this is just SO GOOD, thank you. i haven't listened to or watched the news since i saw Rachel Maddow's facial expression change in a way that portended doom at about 10:30pm on 11/5. The break is real and it's necessary for mental health, and it's given me time to figure out where I want to volunteer my time (WFP), where I want to unplug (house dance classes???), and how I'm going to get by—my local community of actual humans.
oh this is fabulous and inspiring and another reminder that we all can and will do this together. cheers to you!! and i'll keep an eye on the internet too (for better or worse 🥴)
I keep thinking about what Derek Thompson said in his Plain English podcast, and I'm paraphrasing: we are not in an era where people have lost trust. Trust has just shifted. Shifted from trust in institutions to trust in individuals.
I think this has a lot to do with what happened. We no longer trust scientists to tell us science, but individuals on social media to tell us what is science. Many of whom are not scientists. Or RFK Jr. telling us how to be healthy when he has no actual training in health, medicine, or nutrition. We are trusting the wrong sources.
My heart broke when I heard that young people in Ukraine were hoping for Trump to win because he said he would end the war quickly.
"trust the wrong sources": yes. that's exactly it!! thank you!!! and it's not just that the sources are wrong: there feels like there are too many and it's a lot to work to go through them, which plays into (online) life right now demanding so much of us. so, you turn on your lizard brain, opting for whatever made you laugh versus thinking more critically. push that easy button!! sigh. we will figure it out together!! we have to!!! 🩶
I liked the first section quite a bit. I didn't agree with everything -- for example, I think brat summer was widely recognized as over for Kamala by September. Also, she could have done more campaigning online (more podcasts, etc.). As for the church, of course it is right-coded, but (as you may see if you read my piece The American Holy Wars), the dynamic has changed: it is now the church that relies on Trump not the other way around. The Trump movement did have a common enemy though: the liberal media. And I definitely agree that offline community is pointless without goals, even nebulous ones like Heaven. Going to 12 step meetings, I know that a common purpose is essential. Great stuff.
Also, since I know you are on the right side of history with Gaza, let me say that the bright side of this failure is that more and more people are realizing politicians can't do it for us: we can. This might mean mutual aid, a new political party, revolution etc. Blue MAGA might whither but it's our time to roar.
that’s exactly it: our time to roar. like the vibe shift has ARRIVED and it’s time to stop, say, looking at things and be a part of things. i think that’s what i’m sort of feeling: the internet in so many ways divorced us from normal behavior, which is a rough when we still live under the long shadow of clicktivism. it plays into the bigger tech-wont-save us thing, which we all know but somehow it’s hard to square with our very online lives. (to the point of the pieces flaw: both sides are very online. but the price of milk thing is a very real offline thing — and one side spoke to that tangibility better than the other, whether that promise comes true or not.) now we move into the next realm: delulutok and our scrambling to move forward. and thank you for the tip on your piece: will peep it!!
forgive me if ive misunderstood bc i think the narrative is a little back and forth throughout your piece. but the internet is real, we are just all on different algorithms. the winning party was extremely online and lauded for its digital strategy. i dont know that they have firmer roots offline than anyone else. i dont see trump the oligarch as someone who knows intuitively how to galvanize offline - he's the most prolific twitter poster of all time.
the 'how we all get better' part is certainly offline. im confused that theres a binary presented here that democrats were too online and not engaging irl where the republicans were.
