The digital consequences of a real world crisis
This is what it's come to.
Sree’s newsletter is produced w/ Zach Peterson (@zachprague), who thinks we should hang this screenshot in the Louvre.
Scroll down for Read Something; Watch Something; a weekly tech tip from Robert S. Anthony (@newyorkbob), and much more.
TUNE IN: #NYTReadalong - Our guest this week is Julie Scelfo, former New York Times staff writer, journalist, author and justice advocate.
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What is there to say?
The fallout continues apace from the insurrection at the Capitol, and we’ve already reached the summit in the digital space, with Donald Trump’s permanent ban from Twitter, and indefinite bans from Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Snapchat, and Twitch.
Make no mistake, much of the destruction was done for a very specific online audience — this may be the Most Online™️ protest/riot I’ve ever seen — but more details are emerging that point to a very coordinated, and very precise mission for many of the people occupied the Capitol this week, to what end is anyone’s guess. Just look at the image on this Dan Kois piece. This is not a person looting the capital “for the ’gram” and spreading feces around. This is a person who had a very specific goal to accomplish that day, and had he done so, the country may well be a fundamentally different place right now.
Naturally, a bunch of people who are part-time public lecturers on the benefits of the free-market are crying “censorship” over all of this. Ironically, one of free market-thinking’s great successes is that private companies have the right to moderate their platforms.
The fact is that deplatforming these people absolutely works, and these companies are right to do it. Parler has been the platform of choice (or of necessity, depending on the circumstances) for right-wing agitators — listen to Kara Swisher’s interview with the CEO below — and that’s in trouble too. It’s been pulled from both the Apple and Google stores, and Amazon announced it will no longer provide hosting services for the site.
This is NOT censorship, this is NOT a violation of anyone’s First Amendment rights, and this is not a dangerous precedent. It’s a reasonable reaction from companies that were actually quite late to content moderation. Remember, the right to free speech does not mean the right to a platform. Also, remember that what I just wrote is something conservatives have been saying for decades — don’t let them off the hook, and don’t let them play the victim (their specialty).
Digital matters aside, there’s the inherent racism in the way the police deal with crowds. Seeing images of Capitol Police escorting the rioters down the stairs, rinsing the teargas from their eyes, etc, it was not only sickening, it was devastating. No matter how many times it happens — and it happens a lot — it’s heartbreaking to see a group that was at least 90% white treated with such apathy.
They were violently storming a joint session of Congress to certify the election and transfer of power to the newly-elected President. This wasn’t breaking windows at an Autozone. This was an insurrection. [I called it “Terrorism in DC” in an episode of my global show that night - see “Watch Something” below.]
- Sree
Read Something
Chances are that you’ve read close to everything there is to read about last week’s events, but you probably haven’t read anything from McSweeney’s. This is one of the most poignant pieces I’ve seen about the last four years, and it’s on a satire site. This is where we’re at.
Tech Tips w/ @NewYorkBob: Dark Times Spark Bright Ideas
By Robert S. Anthony
Each week, veteran tech journalist Robert S. Anthony shares a tech tip you don’t want to miss. Follow him on @newyorkbob.
As the last swear-word-enhanced hashtags for the year 2020 start to fade from social media, it’s a good time to take an optimistic look at some small entrepreneurs who managed to make lemonade out of a year that handed them not lemons, but deep-fried charcoal.
As the pandemic placed a stranglehold on the economy, opportunities for entrepreneurs to meet face-to-face with prospective investors faded quickly. However, crowdfunding, which has always been done on a remote basis, has remained an oasis for innovative, clever products even as entrepreneurs are stuck at home.
For example, many of us have suffered through video conferences where people fail to mute their microphones or talk for a while before realizing they’re muted. MuteMe, a hockey-puck-size, touch-sensitive mute button, shines bright red or green (or other programmable color) to let you—and those around you—know if you’re really muted or on the air.
The $29 MuteMe connects via a computer’s USB port and installs automatically, according to its inventors. One touch toggles your device’s microphone on or off. While MuteMe started with a $15,000 goal, the project has already raised more than $68,000 on crowdfunding site Kickstarter.
A simple solution to those bad-looking, up-the-nose video appearances is a stand that raises a laptop a few inches like the $25 Mantiz, which bills itself as the “world’s smallest folding pocket laptop stand.” The 5.6-ounce aluminum and copper alloy stand folds down small enough to fit into one hand but can hold a 17.3-inch laptop and support up to 6 lbs., according to the makers. Here again the inventors of Mantiz sought to raise just $5,000 on Kickstarter but have already surpassed $109,000 in crowdfunding.
With the virtual CES (formerly called the Consumer Electronics Show) ready to go live on Monday, successes like these offer hope for small companies and startups that might have taken space in the lower-rent CES startup zone. As the world rebounds from the pandemic, let’s hope 2021 turns out to be a rebound year for innovation.
Read Something Else
I saw a few stories this week about how students on TikTok were using the platform to note that the orders to shelter in place during the Capitol siege were something they were quite familiar with…because of school shootings. This is where we’re at.
Listen to Something
Sorry, John, but you most certainly had a direct role in all of this.
Watch Something
Our immediate reaction to monumental events is always the most real and visceral — and this was no different. My thanks to Mary C. Curtis, Prof. Khyati Joshi and Liza Donnelly for joining me in conversation hours after the attack.
Odds & Ends
🗞 Sunday #NYTReadalong w/ Julie Scelfo, former New York Times staff writer, journalist, author and justice advocate. She is the author “The Women Who Made New York.” Her motto, “Quit saying ‘fake news.’”
The Readalong is followed, on Sundays at 11 am-noon ET, by a new medical show I’m co-executive producing with surgeons Sujana Chandrasekhar, M.D. (@DrSujanaENT), and Marina Kurian, M.D. (@MarinaKurian), called She’s On Call (watch live or later).
After 250 episodes in 250 days, my global show has moved from daily episodes to 1-2 times a week. The best way to know when I’m on the air and see all my archived shows, is to subscribe to my YouTube channel or my Whatsapp alerts.
The Sunday #NYTReadalong is sponsored by Muck Rack. Interested in sponsorship opportunities? Email sree@digimentors.group and neil@digimentors.group.
🎧 Every Saturday, I host a call-in show on WBAI 99.5FM (@wbai) - "Coping with Covid19" - focused on being helpful, hopeful, and focusing on the pandemic's effects on society’s most vulnerable. Listen live Saturdays from 12-2pm EST, or later. And, of course, call in or tweet questions for us using the #wbaisree hashtag! Listen to this week’s episode here!
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