Re: <nettime> What is the meaning of Trump's victory?

[sebastian@rolux.org]

> On Nov 14, 2016, at 11:41 PM, Molly Hankwitz <mollyhankwitz@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> "The battle, however, is extremely uphill. Not just because there
> will be a lot of damage done over the next couple of years by
> the victorious far right, but also because we swapped a media
> landscape that promoted the neo-liberal consensus (old media) with
> one that thrives on creating filter-bubbles or flame wars as modes of
> high-energy, manic engagements."
> 
> how is that swapping seen/done? - thriving on "filter-bubbles"
> -- you mean like creating niches which are an illusory state of
> "agreement" and therefore may obscure deeper disagreement ? or
> important sensibilitiy?


For a glimpse into the future of "news", take a look at the New Yorker's 
portrait of Mike Cernovich:

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/31/trolls-for-trump

Steve Bannon's appointment as "chief strategist" of the White House will cost 
Breitbart quite a bit of its "anti-establishment" cred, and there is a growing 
cottage industry of social media propaganda (with a largely untapped potential 
for automation) ready to fill the void. "Post-factual" is a euphemism.

Cernovich's motto is "Who cares about breast cancer or rape? Not me." Twitter 
and Facebook have zero problems "monetizing" this. Facebook has a board member 
who in 1995 argued that "a multicultural rape charge may indicate nothing more 
than belated regret," a guy who is completely fine with incendiary pseudo 
journalism, unless he himself becomes a target. In 2009, he declared clickbait 
gossip site Valleywag "the Silicon Valley equivalent of Al Qaeda." Then he used 
his Facebook fortunes to litigate its parent company into bankruptcy.

This is Peter Thiel. Now imagine him as White House media czar. The New York 
Times may still be too big of a target, but this guy is definitely ready for 
stepping up his game of disruption, now that misogyny rules, and "conflict of 
interest" is just one more concept smouldering on the "ash heap of history."



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