Is the US a dystopia?

also being engaged to a guy who worked for Vice.

https://dnyuz.com/2025/01/09/the-army-of-god-comes-out-of-the-shadows/

not necessarily limited to the US but a crypto 'prediction market' where people gamble on the extent of wildfires is pretty dystopic!

https://polymarket.com/event/how-many-acres-will-palisades-fire-burn-by-friday?tid=1736377893344

SOMEONE WORKING FOR THE CITY REACHED OUT TO OUR MUTUAL AID FOR MASKS I AM SCREAMING

— hard boiled megg (@badgalmeggy) January 9, 2025

I quit that platform so I can't read the comments but I love a mutual aid + local government partnership! Get it girl. That's power. When they know you can steward resources and connect with people better than they can, you can use that. Mwah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B19qb1Az94

Yeah every few Tiktok videos right now are someone sharing information about the Resnicks in some way! TT does so much work for people with these highly specific bodies of knowledge, allowing them to get their message out, and obv no one knows what the algos are doing on there but I've never been shown the breadth of content and people on any other platform. Not even close. There's been a steep increase in ads and shopping shit that you can scroll right past but is low-key annoying, but even with that change, the access to people and information is invaluable.

I quit that platform so I can't read the comments but I love a mutual aid + local government partnership! Get it girl. That's power. When they know you can steward resources and connect with people better than they can, you can use that. Mwah

on any other platform. Not even close

the www?

Youtube, Fb, IG, Twitter

> Why are those people still in the house???!

i wanna caption it THIS IS FINE

Sorry, sic, were you meaning to point out that the information that content creators bring to Tiktok could also be found online generally? Do you...have you used TT before? It's vastly different than looking things up when you already know that the thing exists and what search terms to use. The "for you" algorithm brings you stuff you would never think of or know about otherwise.

Not gonna happen but it'd be amazing if china managed to cause a proletariat revolution in America just by juicing the TikTok algorithm to build class solidarity.

it'd be amazing

otm

Not gonna happen

otm

China wants Americans buying stuff not having revolutions

the idea that any social media will do anything to harm the ruling classes is laughable.

I quit that platform so I can't read the comments but I love a mutual aid + local government partnership! Get it girl. That's power. When they know you can steward resources and connect with people better than they can, you can use that. Mwah

― Ima Gardener (in orbit), Friday, 10 January 2025 bookmarkflaglink

As things fall apart like this people will do what they can with what they have. So yes its good to see.

Headline in São Paulo this weekend : "The USA now has 135% more homeless people than Brazil" pic.twitter.com/s7esUwPkM9

— Vincent Bevins (@Vinncent) January 13, 2025

…

the idea that any social media will do anything to harm the ruling classes is laughable.

but broadsheets and cartoons and such were printed and published either by those sympathetic with the cause or by workers acting in a clandestine fashion. using a multibillion dollar social media platform with a board and staff that want to keep the gravy train going means that such companies first interest is in suppressing dissent against the current order of things. even if that means giving lip service to idea of freedom of speech etc, any attempts will be funneled toward monetization and pacification.

Yeah, social media in its early years showed significant capacity for grassroots organizing. Twitter in particular was crucial in uprisings in Iran and during the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall St. And yet somehow 15-ish years later, that capacity has eroded considerably as algorithms have prioritized revenue generation and those platforms' billionaire owners have reached an ideologically pro-authoritarian consensus.

Vincent Bevins’ latest book kind if gets into this a little, how social media has made dissent recuperable by the ruling classes.

Vincent Bevins’ latest book kind if gets into this a little, how social media has made dissent recuperable by the ruling classes.

This vibe has been hovering in retail for a while now though

https://gizmodo.com/walgreens-regrets-replacing-fridge-doors-with-smart-screens-creating-techno-dystopia-vibes-2000551286?fbclid=IwY2xjawH39XpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHazpwflidbQAG3IMTYdRtK4TRkTxK3BtmfAMLSshzQpzHQcx9prKdwDwMQ_aem_PjyMQspoxCW1S6negvg06Q

amazing

Instead of reliably displaying items that were in stock in the fridge, the screens reportedly regularly flickered, crashed, showed the wrong products, and occasionally caught on fire. (You know what *does* reliably show what is in stock without concerns of spontaneous combustion? Regular glass doors.)

While Walgreens and Cooler Screens went back and forth in court, with Walgreens fighting to exit their agreement early and remove the screens and the startup pushing back for breach of contract, Cooler Screens launched its own retribution campaign. According to Bloomberg, the company intentionally cut the feeds to screens located at more than 100 Walgreens locations, leaving them blacked out and forcing consumers to have to open every single door to try to find what they were looking for.

proud to have been an early complainer about this obviously terrible and dystopian innovation: Technological/practical "backward steps" we all just accept now

New leader begins term by letting white supremacist gang members out of prison. That must have been in a comic book at some point.

Lock thread imo

Create a contrary thread to collect proofs that the US isn't imo
Or is that still the Trump containment thread

y'all i just heard some bad news about my new falconry-based delivery service

Ventura County strawberry workers are harvesting in heavy smoke from the Hughes Fire. We remind workers their employers have to provide them with respirator masks if the AQI exceeds 150. Stay safe! #WeFeedYou pic.twitter.com/sOKXRiQGj6

— United Farm Workers (@UFWupdates) January 23, 2025

New leader begins term by letting white supremacist gang members out of prison. That must have been in a comic book at some point.

Wasn’t this in a Batman movie?

― sarahell

Yeah, I think the Joker did it.

This pisses me off, really, all of this... you know, "clowns are scary", "clowns are evil", I bought into this shit for so long, and no, no, that's not it. CLOWNS ARE QUEER. Clowns are super fucking queer. I mean, fucking... Harlequins. You think that shit's heterosexual? And this whole clowns as child predators, the same people get pissed at drag storytime.

The cis white men who create these superheroes... I mean Donald Trump has also been compared to Bane, by the cis white guy who created Bane and supports Trump. And that's fucked up. If you look at Bane's backstory, that's really disrespectful to Bane. Like that's racist AF.

I've been thinking about it and Donald Trump is actually worse than most supervillains. If I had to compare him to any villain it would probably be Koquillion from the Doctor Who story "The Rescue". That's not a very good comparison because nobody fucking knows that story. But that's the comparison I'd make.

And this whole clowns as child predators

isn't this specifically just re: john wayne gacy?

they want freezer doors at Walgreens to be giant LCD screens because then they can sell ads on them

my husband’s cost for medications went up by more than 400% overnight because of a Trump executive order.

That's awful table, sorry to hear.

fucking hell

wtaf

Things are getting real bad, real quick. I'm sorry this is happening to you and worry that it's going to be nonstop and escalating stuff like this for a long time.

my husband’s cost for medications went up by more than 400% overnight because of a Trump executive order.

― butt dumb tight my boners got boners (the table is the table), Friday, January 24, 2025 1:09 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Absolutely insane.

The Heritage Foundation is a terrorist organization.

Thanks all.

Sorry, table.

Jesus Christ table, I’m so sorry. That’s awful and incredibly scary.

I’m really sorry table. Fucking bullshit

fucking hell, tabes -- sorry

https://abc7chicago.com/post/us-immigration-customs-enforcement-agents-denied-entry-hamline-elementary-school-back-yards-cps-officials/15833738/

Not even sure where to post this fucking bullshit

Does this go here?

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5105368-mississippi-bill-would-pay-bounty-hunters-to-catch-undocumented-immigrants/