Don't tell me otherwise, that just means you're in the bubble. You're operating under the old paradigm, you devour the words of the mainstream media and talk politics with similarly minded people. Which is why you were flummoxed when Trump won in 2016. You didn't know anybody voting for Trump!
I knew plenty. Because my inbox was inundated with the words of Trump supporters. Still is. These people are relentless.
The Democrats used to control the internet. They took a victory lap after Obama's victory in the 2008 election. But everything evolves faster on the internet. Those days are history. Today the right owns the internet, furthermore, they're constantly pushing back, saying they're getting a raw deal! Yes, the most shared stories on Facebook are right wing stories. But don't let the facts get in the way of a good narrative.
This is Biden's problem. The facts are actually quite good, but the narrative is terrible. The right has defined him as a bumbling old man who is afraid to give press conferences who already has one foot in the retirement home. As for Kamala Harris? She's defined as a do-nothing who failed in her one area of concentration, immigration. Of course you can rebut all this, but once again it's all about the narrative, not the facts. The people who know the facts are already convinced, but those who don't, how do you reach them? ON THE INTERNET!
2024 is not 2020. 2020 was a referendum on Donald Trump. Biden was somewhat of a cipher. The most moderate man available who also appealed to Blacks. The Democrats played it safe. But now Biden has a record. And as soon as you have a record, you're vulnerable. Period.
Yes, the nation was activated back in 2020. To keep the evil Trump at bay. What are they activated about now?
Well, you can talk all day about the abortion issue, but it doesn't seem to resonate with men. Sure, some are sympathetic, but for most it's not a defining issue. Like guns. People won't vote for a Democrat merely because they're pro-gun control. We don't have that kind of rabidity on the left, primarily because no one feels powerful, no one feels they can make a difference. Reports are people of color feel ignored by the Democratic regime. This is how the Democrats lost the blue collar, what have you done for me lately?
I'm not saying that abortion ain't gonna pay dividends for the Democrats in 2024, but I wouldn't count on it swaying the election. Don't talk to me about filibustering in South Carolina... Since the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs, giving states the right to codify abortion laws, the availability of abortion keeps decreasing. If you call this winning, you don't know anything about competition.
For years the young have been pooh-poohed. We hear they don't vote. That elections are decided by the aged.
Now we do know the aged vote, they punch above their weight in election participation, but what we've learned in the past few election cycles is that the youth vote in higher percentages than they used to. Primarily because THEY KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON!
If you're a member of the youth, you're pilloried by the old 24/7. You've got a short attention span, you have a bad work ethic, you're narcissistic and you spend too much time on social media. Put that damn phone down.
Do you hear those on the right saying this? Do you think the "Wall Street Journal" is filled with these screeds? No! Because the right knows the internet is where you spread your message. And you don't talk down to the youth, you embrace them.
I mean come on, if I read another Ivy League blowhard testifying in the "New York Times" as to the detriment of smartphones and the internet, I'm gonna puke. Man, this is why the Democrats look bad. So, you've got a good education, you make a good buck, you read books and see foreign movies. You keep telling us you're better than we are, and that you know better, when the truth is just the opposite, these people are IGNORANT!
Ask yourself if you're ignorant. I was out for lunch with two high-powered people in the music business the other day and neither one had been on TikTok. NEITHER ONE! It's not like the barrier to entry is that high. But they're busy with other things. Fine, but don't expect to know what is going on with the youth.
The youth brought Napster. Which evolved into streaming. And if you think this is bad, you're not a consumer. Sure, old acts who made their bones in a controlled system might be making less from recordings, but not everything is positive in evolutionary change. Just like the internet today, it's ushered in a Tower of Babel society. