America is United
Every time you wriggle in fright, a fraction of a penny slips into Mark Zuckerberg's bloated purse
When I was working on “Silicon Valley” the tv show, we had many tech consultants who’d often educate us about tech trends, how compooters work, etc. I’m haunted daily by one of the things one of these people told us: The first thing an algorithm learns is to steer a viewer towards videos, podcasts, articles, etc that provoke fear and anxiety. The reason for this is that these algorithms are programmed to do one thing above all: keep you watching. And these types of videos keep a viewer engaged so that they keep watching. Videos that provoke calm, peace, chill vibes, and happiness make the viewer disengage quicker, put their phone down, and tend to their lives, so algorithms steer viewers away from them.
I’m in LA right now. If you were to look at the news you’d think it’s underwater. It’s raining. That’s it. Yesterday it sprinkled, rained hard, then didn’t rain at all. That’s it. It’s being reported that an “atmospheric river” is ripping through the sky, a raging torrent drowning all in its path. It’s raining.
Every egghead podcast I consume and every lunkhead tabloid I see in the grocery store screams that we are a nation divided! More divided than ever! Dems hate Repubs! It’s divided, divided! Fractured, split! Oh, it’s in a terrible state. Uncles hate nephews, nieces hate aunts! The Thanksgiving table is a battleground, and not for that last drumstick, no, but for the very soul of America!
A line is a wonderful tool when you’re constructing a box, but each line drawn between humanity is a poison. I believe there’s a line through America right now as much as I believe I’m writing this from the bottom of a river.
This shit isn’t new. It’s the way things have worked for a long time, but I do believe these algorithms are making it all much worse and more extreme. Let’s put a line between us and those algorithms, how bout that? Let em bleep-bloop to some other compooters. Leave me outta it!
As much as I think about what our tech consultant told us a decade ago, I think about these words of the late, great Abner Jay:
“Terrible things make news. Terrible men make big men. Why do think we've got some men in state office? Because they're terrible! Looks like you got to be terrible now to be popular. Look at the headlines of your newspaper every day, I don't care if you from New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, or Selma, Alabama. In most cases the headlines of your papers are tellin' you 'bout somethin' that happened terrible. Just like before I left Denver, Colorado. Headlines on every paper in Denver where this woman poured gasoline on her husband and set him on fire while he was asleep! Now, if she had poured cologne or perfume on 'im, and started kissin' all over 'im, nobody wouldn't a never known a damn thing about it. Terrible things make news!”
Don’t believe the hype.
Yes!!! My goofy left wing bookstore is right between a christian #bluelivesmatter coffee shop and a gun store and we dont argue about shit! Everyone's nice to each other!
Man Bites Dog journalism, tale old as time. Thanks for the reminder, CM.