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This "nation deeply divided" narrative is itself part of the problem. Politics is all about mediating disagreement. Nations are *always* divided, but with more nuance than media allow. This presumes normal is universal harmony: utopia. 1/

nytimes.com/2020/08/21/bus…
Part of the problem is media's myth of objectivity and objective truth, which they believe the nation should rally 'round and affirm, when media's real job is to listen to and inform the public debate that exists in divisions. 2/
And so the bad guys get to exploit media's catastrophizing of the public conversation, sewing division so media will panic and report that -- rather than the incompetence, corruption, and fraud of one "side" or the other. 3/
That MSNBC viewership is marked as a symptom of some pathology of division is offensive, wrong, and idiotic. Finally we have choice in media after a half-century of near-monopolies and old media doesn't understand how to analyze that. So: division! 4/
The related media problem is treating communities' voices joining in a public conversation as "identity politics" -- that people choose to identify themselves rather than be identified by media as a mass (which is, in media's view, pathologically divided). 5/
I argue in this paper that society is relearning how to hold a conversation with itself. Media are not helping; they are hurting by pathologizing choice, conversation, community. Again the problem is they then ignore the real story: Fox propagandizing. 6/

dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.114…
If we are "deeply divided" what are we deeply divided about? Pollsters think they know and so they set the agenda of division in their surveys, preempting the public conversation they are meant to measure, as James Carey said. 7/
Journalists -- who supposedly have investigation and holding power to account as their highest values -- miss the real story of covering Trump's corruption by concentrating on our "division" over him. They treat corruption as a debate. No, it's a crime to cover. 8/
Some people in this nation accept Trump's crimes because of what he can accomplish for them as they see their power deflating. They want him to burn the fields so as not to share crops with the "others." They want him to enable their racism. Those are the pathologies. 9/
Media should be covering Trump's crimes and white Americans' racism and the nation's systemic inequity. Instead they see all this in the context of "division." That makes everything relative. Crimes and racism become just something to be divided over. 10/
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Jeff Jarvis
@jeffjarvis
No, @washingtonpost, no, no NO. How dare you? Were these pieces of silver worth the price of your soul?
The Post not only sold its front page but also sold a takeover. Who the fuck decided this? I am so ashamed of you, @washingtonpost.
And they let Trump shit on the pages of the @washingtonpost and its journalism throughout. Shameful.
Read 15 tweets
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Jeff Jarvis
@jeffjarvis
Much of the criticism of social media for not banning Trump is so UScentric. Imagine you run a company that also operates in countries with merely troubling heads over time: Poland, Hungary, Turkey, Italy, Singapore, Thailand (nevermind the worst., e.g., Philippines, China...) 1/
And then what does banning these bad heads of state accomplish? Does it protect their populaces from them? They have media. They have followers. Should not citizens judge their leaders? Do you really want social media companies to act as literal kingmakers? 2/
Thought experiment: Turn off Facebook & Twitter tomorrow. Is the world a better place? Have racism & inequity been solved? Or did you just waste time fighting a shadow puppet of the real problems in society? Technology isn't the cause anymore than printing was. People are. 3/
Read 6 tweets
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Jeff Jarvis
@jeffjarvis
Send to every prof: "We write that reopening colleges and universities to in-person classes this fall is Unsafe at Any Campus, and sincerely hope that our Essay triggers critical thinking, evidence-based decision-making, and mindful reflection."
2: "Some colleges and universities may be willing to experiment with the lives of students, staff, local communities, & faculty. These essentially largescale biomedical clinical research studies have been neither approved, nor even reviewed by any IRB as is legally required."
3: "Rushing to reopen campuses offers only the illusion of safety. In contrast, offering an effective online alternative provides the reality of safety. Just because it is different, online education is not necessarily inferior."
Read 20 tweets

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