• Doug Holland@lemmy.worldOPM
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    13 days ago

    I assumed your comment was a joke — and not a bad one, actually — until noticing the replies taking it seriously.

    The comic is not a poke at cell phones. It’s about all of America and the world being so distracted by their baubles and comforts that they’re unaware of what’s right in front of them.

    • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
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      6 days ago

      At least a third of America, and half of the voters, are very, very aware of what’s happening to us.

      This smacks of propaganda (again). I think Lemmy is being targeted, because a few weeks ago we had a whole thread demanding violence in blue states as a solution.

      What’s crazy about this is that it seems like American propaganda. This sort of thing would only help Trump. He wants violence from the left so he can justify something far worse.

    • NarrativeBear@lemmy.world
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      12 days ago

      Correct, its not about the phone its about “distractions” in general.

      The phone is just today’s equivalent, of yesterday’s thing that keeps people entertained and distracted from the world around them. Whether that is a TV, Newspaper, Book, Play, or a cold beer.

      • stopdropandprole@lemmy.world
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        12 days ago

        are you saying ‘its all just different flavors of the same thing, just different ways to entertain yourself’?

        isn’t who controls the content and the nature of that content extremely important too?

        is spending 4 hours/day watching TV reruns of Golden Girls and… spending 4 hours/day locked in a frenzy of algorithmically targeted highly personalized addictive right wing propaganda… the same thing?

        • NarrativeBear@lemmy.world
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          12 days ago

          The Romans had the coliseum to entertain the populous, all to distract from the problems their empire was facing.

          So as you put it, its different flavours of the same thing.

          Yes algorithmically targeted highly personalized addictive social media might no be the same as a TV rerun of Golden Girls, but both are still a form of entertainment and one could argue both are fighting for your attention/distracting you from the world.

    • djsoren19@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      11 days ago

      Media literacy in the U.S. is legitimately so bad, ig it’s not surprising people came to the wrong conclusion.

      • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
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        6 days ago

        Media literacy of the US from those outside it is far worse in my experience. There’s more than just a physical ocean between us.

        Every gun debate I’ve ever seen with Europeans chipping in is a great example… They always preach abolition, not realizing we have more civilian guns in this country than we have citizens.

        This country is super fucked up… And it has been this way for a very long time. You can’t really fix it, we just try to constantly fight to take control away from those who want to destroy the world.

        We’re losing right now in a spectacular way, but it can’t be fixed with most of the same methods that work in other countries, or even the same methods that have worked in the past. It’s a unique mixture of problems that requires both new approaches, and quite frankly, stronger catalysts.