I appreciate the rant!

The topic of my talk in London today was all about how you get people back on the same page in an age of disinformation. And I struggle with it, sometimes. How do you convey to people that "hey, these guys are proposing fascism" while also wrestling with the fact that political affiliation is increasingly bleeding into personal identity? How do you tell a better story than the conspiracy theorists, when they're not bound by truth or objective fact? "Ignore them," "don't give them oxygen," "keep doing what we're doing" — these are all really bad ideas given the momentum of these movements.

It's going to require a lot more credible actors all conspiring (transparently) to rebuild collective conversation. Even if I've got plenty of criticism of True North, you'll note I'm always a big booster of Andrew Lawton: Because I think he's reliably in favor of trying to have those conversations, to demystify the 'other side,' and break his listeners out of their media ecosystem. I'm more worried about the more hardened outlets, which demand exclusive loyalty.

On the upside, I think we're still in our internet growing pains. I don't think human beings like living in hell. They don't like distrusting their neighbors or constantly restocking the fresh water in their emergency bunker. I think, if we can hold back the tide of authoritarianism for a few more years, cooler heads may prevail. Hopefully.

Thanks for the link, by the way. I confess I'm not always a big fan of Reich (I understand the appeal, just not my cup of tea) but I quite liked that piece.