The Tedsan

@tedsan.bsky.social

627 Followers 2146 Following

Founder of Synth: The Journal of Synthetic Sentience. Probing the deepest question in AI and the nature of human thought. Philosophy of Mind. AI Ethics https://medium.com/synth-the-journal-of-synthetic-sentience

A photo looking down at my legs as seated in a tight airplane seat.
Op-ed It Is time to Leave Our Silos I sadly recall when hateful, divisive, political rhetoric was brought to the mainstream with the tirades of Rush Limbaugh in the 1980’s. His outrage, directed towards all things Liberal, triggered something dark in listeners - a primal hatred of their opponents. No longer did you “disagree” with people, instead he taught you to see them as subhuman and evil. As vermin to be eradicated. In 1987, Reagan repealed the Fairness Doctrine, which the FCC had used to require broadcasters to work in the public interest by providing a variety of viewpoints on issues. However, corporations knew this limited their ability to control the narratives. Many believe that repeal of the Fairness Doctrine allowed the partisan silos that broadcasters created and it is those same silos into which we are all now trapped. During the 1990’s, we saw further consolidation of broadcasters and publishers allowing a handful of corporations to control most of the media consumed by the public. They crafted narratives that their various outlets amplified, giving the illusion that everybody agreed. Outside their media bubble, they hired academics and politicians to write articles and op-eds to support whatever viewpoint the corporations desired. People gladly believed it because they heard the same thing from so many different sources. “Of course it was true!” people would think, as they retreated deeper into their silos. I know this from personal experience. My family was a victim of these propaganda machines. My mother listened to late night talk radio, often falling asleep to it as it shouted lies and messages of hate at her. In the morning, she watched her “news” programs, where TV personalities spoke authoritatively about the same topics - typically fabricated culture war issues. Sometimes, she’d receive newsletters in the mail, reinforcing the same stories. This continued, the cycles repeated, day after day, night after night. Year after year.
Two adorable dogs, one brown, one white, sitting outside looking in through the front door