i can agree it's back and forth and that...it's quite a complicated situation 😵💫 i think what i'm feeling (trying to articulate, etc.) is that the "marketing" or "doing social" as it relates to a conversion of ideas, customers, etc. requires taking action and thinking differently in real life, by speaking with and to an audience, be they super specific or super small. if we think about, say, "brat" versus the manosphere (Logan Paul, Joe Rogan, Theo Von), we have some clues: its the difference between applauding online posts online versus seeing something online, getting up, and talking to people about it, online and not, on the radio and not, on the TV and not, in church and not. that's the difference, as Trump As Entertainer™ is talked about by everyone online and off — be it his tweets or his trash stunt — while "kamala is brat" only exists in the online eco-system, failing to translate to real life because it's a subculture instead of everyday, irl culture (groceries, immigrants, soccer teams, etc.). so many of the (fun, cute, sharp, etc.) digital efforts by the left just didn't convert — and they repeated social playbooks that are expired in a "post" covid world. captured a part of the online zeitgeist, sure, but what else? if that was sending a message to Gen Z, it really resonated with coastal / city groups — and it maybe ended there. anyway! the internet doesn't matter if there's no grass to touch anymore 😭 but we'll figure it out together!!!!!! thank you for your thoughtfulness, Grace!!!!
got it. ironically, i do feel this summation is something that prob feels more overt or important to folks who experienced the election through a screen and not on the ground in USA. 🤓 i dont know where ur from though but moreso it feels like an articulation ive seen from folks overseas. i think people get hung up on that 'brat' blip of the kamala campaign because there was quite literally no platform presented, no singular vision for her policy or leadership approach given the pain the american people are in... so we are here talking about memes instead of what should have followed; an actual response to the suffering people are going through. its like if, hypothetically, we were talking about one thing duolingo posted once, but then they never had the app or product to go along with it...... it was marketing without a product (the actual policy.)
Still, great analysis and thank you for thinking outloud!! Love your newsletter!
Beyond the election though, this rings so true. Getting offline and doing things in real life with real people is kinda the cureall for our collective shitty mental/physical health, right? And I reckon it'll be accelerated as GenAI really amps up, because why bother spending time just chit-chatting and taking my opinion cues from paid bots? The internet is now enshittified, and while I believe we can make it better, we kinda need to make ourselves better offline first.
"close your computer, put away your phone, turn off your television, and walk somewhere." - yes yes yes
TIME TO GET SOCIAL!! (not social media though)
Exactly
I feel like the back half of this post beautifully articulated exactly how I’ve been feeling. Loved this read!
oh good katerine!!! we are...getting through it and we're going to do what we can with what we got 🫶
Thank you for this
🫶
this is just SO GOOD, thank you. i haven't listened to or watched the news since i saw Rachel Maddow's facial expression change in a way that portended doom at about 10:30pm on 11/5. The break is real and it's necessary for mental health, and it's given me time to figure out where I want to volunteer my time (WFP), where I want to unplug (house dance classes???), and how I'm going to get by—my local community of actual humans.
oh this is fabulous and inspiring and another reminder that we all can and will do this together. cheers to you!! and i'll keep an eye on the internet too (for better or worse 🥴)
I keep thinking about what Derek Thompson said in his Plain English podcast, and I'm paraphrasing: we are not in an era where people have lost trust. Trust has just shifted. Shifted from trust in institutions to trust in individuals.
I think this has a lot to do with what happened. We no longer trust scientists to tell us science, but individuals on social media to tell us what is science. Many of whom are not scientists. Or RFK Jr. telling us how to be healthy when he has no actual training in health, medicine, or nutrition. We are trusting the wrong sources.
My heart broke when I heard that young people in Ukraine were hoping for Trump to win because he said he would end the war quickly.
"trust the wrong sources": yes. that's exactly it!! thank you!!! and it's not just that the sources are wrong: there feels like there are too many and it's a lot to work to go through them, which plays into (online) life right now demanding so much of us. so, you turn on your lizard brain, opting for whatever made you laugh versus thinking more critically. push that easy button!! sigh. we will figure it out together!! we have to!!! 🩶
I liked the first section quite a bit. I didn't agree with everything -- for example, I think brat summer was widely recognized as over for Kamala by September. Also, she could have done more campaigning online (more podcasts, etc.). As for the church, of course it is right-coded, but (as you may see if you read my piece The American Holy Wars), the dynamic has changed: it is now the church that relies on Trump not the other way around. The Trump movement did have a common enemy though: the liberal media. And I definitely agree that offline community is pointless without goals, even nebulous ones like Heaven. Going to 12 step meetings, I know that a common purpose is essential. Great stuff.
