“And the only way to reboot history is to figure out new beings to be. Because that’s ultimately what beefing is about: a way to avoid being, without allowing time itself to end.”
on forgetting the internet culture war by remembering purpose:
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I'm not sure this is bad though? Are we sure that "beefing" isn't just the sign of people having more leisure and using it in the way people like best, by squabbling, relatively bloodlessly?
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Well it’s destroyed careers and mental health for a lot of people so bloodless != harmless
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I guess you’d feel those were bigger deals if you’re close to the people harmed. I know that stuff happens but I’m comparing to worse alternatives. What do you think of the theory that entertainment absorbs energy that might be otherwise used for war or civil unrest?
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That’s a first-order comparison. Football’s damage is kinda limited to say a few athlete brain injuries. CW damage is *designed* to find pathways to policy influence that ultimately lead to wars, police states, re-education camps etc, beyond basic PTSD of participation.
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The CW has *already* metastasized into all those things you seem to agree are bad. Around the world. It shares features with entertainment, but unlike video games or TV, both direct and metastasized damage NPV is not speculative.
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CW inspired/shaped policy on all sides both domestically and internationally has been systematically destructive and degenerative. Negative sum, not even zero sum. Nothing generative ever seems to come if it.
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I can think of examples supporting that but again I don’t know if it’s a significant effect? Have you seen any good analysis of this?
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Nope. Almost all the intelligence is in backchannel conversations among people who track this stuff. Significant effect is a statistician’s way of thinking about this. It’s a poor frame because the impact is much more direct and causal-narrative.
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I’m not understanding something here. The President’s twitter account is exhibit 1, I would think? And it is the most consequential force in contemporary politics?
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It’s the most visible but not the most impactful. The most significant pathway is veterans/graduates of CW actually landing positions of policy making influence as the next steps in their careers (in politicians’ staffs, media orgs, as advisors to moneyed interests etc).
Ah, that totally happens, I see examples of that a lot. Btw what do you think of when you think of a “moneyed interest”?
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Yes, I’m with you on that… I thought that it was an obvious common sense understanding that CW had captured the political discourse, and that this had effects, but apparently I was engaging in typical mind fallacy
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It has, but via 3 degrees of separation and convoluted feedback with NYT, Fox etc. To the extent normies who live off those sources dont realize the feedstock of mainstream media has changed from feet-on-ground beat reporting to social media.
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