#1658 Pileup on the Information Superhighway: Information Dispensation in the Age of Deep Doubt

Air Date 9/27/2024 Let's just say that it's not a coincidence that right-wing authoritarians are on the rise at the same time as people around the world are having a harder time than ever figuring out what's true. That said, society is beginning to fight back. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email [email protected] Full Show Notes | Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Join our Discord community! KEY POINTS KP 1: https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-project-2025-will-lay-groundwork-for-second-term KP 2: NBC's Jacob Ward: How Technology Shapes Our Thinking and Decisions Part 1 - Commonwealth Club World Affairs (CCWA) - Air Date 1-31-22 KP 3: Streaming is Changing Politics...Is That A Good Thing? - Wisecrack - Air Date 9-20-24 KP 4: YouTube and the Death of Media Literacy - Zoe Bee - Air Date 9-2-24 KP 5: A Citizen's Guide to Disinformation - TechTank - Air Date 9-3-24 KP 6: Enshittification Part 3: Saving The Internet - On the Media - Air Date 5-19-23 (45:53) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR On bad media diets and brain worms Article: Welcome to the Era of ‘Deep Doubt’ DEEPER DIVES (54:23) SECTION A: SOCIAL MISINFORMATION (1:23:18) SECTION B: LIVE BY THE ALGORITHM (1:55:54) SECTION C: SOLUTIONS MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions) SHOW IMAGE CREDITS Description: Graphic of two profiles back to back, one red, one blue. A white question mark is in the middle. Credit: “face-question mark-disoriented” by geralt| License: Pixabay   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com

Introducing Bali, Under The Influence from Peak Travel.Follow the show: Peak Travel Social media has turned Bali’s shrines and temples into a playground for disrespectful tourists, but residents are fighting to preserve the island’s integrity.  DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to [email protected].

Air Date 9/24/2024 The positive dad vibes of Tim Walz came onto the national scene in the middle of an ongoing crisis of masculinity that stretches from the youngest generations to the oldest. Both positive and negative aspects of masculinity tie in with the general election, basically divided right down the partisan line, and the next generation of voters (not to mention humans) are often feeling stuck between the two with insufficient guidance from the men in their lives. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email [email protected] Full Show Notes | Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Join our Discord community! KEY POINTS KP 1: Tim Walz is The Perfect Model of Masculinity Which Contrasts Weird, Blowhard JD Vance - Hysteria - Air Date 8-15-24 KP 2: Are Men Okay – SOME MORE NEWS - Air Date 5-22-24 KP 3: Dating Amid Gender Differences in Politics - The Brian Lehrer Show - Air Date 7-30-24 KP 4: “BoyMom” Author Looks at Raising Sons in an Age of “Impossible Masculinity” - Amanpour and Company - Air Date 7-9-24 KP 5: We Love Some BDE Part 2 - Big Dad Energy - Dear Old Dads - Air Date 8-23-24 KP 6: Rethinking Boyhood What Moms Should Know (with Guest Ruth Whippman) - What Fresh Hell Podcast - Air Date 6-17-24 KP 7: That's My Gus Walz - Dear Old Dads - Air Date 8-30-24 KP 8: “BoyMom” Author Looks at Raising Sons in an Age of “Impossible Masculinity” Part 2 - Amanpour and Company - Air Date 7-9-24 (54:39) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR On the 3 top takeaways on and for boys and men Article: CONSIDER THE BOOR DEEPER DIVES (1:00:56) SECTION A: TIM WALZ (1:17:49) SECTION B: JD VANCE BRANDED MASCULINITY (1:41:18) SECTION C: THE FALL OUT OF STOICISM (1:46:43) SECTION D: DATING LIFE (2:07:48) SECTION E: SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT SHOW IMAGE CREDIT Description: Image of a man in a flannel shirt in free fall against a gray cloud background. Credit: “man-fall” by Pexels | License: Pixabay   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com

BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Hear the Full Show, Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Air Date: 9-23-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - Musk's latest - J.D. Vance's war on truth and brown people - The super villains who spread lies - Sane Washing Trump - Correcting the Left - Right-wing lies as a matter of course REFERENCES: Musk Claims ‘Joke’ About Assassinating Harris Was Funnier in Person J.D. Vance’s War on American Life Starts in Springfield JD Vance Thinks He Can Sell His Nationalism With Cat Memes J.D. Vance’s Admission Shouldn’t Shock You—They’ve Done This for Years How the Media Sanitizes Trump’s Insanity Trump Has Not Been ‘Sane-Washed’ The Sound of One MAGA Attacking (Retracted) “He’s one of us”: Trump defends political violence against the press, while the press remains silent Man arrested at Trump rally in Pa. wanted to hang a protest banner, police say How Right-Wingers Manufacture Scandal   Join our Discord Server Leave a message at 202-999-3991 Produced by: Jay! Tomlinson Thanks for listening! Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Follow at Twitter.com/BestOfTheLeft Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft  Contact me directly at [email protected]  Review the show on Apple Podcasts!

