I’ve read a whole lot of US history last year. I’ve never seen the country in this big of a public debacle before. They’ve usually been pretty good about making dissent quietly disappear. But they’re spinning so many plates right now, and the cracks in their “good guy” facade are just growing deeper and deeper. It really makes me wonder if this is what’s going to finally break their back. More and more people are waking up to the reality that they’ve lived their whole lives in the worst kind of propaganda. Something’s gotta give. I think Vietnam was the closest we’ve seen to this, and it was just one war. Now the US faces trying to start shit with China, fighting a proxy war with Russia, and somehow coming up with a way of demonising Palestine and Iran. Their propaganda machine is failing quite badly.
Relatedly: Even though they have significant control over corporate social media, their ability to control narratives is proving insufficient given all the above. Hence yesterday’s TikTok ban.
I’ve read a whole lot of US history last year. I’ve never seen the country in this big of a public debacle before. They’ve usually been pretty good about making dissent quietly disappear. But they’re spinning so many plates right now, and the cracks in their “good guy” facade are just growing deeper and deeper. It really makes me wonder if this is what’s going to finally break their back. More and more people are waking up to the reality that they’ve lived their whole lives in the worst kind of propaganda. Something’s gotta give. I think Vietnam was the closest we’ve seen to this, and it was just one war. Now the US faces trying to start shit with China, fighting a proxy war with Russia, and somehow coming up with a way of demonising Palestine and Iran. Their propaganda machine is failing quite badly.
Relatedly: Even though they have significant control over corporate social media, their ability to control narratives is proving insufficient given all the above. Hence yesterday’s TikTok ban.
I’m sure they’re worming their way into the fediverse as well. Consider this Atlantic Council report from last year: Collective Security in a Federated World (PDF)