Also, since I know you are on the right side of history with Gaza, let me say that the bright side of this failure is that more and more people are realizing politicians can't do it for us: we can. This might mean mutual aid, a new political party, revolution etc. Blue MAGA might whither but it's our time to roar.
that’s exactly it: our time to roar. like the vibe shift has ARRIVED and it’s time to stop, say, looking at things and be a part of things. i think that’s what i’m sort of feeling: the internet in so many ways divorced us from normal behavior, which is a rough when we still live under the long shadow of clicktivism. it plays into the bigger tech-wont-save us thing, which we all know but somehow it’s hard to square with our very online lives. (to the point of the pieces flaw: both sides are very online. but the price of milk thing is a very real offline thing — and one side spoke to that tangibility better than the other, whether that promise comes true or not.) now we move into the next realm: delulutok and our scrambling to move forward. and thank you for the tip on your piece: will peep it!!
forgive me if ive misunderstood bc i think the narrative is a little back and forth throughout your piece. but the internet is real, we are just all on different algorithms. the winning party was extremely online and lauded for its digital strategy. i dont know that they have firmer roots offline than anyone else. i dont see trump the oligarch as someone who knows intuitively how to galvanize offline - he's the most prolific twitter poster of all time.
the 'how we all get better' part is certainly offline. im confused that theres a binary presented here that democrats were too online and not engaging irl where the republicans were.
i can agree it's back and forth and that...it's quite a complicated situation 😵💫 i think what i'm feeling (trying to articulate, etc.) is that the "marketing" or "doing social" as it relates to a conversion of ideas, customers, etc. requires taking action and thinking differently in real life, by speaking with and to an audience, be they super specific or super small. if we think about, say, "brat" versus the manosphere (Logan Paul, Joe Rogan, Theo Von), we have some clues: its the difference between applauding online posts online versus seeing something online, getting up, and talking to people about it, online and not, on the radio and not, on the TV and not, in church and not. that's the difference, as Trump As Entertainer™ is talked about by everyone online and off — be it his tweets or his trash stunt — while "kamala is brat" only exists in the online eco-system, failing to translate to real life because it's a subculture instead of everyday, irl culture (groceries, immigrants, soccer teams, etc.). so many of the (fun, cute, sharp, etc.) digital efforts by the left just didn't convert — and they repeated social playbooks that are expired in a "post" covid world. captured a part of the online zeitgeist, sure, but what else? if that was sending a message to Gen Z, it really resonated with coastal / city groups — and it maybe ended there. anyway! the internet doesn't matter if there's no grass to touch anymore 😭 but we'll figure it out together!!!!!! thank you for your thoughtfulness, Grace!!!!
got it. ironically, i do feel this summation is something that prob feels more overt or important to folks who experienced the election through a screen and not on the ground in USA. 🤓 i dont know where ur from though but moreso it feels like an articulation ive seen from folks overseas. i think people get hung up on that 'brat' blip of the kamala campaign because there was quite literally no platform presented, no singular vision for her policy or leadership approach given the pain the american people are in... so we are here talking about memes instead of what should have followed; an actual response to the suffering people are going through. its like if, hypothetically, we were talking about one thing duolingo posted once, but then they never had the app or product to go along with it...... it was marketing without a product (the actual policy.)
Still, great analysis and thank you for thinking outloud!! Love your newsletter!
Beyond the election though, this rings so true. Getting offline and doing things in real life with real people is kinda the cureall for our collective shitty mental/physical health, right? And I reckon it'll be accelerated as GenAI really amps up, because why bother spending time just chit-chatting and taking my opinion cues from paid bots? The internet is now enshittified, and while I believe we can make it better, we kinda need to make ourselves better offline first.