Original Air Date: 3/21/2023 Today, we take a look at how GOP-controlled states are subverting democracy with a form of "competitive autocracy" and some of the horrifying legislation these states then pass after they are no longer subject to the opinions of the general public. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email [email protected] BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Get AD FREE Shows and Bonus Content) Join our Discord community! SHOW NOTES Ch. 1: The Autocratic Nightmare of State Republicans (David Pepper Interview) - The David Pakman Show - Air Date 2-5-22 Ch. 2: Republicans Are Staging A Legislative Coup - More Perfect Union - Air Date 1-5-22 Ch. 3: Laboratories of Autocracy – David Pepper – It’s the States, Stupid! - The Al Franken Podcast - Air Date 10-29-22  Ch. 4: The Fight for Fair Maps - The Takeaway - Air Date 7-18-22 Ch. 5: Failing (Red)States - Ralph Nader Radio Hour - Air Date 3-4-23 Ch. 6: Ending my sm sabbatical since Houston is once again under attack by the party of "small government" - princewilliamhtx - Air Date 3-15-23 Ch. 7: Wherever you live in America, here’s why you should care about Governor Abbott’s removal of school board members in Houston. - isiahrmartin - Air Date 3-16-23 Ch. 8: “Plantation Politics”: How White Mississippi Lawmakers Want to Seize Power in Majority-Black Jackson - Democracy Now! - Air Date 3-9-23 Ch. 9: These Republicans are Trying to LITERALLY Send Your Kids Back To The Mines - The Young Turks - Air Date 2-11-23 Ch. 10: How Moore v. Harper Could Reshape Democracy - The Takeaway - Air Date 12-8-22 Ch. 11: Sarah Huckabee Sanders Rolls Back Child Labor Protections in Arkansas - The Young Turks - Air Date 3-10-23 Ch. 12: Missouri law barring police from enforcing federal gun laws creates confusion - PBS NewsHour - Air Date 2-26-23 Ch. 13: Tennessee legislator shocks with lynching suggestion - Alex Wagner Tonight - Air Date 3-3-23 FINAL COMMENTS Ch. 15: Final comments on how to fix the states MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions) Produced by Jay! Tomlinson

Air Date: 9-19-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - the fallout from the debate, Trump's lies, and how his incoherence is being sanitized - The inadequacy of workplace protections, even in unionized shops - how worker stress and consumer misery are actually features, not bugs - the hope of Philosopher Obama and Trump's Power of Positivity®  - people's need to feel like they're getting their money's worth at the expense of all else REFERENCES: UPS Drivers Won “Historic Heat Protections.” They Say the Company Hasn’t Lived Up to That Promise In Fast Food, Worker Stress Is the Business Model Why Airlines Want to Make You Suffer Barack Obama Is the Last American Transcendentalist The True Source of Trump’s Delusions: The Gospel of Positive Thinking   Join our Discord Server Leave a message at 202-999-3991 Produced by: Jay! Tomlinson Thanks for listening! Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Follow at Twitter.com/BestOfTheLeft Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft  Contact me directly at [email protected]  Review the show on Apple Podcasts!

Air Date 9/17/2024 It's not just the threat of the electoral college handing the presidency to the loser of the popular vote, nor the specter of a repeat of a January 6th-like event hanging over the election - there's also copious lies and disinformation including a new and improved nazi-to-Republican-talking-point-pipeline, and fresh new intimidation and voter suppression tactic experiments underway in the laboratories of democracy. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email [email protected] Full Show Notes | Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Join our Discord community! KEY POINTS KP 1: Ignore your lying eyes: Republicans attempt to overwrite living memory to rewrite history - Alex Wagner Tonight - Air Date 8-14-24 KP 2: Trump Admits He Lost 2020 Election?!? - Thom Hartmann Program - Air Date 9-5-24 KP 3: How Pro-Trump Election Officials Could Refuse To Certify The 2024 Election - Democracy Docket - Air Date 8-15-24 KP 4: What Does “Election Interference” Even Mean Anymore? - The Political Scene Podcast - Air Date 9-4-24 KP 5: Subvert the Election, But Make It Legal - Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - Air Dat 9-7-24 KP 6: ‘Intimidation’: MAGA Texas AG orders raids on homes of Latino Democrats - All In with Chris Hayes - Air Date 8-29-24 KP 7: Republicans caught in BOMBSHELL lie - Brian Tyler Cohen - Air Date 9-9-24 KP 8: This is also ominous foreboding for what these people will do in office - Jamelle Bouie - Air Date 9-13-24 (49:26) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR On what puts democracies at risk DEEPER DIVES (1:01:09) SECTION A: INTIMIDATION (1:15:27) SECTION B: INTERFERENCE (1:54:14) SECTION C: LIES (2:08:49) SECTION D: ELECTION INTEGRITY SHOW IMAGE Description: Photo of a woman holding a sign above her head that says “Voting Rights are Human Rights”. She is wearing a bucket hat that says “Good Trouble.” Credit: “210828 - voting rights-6” by Johnny Silvercloud | License: CC BY 2.0 | Changes: Cropped     Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com

