Fall of the Fourth Estate: A Critique of Mass Media

Yeah, but that’s certainly not the theme of the article. It’s more “the advancements that have made eggs cheap have also led to the current bird flu problem.”

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Ah, so the headline is just kind of “misleading” to some degree? Or at least ambiguous enough to be read in multiple ways?

I will give it a read, then! Thanks! :sparkling_heart:

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Also interesting, when I googled the headline to find the article, it seems like the original headline was different, but also not what the article is about.

ETA: the article is basically a brief history and overview of commercial egg production in the US, and why it’s problematic, leading to the current spike in prices.

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Yeah, see, that’s a better headline that seems less ambiguous to me.

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I remember in school when first learning about WWII, thinking, “How could the people of Germany have let this happen?” I no longer wonder about that. I wish I still lived in a world where I wondered about that. I didn’t really need that question answered in such a first hand way.

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One of my favorite classes in college was the History of Germany from 1871 to 1933. The professor was amazing. She didn’t have us memorize dates and “Great Men;” instead she had us comb the stacks doing original research on cultural and societal effects that contributed to the rise of the Nazis. It feels like we are living it right now in the US.

Yesterday, at the town hall I attended for my local congressional representative, one of the thoughts that kept running through my head was one of the key takeaways from that class: the time to stop fascists is BEFORE there are tanks in the streets.

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For sure, and I apprehend the urgency too, but it sucks that somehow, each of us as individuals can see few if any concrete ways of doing that. Maybe calling/emailing reps and joining protests can help to stop them, maybe. But aside from that…?

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One of the things that was discussed yesterday, right out in the open, was collective action. Rep. Dexter repeatedly said, she was not allowed (under House and campaign finance rules) to suggest collective action, so that would need to be something we all decide for ourselves, but she was ready to participate in collective action to, for example, prevent the gutting of Medicaid or legislation against immigrants. She kept talking about how she was forbidden to discuss it, then went into detail about exactly what she wasn’t allowed to discuss. :wink:

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Yes true, and I did appreciate that feature of, for instance, Friday’s boycott. Aside from whatever financial effects it may have had, it publicized and helped normalize collectivity, and more specifically, solidarity. That in itself gets more people thinking in collective terms, and thus becoming more willing to DO something resistant that would work for them.

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I remembered another thing from the town hall: Rep Dexter said that a LOT of Republican members of congress oppose what T****/DOGE are doing, but are afraid to do anything. If anyone goes against T****, they get a call directly from him, from Musk, and they get flooded with death threats. What she said was that GOP MoCs need to become motivated by (aka, more afraid of) the people than they are of T****/Musk.

She cited the local-ish example of Oregon’s only GOP MoC, Cliff Bentz. He has a much higher ratio of constituents on Medicaid than the rest of the state’s contingent and he’s being raked over the coals by his own voters for the proposed cuts.

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I’ve been hearing since 2016 that most Republican lawmakers are against what Trump is doing, but are afraid to do anything. I’m not sure I believe it anymore.

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She got booed pretty loudly for it, but she persisted. She seemed sincere. Now, she’s new to politics so she might be naive, but it’s also very possible that Republicans know what is right and are too chickenshit to do it. That for certain checks out.

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@danimagoo Also, and feel free to call this wishful thinking, but the fastest path to flipping the power balance is to flip moderate GOP members of Congress to go independent and caucus with Dems. If Dems have control of Congress, they stand on much better ground against the fascists.

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That is a very small number of people, sadly.

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They only need 3 in the House and 4 in the Senate to flip the majority and control of the agenda; not to mention the 3rd and 4th in the line of presidential succession.

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I understand that, but I just don’t see it happening. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are the most moderate Republican Senators, and they’re a good part of the reason we ended up here. They still voted for most of Trump’s cabinet nominees. McConnell voted against a couple of them, and he’s sure as hell not switching allegiances.

I suppose that could happen in the House, but I just don’t see any signs that any GOP House members are about to switch teams. Hell…recent history suggests that a Dem switching is more likely.

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I used to suspect they were being blackmailed, but it seems to mostly come from other kinds of threats:

It affects more than lawmakers, too:

If Democrats can’t win the upcoming special elections in Florida and New York after all the motivation voters have been getting from the GOP this year, a lot more of their base will probably push for progressive or third party alternatives.

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Sure. Again, this whole concept depends not upon finding their grinch-like hearts and making them grow but making them more afraid of their constituents than they are of T**** and his minions. My impression of Maine and Alaska is that is actually feasible. Collins has shown her colors as perhaps the most fraidy-cat Senator is US history. Murkowski has shown more courage and probably just needs Alaska to send her a clear message. Where another 2 GOP senators could flip is another matter. Oddly enough, I could see Rand Paul not flipping but just leaving the GOP to form his own party.

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