Davka Daze

( surrealist dystopian art by Michael Kerbow) Much has been written about how the internet, and social media in particular, turns otherwise regular, and even decent, people into raging assholes, whether due to anonymity, distance, filters, algorithms, or some combination of factors. A lot has also been written about how our information environment and media ecosystems no longer provide knowledge or facts, let alone news, instead generating exploitable outrage that drives clicks, views, etc. A good amount has been written about our literacy crisis and how this has impacted not just younger generations, but even older ones, as different groups struggle with different aspects of reading, marketing, propaganda, alternative media, corporate news, and the intentional destruction of public education alongside the public respect for expertise and the Fourth Estate of traditional media. But, for me, I just wish that sometimes I knew less about the people from my real life when I see them online...

American fascism is getting worse and San Leandro still ain't ready . I'm here to help explain why that is and what you can do to change it. I'll cover basic media literacy, local news sources, and a few pro-tips. Let's start with how we got here: people just can't read good . To the point that over half of Americans can't read beyond a 6th grade level . Their attention spans are fried . They can't focus long enough to read past a misleading news headline, let alone long enough read a book. If they can read a book. And most people have become so polarized that they've positively calcified in their petty little bigotries. People have tempers shorter than the shoestrings holding this country together. Now, none of this should be surprising. We're seeing it everywhere, from our neighborhoods to our capital buildings. It was the entire reason that certain "politicians"  dismantled public education  over the past 40 years going back to the ...