Air Date 9/13/2024 We've been living through the modern equivalent of the oil boom, back when poking a hole in the ground would make one of the world's most valuable substances, upon which entire economies would be built. But in our case, it's not oil, it's data. Now we are at a pivotal moment as the old unchallenged master of data, Google, has been found guilty of illegal anti-competitive behavior at the same time as generative AI companies are in a new desperate rush to stake claims on every last piece of data they can find. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email [email protected] Full Show Notes | Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Join our Discord community! KEY POINTS KP 1: The New Colonialism of Big Tech - Andrewism - Air Date 9-3-24 KP 2: Tech's Big Money Campaign is Getting Pushback with Margaret O'Mara and Brody Mullins - Your Undivided Attention - Air Date 8-26-24 KP 3: Nathan Calvin on California AI bill SB 1047 and it's potential to shape US AI policy - 80,000 Hours Podcast - Air Date 8-29-24 KP 4: This Moment in AI How We Got Here and Where Were Going - Your Undivided Attention - Air Date 8-12-24 KP 5: Newsoms AI dilemma To sign or not to sign - POLITICO Tech - Air Date 9-6-24 KP 6: At Last Big Tech's Free Ride May Be Over - The Hartmann Report - Air Date 9-4-24 KP 7: Where AI Isn't a Four Letter Word China Builds Robots to Aid Workers - The Socialist Program - Air Date 9-4-24 KP 8: Tech's Big Money Campaign is Getting Pushback with Margaret O'Mara and Brody Mullins Part 2 - Your Undivided Attention - Air Date 8-26-24 (1:00:18) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR On a possible future for humanity DEEPER DIVES (1:07:35) SECTION A: THE THREAT (1:20:31) SECTION B: BIG TECH LOBBYING (1:39:26) SECTION C: REGULATION (1:56:17) SECTION D: THINKING THROUGH SOLUTIONS SHOW IMAGE Description: Photo of a giant wall-sized screen displaying data numbers and a hand touching a finger to it. Credit: “ai analyzing data” via mimpori01, Pixabay | Pixabay License   Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com

Air Date 9/10/2024 It's said that we live in a melting pot here in the United States. Perhaps it's more of a salad bar, who knows? In any case, there are a lot of people coming from a lot of different backgrounds, cultures, histories, and geographies all about to vote in a few weeks. Today, we try to understand, at least roughly, how people’s backgrounds influence their vote. Be part of the show! Leave us a message or text at 202-999-3991 or email [email protected] Full Show Notes | Transcript BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!) Join our Discord community! KEY POINTS KP 1: A conversation about how demographic changes could impact the 2024 election - The NPR Politics Podcast - Air Date 9-3-24 KP 2: The Gender Gap Is Widening In The 2024 Election - What A Day - Air Date 9-4-24 KP 3: Why So Many Young Men Are Leaving Democrats for Republicans in 2024 - WSJ State of the Stat - Air Date 8-19-24 KP 4: What Will Black Male Voters Do In 2024? - AJ+ - Air Date 7-7-24 KP 5: Ian Haney López, "Dog Whistle Politics: Coded Racism and Inequality for All" - Brown University - Air Date 8-23-17 KP 6: How Michigan explains American politics - Vox - Air Date 1-11-24 (50:47) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR On the nature of demographic cohorts and the movement of the Democratic Party DEEPER DIVES (57:01) SECTION A: THE MIXED BAG (1:28:15) SECTION B: LATINO AND BLACK VOTERS (2:03:35) SECTION C: WHITE AND RURAL VOTERS SHOW IMAGE Description: A composite image showing red and blue silhouettes of men and women yelling at each other, two with megaphones. A faded diptych of V.P. Harris and D. Trump are in the background. Credit: Composite Design: A. Hoffman. Photo 1: “Kamala Harris” by Gage Skidmore, Flickr | License: CC BY-SA 2.0 | Changes: Cropped, faded Photo 2: “Donald Trump” by Gage Skidmore, Flickr | License: CC BY-SA 2.0 | Changes: Cropped, faded     Produced by Jay! Tomlinson Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com

BestOfTheLeft.com/Support (Hear the Full Show, Members Get Bonus Shows + No Ads!)   Air Date: 9-8-24 Today, Jay!, Amanda, Deon and Erin discuss: - labor unions fighting for time off when it's too hot - cooling tech - electric trains - and the corporations running our national parks into the ground  REFERENCES: Greek Unions Want Paid Time Off When It’s Too Hot to Work To keep workers going in the heat, companies try fledgling cooling tech Please Do Not Make Fun of My Neck Fan Is the US finally getting all-aboard with electric trains? Yosemite National Park Is a Mess Aramark Stock Hits All-Time High Amid Triple-Digit Profit Growth OpenAI won’t watermark ChatGPT text because its users could get caught The Case for Public Rail Ownership   Join our Discord Server Leave a message at 202-999-3991 Produced by: Jay! Tomlinson Thanks for listening! Visit us at BestOfTheLeft.com Follow at Twitter.com/BestOfTheLeft Like at Facebook.com/BestOfTheLeft  Contact me directly at [email protected]  Review the show on Apple Podcasts!