@isotope239@mastodon.online
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isotope239

@isotope239@mastodon.online

I'm an irritated academic who is increasingly dismayed by the general lack of critical thinking skills displayed by the general public in the United States.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

flexghost, to random
@flexghost@mastodon.social avatar

Thoughts and prayers

🇺🇸

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@happycoyote12 @flexghost

isotope239, to internet
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

Thom Hartmann really nails the heart of the problem with corporate social media: https://open.substack.com/pub/thomhartmann/p/what-americans-and-the-media-are-df1?r=1rtvr5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

I did a very small test of my own. I opened an account on Threads and, for a few days, would switch back and forth between Threads and Mastodon. Compared side by side, it is unnerving how 'The Algorithm' in Threads continually presses your rage button while Mastodon does not.

#SocialMedia

isotope239, to random
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

I was having a coffee and reading the Sunday paper (Albuquerque Journal) and noting how many of the front section articles are provided by journalists from https://muckrack.com/media-outlet/insidesources The managing editor for Insidesources.com appears to be this guy: https://dcjournal.com/author/michaelgraham/ It looks like this Wikipedia entry is the same guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Graham_(radio_personality)

If I'm correct, the ABQ Journal has been enshittified and now presents extremist right-wing propaganda as genuine news, it's depressing.

#FakeNews

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@Lizette603_23 Oh I have, I've been noticing this enshittification for at least a year but just thought to mention it today. It's more insidious than the 'pink slime' phenomenon (https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/pink-slime-journalism-and-a-history-of-media-manipulation-in-america.php) because the ABQ Journal used to be a reputable newspaper. I actually have a boilerplate complaint letter that I submit almost daily but all I get in return is.... crickets.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@Lizette603_23 Interesting idea, I'll think about who to contact. These days, the right-wing disinformation machine has infiltrated a huge number of formerly reliable media companies. It's very disturbing.

purplepadma, to random
@purplepadma@beige.party avatar

I’ve just finished listening to Demon Copperhead. It’s taken me weeks as I only really listen to audiobooks when I’m cooking or cleaning. The guy who performed it did an excellent job. It’s not an easy read, in fact it’s pretty harrowing in parts, and definitely one to avoid if you find stuff about addiction triggering. But so rewarding. I can’t remember the last time I cared about a fictional character as much as I cared about young Demon

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@purplepadma Any time you pick up a Kingsolver novel you know that you're going to be both challenged and entertained. She is a terrific writer.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@purplepadma I'll betcha it's not going to be the last time! 😉

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

What's a good movie to watch with your Mom?

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@RickiTarr My mom isn't around any more, but when she was we loved to watch the 1939 movie version of 'Wuthering Heights' together. Terribly romantic and tragic, we'd go through a box of tissues between us!

StillIRise1963, to random
@StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

Yes, I take it personally when you say you won't vote, or vote for the Dem. Why? Because among other things, the fascists tried to commit a Black GENOCIDE during the pandemic. Your actions or inaction will give them the power to do it again in some other way. My survival depends on them NOT gaining power. So does yours.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@StillIRise1963 I'm voting Dem for that reason and many others. I'm also writing postcards as fast as my pen will scrawl to try to get as many others to do the same as I can. And I'm donating blue as much as I can afford to help down-tickets candidates rout any red rivals. Vote as if your life depends on it... because it does.

StillIRise1963, (edited ) to random
@StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

"All because he knew the virus disproportionately killed Black and brown people and he was willing to let human beings die just to win the election."

"If that’s not racial mass slaughter, aka genocide at a Serbian war crimes level, then the phrase has lost much of its meaning."

GENOCIDAL MANIACS AT HOME

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-kushner/

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@StillIRise1963 I read this analysis by Hartmann yesterday. As usual, he hits the nail on the head. Looking back on it, it seems obvious, along with the deliberate disinformation intended to mislead the public into thinking there were effective alternatives to getting vaccinated. They allowed Covid to commit the genocide for them.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

I watch y'all in the comments of my posts connecting with and comforting each other, and it warms my heart. Mastodon isn't a perfect place, but the humanity I see here makes me proud to be a part of it. The world needs more of this.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@RickiTarr Yes, this is a (mostly) kindly part of the fedi. I think a lot of the folks who follow your posts are drawn by that kindliness. It doesn't mean that we can't disagree or debate from time to time, just that many of us here prefer to be courteous rather than pulling the rage lever you find so often in corporate social media.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Who wrote this, a CAT?!

