The year everything became political
Even the most trivial things have a political connotation...real or perceived.
Sree’s Sunday Note newsletter is produced w/ Zach Peterson (@zachprague). I took this photo while in an Uber going past the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which is now open again. I spent three magical years as Chief Digital Officer there.
Scroll down for Read Something; Watch Something; and a weekly tech tip from Robert S. Anthony (@newyorkbob).
TUNE IN: Sunday #NYTReadalong w/ Suzanne McCormick, US President of United Way Worldwide, guest hosted by Neil Parekh and the Daily Global Covid19 Show, 9 pm ET w/ Alexander Rossides, Founder and President of Social Impact Exchange.
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2020 was a year in which the simplest, easiest and most non-political of acts - wearing a mask - became political. Now the most political of acts, the selection of a Supreme Court Justice, has been injected into it.
Forty-four days from Election Day, Ruth Bader Ginsberg has died, and the president has promised to nominate someone to the Supreme Court — and Mitch McConnell will do everything he can to get this person confirmed in the Senate.
Police violence, mass protests, climate change-fueled fires in the west, hurricanes in the Gulf, and now a Supreme Court fight to replace one of the most important justices that will ever sit on the court.
It’s amazing to me that, amidst the litany of world-changing issues we face, some people not only refuse to wear masks, they flaunt it to the point of being outwardly abusive. Vox has a good roundup of mask politics and how we got here:
But, the politics of masks shows signs for optimism.
According to Pew Research, more people than ever say they wear masks at least in stores and other businesses — and the number has been trending upwards since the summer. Even among Republicans, mask-wearing has increased since June to 76% — and I think that number is probably (pleasantly) surprising to a lot of people.
I get the impression that the whole anti-mask crowd is punching well above its weight in terms of attention and coverage, and it makes me wonder what we have ahead of us over the next month and a half.
Polling for the president has remained shockingly consistent this year. The president has already said that he will nominate someone to replace Justice Ginsberg, and Mitch McConnell said that the nominee would get a vote on the Senate floor; this is in direct contradiction to what McConnel did in 2016 and it’s up to us to make sure it doesn’t happen.
After the abomination that was (and is) Brett Kavanaugh, it’s imperative that Ginsberg’s seat on the court be filled after the election — our republic depends on it.
- Sree
Read Something
The #BecauseOfCourse hashtag is applicable to an astounding amount of things at the moment, but the fact that Facebook’s internal system has encountered exactly the same issues the platform faces in the real world is sort of a chef’s kiss…a sad chef’s kiss.
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Tech Tips from @newyorkbob | TikTok & WeChat: Take a Time Out
Each week, veteran tech journalist Robert S. Anthony shares a tech tip you don’t want to miss. Follow him on @newyorkbob.
The sun rose today with good and bad news for US users of TikTok and WeChat, two globally popular mobile device apps based in China.
First the bad: After today you won’t be able to download WeChat from the Google or Apple app stores due to a ban set by the US Department of Commerce. Even if you have it installed, money transactions will cease to function.
TikTok, the darling of clever short-run video artists, was given a weeklong reprieve from US sanctions late Saturday so it can complete a deal in which Oracle, based in California, would host TikTok’s data operations in the US.
The Department of Commerce asserts the Chinese Communist Party could “…use these apps to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and the economy of the U.S.”
So, what should WeChat users do? Unless it’s a core app for what you do, take a time out, put it aside and use an alternate app. WeChat’s communication functions will still work, but you won’t get updates with the latest features and fixes and, importantly, security updates.
Yes, you could install WeChat by downloading it from independent app stores or websites and installing it manually, a process called sideloading, but this route opens the door to malware masquerading as WeChat.
Since TikTok and WeChat are mired in global politics and may face future bans or other scrutiny, it might be a good idea to install them on a backup or old phone, not your primary phone. (Use a WiFi connection if the old phone doesn’t have service.) No, it’s not a perfect solution, but this method protects your primary phone since aging software is an easier target for hackers.
Listen to Something
I’m a regular listener to “Stay Tuned” from Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara), especially over the last year or so in which his knowledge of the legal system has proven to be an invaluable resource. The discussion with Michael Sandel in this episode about meritocracy is worth it on its own, but the listener questions at the top of the episode are very informative on a number of burning legal questions surrounding the president. Listen here or on all major podcast platforms.
Watch Something
I had the honor of giving the inaugural Marshall R. Loeb Lecture on Digital Innovation at Stony Brook University School of Journalism this week. It’s named after the late American magazine editor (Fortune, Money, Columbia Journalism Review), one of the most influential of the 20th Century. Michael Loeb and his sister, Margaret, set up the series when they created the visiting professorship I hold that also bears their father’s name. The topic: “What Comes Next? Lessons on Digital Innovation Six Months into the Pandemic.” Please watch and share your feedback.
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Odds & Ends
🗞 Sundays are busy at Digimentors. 8:30-10:15 am ET, we read the print edition of the NYT out loud for you to watch live or later. 9-10 pm ET, we interview generally positive people to put some pep in our step as we go into the new week. Today’s videos:
Sunday #NYTReadalong w/ Suzanne McCormick, US President of United Way Worldwide, guest hosted by Neil Parekh
Daily Global Covid19 Show, 9 pm ET w/ Alexander Rossides, Founder and President of Social Impact Exchange.
The Readalong is followed Sundays 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).
The Sunday #NYTReadalong is sponsored by Muck Rack and Strategy Focused Group. 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!
📺 A reminder to watch my Daily Global Show. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll learn something every time. We’ve had 150+ shows and 280+ guests - and 1m+ viewers. Check out the archive and please subscribe to my YouTube channel. And/or sign up for my WhatsApp alerts list (it’s not your typical WhatsApp group, just a text when I’m live!). We are in partnership with Scroll.in, one of India’s best news and culture websites.
Recent highlights:
Sapphire, whose novel became Oscar-winning “Precious” (she’s newly on Twitter!)
Dr. Keiji Fukuda of HKU, former pandemics expert at WHO & CDC
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