10 Comments

So, Mr. Jared, How long will it be before Substack and every other platform relied on by the "Opposition" becomes unusable due to economic pressure (e.g. being 'bought'), censorship, or simply being overrun by screaming, unfettered maga trolls and bots?

And then what do we do?

Expand full comment

Apologies for rhetorical questions -- I don't expect answers -- but hey, if you got any . . . ;-)

Expand full comment

Organize now. While you can. The networks have to be decentralized.

Expand full comment

I'm only on BlueSky now. That's my only social media. I deleted my X and Meta accounts. It's hard, because I'm a disabled senior and don't get out as much as I'd like. I've cut back on following the news quite a bit. Like JRay, I'm wondering when they'll come after sites like this one. I think it's inevitable. Fascists don't tolerate anyone criticizing them. This is 1984 on steroids.

Expand full comment

Steroids, meth, and Molly. All at once.

Expand full comment

It’s always been clear who Zuck was. Go back and revisit the movie The Social Network and that will tell you all you need to know. I think we now find ourselves in absolutely uncharted waters, and there are sharks aplenty. And there aren’t many who are looking out for those of us on the lower end of the socioeconomic ladder. All I can hope for is that I can survive the next four years and hope and pray a better world will ultimately come along.

Expand full comment

Jared, thank you for your clarity and insight during such a time of turbulence and upheaval. I am finding it invaluable, especially the way you put it in historical context. We need your voice!!! Thank you!

Expand full comment

Had an inkling so I did some searching and it appears that as the capitalism parasite (as Jared aptly puts it) jumps from the US to BRICS, Meta is hitching a ride. Turns out India has the most Facebook and Instagram users, far above the US, and Brazil has the most Threads users. And although China bans Meta's social media platforms internally, it is a significantly lucrative advertiser on them, plus it made up 10% of Meta's sales in 2023 after having had no presence there for over a decade. (Waiting on the inevitable make-nice reconciliation with Russia.) Zuck and the other tech oligarchs now have continents full of eager customers who are happy to fill any void if we leave, with the added bonus of fewer or no pesky democracy regulations and other constraints to interfere especially as they race to attain their ultimate goal of worldwide AI dominance. As for us and how we communicate, a new underground it is.

Expand full comment

"You do not need a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing." Bob Dylan.

"It was a reading of the wind. It was the revealing of who Zuckerberg actually is." Jared Yates Sexton.

Spot on, again Jared. Make people follow the propaganda while stealing their wallet.

The tobacco industry put filters on cigarettes to make them "safer" while creating and selling propaganda about tobacco "safety" as they spiked their smokes with nicotine.

My thoughts about the weather and George Carlin predicting the weather:

https://open.substack.com/pub/rbdgeologist1/p/a-few-thoughts-from-a-geologist-69e?r=48rfsc&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

Expand full comment

First, the oligarchs poisoned our external environments, the water, the land, and the air. Now, they have found ways to poison our intellects. Eat them.

Expand full comment