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@RickiTarr Obviously it was a cat! 🐈 I've been owned by cats for most of my life and was never in any doubt who was in charge. Hint: it wasn't me!

isotope239, to random
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

A sign in the back window of a car ahead of me at the traffic lights just now: 'If it's got tits or tires, it's gonna cause trouble'. <sigh> And these incels keep whining that they can't find someone to date. Clue one, Bubba, get rid of that sign.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Writing Prompt:

Write the saddest sentence you can think of.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@RickiTarr I found this in one of my mom's journal notebooks, it's one of the last things she wrote in it:

'Dying is a lonely business'.

arisummerland, to random
@arisummerland@mstdn.social avatar

I almost died out there yesterday because somebody needed chicken fingers RIGHT THE HELL NOW.

This big pickup crossed two travel lanes from the left then stopped sideways in front of me when they couldn't get into the right turn lane bc other cars were in it.

Glad my habits of careful driving and paying attention on the road paid off.

I drive with the assumption that everyone else is likely to do spectacularly stupid things, and, well, someone did.

It could have been really bad. ☹️

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@arisummerland A similar thing happened to me just two weeks ago. I was sitting at a traffic light about a car length away from the car in front of me when a bozo in a big pickup to my right decided to cross over in front of me to the turn lane on the far left. I had no room to back up so I just had to hope he wasn't going to drag off my front grill. How hard would it have been for him to have taken the right turn, turned around and come through the traffic light normally? Jeez!

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@arisummerland I agree 💯 !!! Even beyond that, I don't understand why drivers today can't just go with the flow and move with the traffic even if they need to take another route. They probably wouldn't have to go more than 5 minutes from their intended route. There is a distinct (and dangerous) lack of critical thinking now.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@fmhilton @thepoliticalcat @arisummerland I'm also still isolating, masking, and got the latest vax a couple of weeks ago. I travel a lot for work and I'm not terrified, more like grimly determined. For me anyway, the key is never let your guard down, stick to the routine and keep the mask on your face. I avoid eating or drinking in a public space, getting room service or sitting outdoors etc., we know what precautions to take now, just don't get lulled into a false sense of security.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@fmhilton @thepoliticalcat @arisummerland Horribly enough, I think the vast majority of people (at least in the US) just aren't paying attention. I 💯 agree with you about the corporate interests; taking precautions, from their point of view, is an unnecessary expense that doesn't go in their shareholder's pockets. Those million (probably more) deaths are just abstract collateral damage in their pursuit of profit.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@thepoliticalcat @fmhilton @arisummerland The very worst I've had so far was a few months ago when I was at the ophthalmologist's office. I was standing outside the door when a bubba strolled by and said to me: 'You'd look a lot prettier without that ugly mask on, honey. Then we could all see your perty smile.' Yugh, two nasty thoughts rolled together, what a major anal pore.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@thepoliticalcat @fmhilton @arisummerland Poor woman, she must have been suffering from a severe case of cranio-rectumitis thus causing the oxygen to her brain to be cut off. Terrible disease and it really seems to be going around...

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@thepoliticalcat 😁 @fmhilton @arisummerland

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@fmhilton @arisummerland @cavyherd @thepoliticalcat I travel a lot and admit to using some aide-mémoire tricks when putting a trip together. My go-to is Tripcase (freebie); it lets me put trains, planes, hotels, events all together in a timeline plus you can get alerts on your phone if something changes. I can't speak for anyone else, but I strongly prefer traveling on my own. It's got its pros and cons, I just find it less irritating than traveling with others.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@fmhilton @arisummerland @cavyherd @thepoliticalcat Oh you have to give your credit cards a little exercise from time to time, it's good for them! 🙃

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@fmhilton @cavyherd @arisummerland @thepoliticalcat This is exactly what puzzles me about the whole 'trad wife' business that the xtian nationalists are pushing so hard. It's important that you yourself have control of your own finances rather than depending on your partner. I can understand a certain amount of mixing between a couple, but the woman needs to have control of her own money.

Free_Press, to news
@Free_Press@mstdn.social avatar

Netanyahu vows to defy President Biden’s ‘red line’ on Rafah
#AureFreePress #News #press #headline #Israel #gaza #Hamas

https://www.politico.eu/article/israels-netanyahu-says-he-will-defy-bidens-red-line-and-invade-rafah/

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@thepoliticalcat @Free_Press I've been saying variations of that for years. The Israelis just need to deep six Netanyahu for good.

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