Category: #wewriteweb

We believe that social media sells us free speech.

While it does not, or at least has not, most of us believe it should.

We believe it should.

We believe that free speech is just as much a commodity as choice. Or, no choice, since that is what these platforms actually sell.

No choice seems dystopian. And yet, despite what those of us socialized in these united states have been spoon fed, we are constantly purchasing “no choice” branded as convenience.

Algorithms. This decade’s buzzword. Algorithms. Computer programs attached to interfaces that choose what we see based on past consumption patterns. We believe that we are creating content. We believe that we are providing value.

What we believe is belied by this beast’s true nature.

Many of us still believe a company’s objective is to flip money. To secure a return of investment. I no longer believe this. Corporations, like nations, like governments, have an existentialist position. That is, they exist, and they wish to continue to exist. This need to exist is precarious for pure profits.

Content creation, free speech, and other illusions are sold to us. We are told we have a “platform”. Is that what we have?

It seems to me, that we only have a needle in our arms draining us of valuable Life blood. Ideas fused with electromagnetic designs. Bright screens hold us like gnats to a porch light. And how much of this free speech has changed our reality? How much has societal abuse waned?

Not much at all, really.

With all this “wokeness’ abounding, we would think school shootings would have simmered down.

With all this “wokeness” abounding, we would think police killings would have simmered down.

With all this “wokeness” abounding, we would think Black pregnant WOMEN would have less fatal pregnancies.

But muthaphukkkin’ alas…

Voting is not enough to determine fairness of opportunity. Neither are diversity plays. Not that diversity is limiting, but in these united states, diversity tends to be limited to race, sex, sexual orientation, and gender(or lack thereof). There is a tendency to overlook similarities of representative class, however.

Y’all’s Daddy obeezy might be darker skinned(skint) than george w. bush, but they both are harvard graduates(source). There are 8 former us presidents with harvard degrees. Only other university that can boast of graduating a number of us presidents is yale, and even they have to share george w.

In last 33 years, only joe biden has been elected to office of us president without an ivy league degree(source). None of those elected in that time is without a degree. Whether a person with a degree is eligible to run is of little significance if numbers show that they have more of a chance of picking winning lottery numbers.

Who can win in a democracy matters more than who can run, and even more than who can vote. Representation along class has to have just as much significance in a nation like usa due to its worship of money and level of financial disparity. These same dynamics exist for ideas about who can get rich.

Who can play and who can actually win also matter in what is being referred to as a free market. Capital and access to capital play a much bigger role than most other factors including first mover advantages. All capital is social in my thinking, so it is important to note how much ones network increases their ability to secure large sums of monies, flip that money, and most importantly, stay afloat during downturns or bad decision making.