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Hugh Spencer's avatar

Don't forget "othering" - it seems to be a big driver.

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Phil Balla's avatar

Saw a video today, Hugh, of Ari Melber with Yuval Noah Harari:

https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/maga-propaganda-decoded-obama-s-fave-historian-shreds-trump-tricks-with-groundbreaking-scholarship-219252293558

They were talking about a key condition of democracy -- that people trust each other. With its corollary, that a discussion, conversation, constantly go on. No "othering," no disrespecting others but, instead, openness to all the complications and pain in others that inevitably accompany search for truth.

Easier, of course, if we don't search. Then, no need for truth (as both Trump and Vance make pathetically clear). Just floods of information. Bullies of the tech world, beholden only to profit, can set algorithms so those craving info in particular hate and racism "formations" can get loads and loads of it. Again, no truth, just comfort to rely on bullies to deliver the hate we desire in those "formations" algorithms -- presto -- fix for us.

To be civilized instead? Isn't that the real Q on which Americans vote by Nov. 5?

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