This mentality is also self-defeating. American people have an enormous amount of tools and freedoms. Yes, a few of them are under pressure, but that pressure is minor compared to what people face in Russia or Egypt.
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I don’t mean to minimize the challenges, but I find this learned-powerlessness through exaggration to be real theat to positive change. There is so much that is possible and doable!
6 replies 59 retweets 362 likesShow this thread -
zeynep tufekci Retweeted
I read the article. Putting Trump inthe same press release as Putin and Xi Jinping, giving him an award category where he is the top? Come on. I agree there are issues, but they are rounding errors to what Russian journalists face. https://twitter.com/susansternberg/status/950590420844728320 …
zeynep tufekci added,
This Tweet is unavailable.3 replies 15 retweets 126 likesShow this thread -
Reality check. Trump isn’t even a tiny threat to press freedom in the US the way Putin is—not yet. The industry structure, rise of algorithmic digital monopolies, removal of barriers to monopolistic practices, rise of propaganda channels? Them’s the threats. All precede Trump.
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zeynep tufekci Retweeted enis
Trump may have introduced and heightened *whataboutism* in the US, but there isn’t a press freedom oppressor in the world that needed or waited for Trump for whataboutism. In reality, Trump whataboutism only really affects the US.https://twitter.com/menisaydin/status/950593905401192449 …
zeynep tufekci added,
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American journalists continue to be freer than pretty much anywhere else in the world. Whether they can find the financing; whether editors focus on important, investigative stories; whether good press can break through the propaganda? Those are the issues, not press freedom.
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Sorry, as someone who is connected to elsewhere in the world, it is frustrating to watch Americans equate some existing but relatively minor pressure—as things go!—with catastrophic situations is frustrating, and also I observe it to be profoundly disempowering!
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I observed many examples over the years... I think I’ll write it up longer. There are things that REALLY need to be fixed in the US—but also many powerful tools for democracy and protecting human rights. Being convinced you have no tools is more effective than all the oppression.
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Also, haha, I was typing on my phone typo in first tweet in the thread!
Switched to computer and was like, ah, what. (My phone doesn't correct typos because I type in multiple languages so turned off, heh)2 replies 4 retweets 28 likesShow this thread -
Replying to @zeynep
SwiftKey does correction & prediction in multiple languages simultaneously
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
Thank you! I just don't feel comfortable adding any apps to my typing on my phone! I guess typos it is. :-D
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