Fediverse vs Disinformation
Pointing out, debunking, and spreading awareness about state- and company-sponsored astroturfing on Lemmy and elsewhere. This includes social media manipulation, propaganda, and disinformation campaigns, among others.
Propaganda and disinformation are a big problem on the internet, and the Fediverse is no exception.
What's the difference between misinformation and disinformation? The inadvertent spread of false information is misinformation. Disinformation is the intentional spread of falsehoods.
By equipping yourself with knowledge of current disinformation campaigns by state actors, corporations and their cheerleaders, you will be better able to identify, report and (hopefully) remove content matching known disinformation campaigns.
Community rules
Same as instance rules, plus:
- No disinformation
- Posts must be relevant to the topic of astroturfing, propaganda and/or disinformation
Related websites
- EU vs Disinfo
- FactCheck.org
- PolitiFact
- Snopes
- Media Bias / Fact Check
- PEN America
- Media Matters
- FAIR
Matrix chat links
I think the thesis here (and backed up by the site linked in the first paragraph), is that Black women, after consistently showing up for progressive causes and democracy, are being encouraged to prioritize self-care at the moment, to avoid burning themselves out.
I take no stand on whether that's a "good reason," (I have no right) but that's my reductive summary of the piece anyway.
You absolutely have a right to take a stand as to that summary. That summary is a summary of an incredibly stupid point of view, and I think it is fair to say so, whatever the race of the person who is supposedly holding it.
You should always prioritize self-care to the extent that you need to. That's a given. That is actually, as far as I can tell, the point of the Essence article, which to me (unlike this article) makes perfect sense: Definitely not that they should not protest right now or anything, because doing so would be a favor to a bunch of people who haven't earned in who now need to go on the back burner or something, but that black women just like anybody need to find ways to keep things moving forward, and also find ways to take care of themselves while they do it and make sure they're doing that.
The idea that that means "sitting out" the protests now until the next horrifying thing starts happening to them because of what Trump is putting into action, once it is maybe too late to stop it, is bonkers.
Here's an excerpt:
Some observers think these protests are more effective than the ones associated with the first Trump administration, namely the 2017 “Women’s March” and the 2020 BLM protests. The main difference seems to be that the earlier iterations had the words women and Black in them, while these are focusing on democracy. The implication is that the earlier protests problematically emphasized identity over democracy
This is just fucking gibberish. The BLM protests accomplished a ton of good progress. No one I know outside of MAGA people who are cloaking what they really think, tries to say that they were "problematic" or "emphasized identity." Who are these observers who think that the current round of protests has accomplished more than BLM, or has this particular crazypants diagnosis for why? They are not named. That reference to nebulous "observers" who apparently hold some nonsensical but convenient point of view, so that the supposed view can be repeated and given some authority without the author needing to defend it, is actually a key example of why I felt like I needed to post this article in this community.
"I have no right" is very weak and sheepish. Oof.
That's fitting, since I am in fact weak and sheepish.
Good luck with that
She gave up because Harris lost, and is "unmoved" by what's going on.
The entire op ed is saying she just doesn't care. That's not the "good reason" she seems to think it is.
No it isn't. For the benefit of anyone not intentionally being cold and maybe just having some trouble putting themselves in others' shoes, I'll go on.
I'm not from the US, but I completely understand the extreme hurt, alienation, and disillusionment described here. I've felt it myself too, from here in Canada. The sense that an entire country might as well have just rejected you personally, with the rise of all those "anti-woke" campaigns and--despite what it should have meant for them-- seeing white women and other people of colour willingly vote in increased numbers (within their respective demographics) for patriarchal white nationalists (along with the poor and middle class once again voting for the least favourable party toward their interests).
That kind of added alienation (because there is always some background alienation to start with, especially for black women) within a land that should feel like your own home, and from people you thought should theoretically have your back? It makes you feel unsafe. It makes you feel like a scapegoat on top of that, when you start hearing talk from DNC people about how they have to stop caring about equality so much. The question arises of whether anyone-- as a matter of principle-- truly cares about justice for you, when you always cared about it for them.
I don't know how long it will take, but for a lot of people, all the hope that was crushed will have to be replenished.
If you’ve been caring and fighting for years and constantly being shit on I don’t blame them for checking out on a country that clearly doesn’t want to be better.
After Trump won, all the "inflation is a super big deal, a lot of people are blaming Biden" and "Gaza is super important, everyone's protesting and blaming ~~Biden~~ Harris" stuff completely exited from the American media. No one in America cares about inflation or Gaza anymore, I guess. Everything was kind of quiet for a while, and now I've noticed a little trickle of "here's why all the cool kids are not protesting" starting to come into vogue. This one isn't the first.
If you pay attention, you can pick out which stories don't really make sense or have a reason to get created in the way that they are from someone who was just trying to report on reality, and the ones that stick out always serve one and only one side of the narrative.