate.' And now they are having buyer’s remorse." billmoyers.com/story/how-the-…
5/ Another piece: Don Gillmor @dongillmor "How a constant desire to be entertained made us 24/7 performers in an unreal reality: Just as the movies altered who we choose to celebrate, the newest iterations of media have changed who we elect to govern us." nationalpost.com/entertainment/…
6/ Joshua Rothman @joshuarothman describes Covington as a recent example of a pseudo-event and a case study in their virality: "How to Escape Pseudo-Events in America: The Lessons of Covington. What the Covington saga reveals about our media landscape." newyorker.com/culture/cultur…
7/ Meanwhile, Nathan Jurgenson @nathanjurgenson takes a historical perspective on the recurring obits for Truth. Great piece: "As long as mass media has existed in the West, there have been complaints about social acceleration, uncertainty, and the ..." reallifemag.com/faked-out/
8/ "... loss of a real, knowable world... our current conversations about the loss of reality are familiar... If the term “infocalypse” is useful, it is as a synonym for modernity, where truth is always two decades ago and dying today, and a new dark age always on the horizon."
9/ I put these articles together in a post on MetaFilter, if anyone wants to check it out the thread over there: metafilter.com/179510/Its-pse…
10/ A quote from Boorstin:
11/ A short thread quoting Chris Hayes @chrislhayes:
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homunculus
@homunculus_mefi
1/ Christopher Hasson, the Coast Guard officer who plotted to murder prominent Democrats & journalists, is facing up to 31 years in jail. Prosecutors call him a ‘domestic terrorist’ but he hasn't been charged with terrorism. By Luke Barnes @LukeBarnes_92: thinkprogress.org/chris-hasson-c…
2/ This excellent but disturbing piece by David Neiwert @DavidNeiwert explores Hasson's case and the rising numbers of radicalized, violent white supremacists in the US. I recommend this article: dailykos.com/stories/2019/2…
3/ The MSM didn't spend much time on the story. Maybe they were uncomfortable with the possible link between Hasson's unhinged actions and Trump's inflammatory rhetoric. Aaron Rupar @atrupar explores Trump's history of violent rhetoric in this piece: vox.com/2019/2/22/1823…
Read 32 tweets
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homunculus
@homunculus_mefi
Excellent article by @_MikeTremblay on the potential synergy between the martial art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and the philosophy of Stoicism, and how BJJ is an excellent form of askēsis, or training, for Stoicism. Check it out if you're interested in martial arts and/or philosophy.
The author also wrote a handy Introduction to Stoicism which is on his website. Check it out if you're interested but unfamiliar with it. Here's Part 1: "The Good, the Bad, and the Indifferent"
tremblaymichael.com/2018/12/21/par…
And here's Part 2: "Why Other People Cannot Harm Us." tremblaymichael.com/2019/01/03/par…
Read 42 tweets
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homunculus
@homunculus_mefi
(Thread) This is a good piece by @speakingabtpain on the plight of chronic pain patients, people whose pain can't be cured & who've had their pain meds arbitrarily tapered down or taken away: "The clampdown on opioid prescriptions is hurting pain patients" latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/…
2) This is the @hrw report, written by @lauraphylmills, which looks at untreated chronic pain in the US as a human rights issue: “‘Not Allowed to Be Compassionate’ - Chronic Pain, the Overdose Crisis, and Unintended Harms in the US” hrw.org/report/2018/12…
3) The report has been out for a month. I first saw it mentioned by @terrence_mccoy, who wrote a good article on the plight of chronic pain patients (CPPs) last year: “‘Unintended consequences’ - Inside the fallout of America’s crackdown on opioids” washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/…
Read 46 tweets

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Dr. Waitman W. Beorn
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Mega Thread of Opinion (1 of 52)

My take on #Election2019, is one that will surprise all #Canadians who will take the #time to read past this #headline. It will be a #long #series of #tweets that will be #purely #honest & straight to the #point.
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AeroDynamic Women
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#Thread of responses from women in aerodynamics to the question, 'what would you like to see in order for women's career progression in your field to be sustained and better supported?'

Responses incl. career flexibility, mentoring and more women in leadership roles #WomeninSTEM
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#AfricaTweetChat
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#Thread!

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Louis Hyman
@louishyman
I was asked a lot today what I wish I had included in that thread on the Sears catalogue. And I definitely missed a few points. But there was one that I wish I had included because in my classes I always foreground it. #thread
Violence.

I should have (if I had known more than 6 people were going to read it) talked about how Jim Crow shopping always contained the threat of violence. #thread
Insist on your place line? Hell, just insist on owning your own stuff? That could bring death. White people were deadly serious about Jim Crow. #thread
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Dustin LaPres
@DstnLap
#Thread
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People basing real decisions, at real jobs- both public & private sector-on false information. We have the most powerful military, biggest Economy, in the most industrialized nation in the world making Domestic & Foreign Policy based on fasle information.
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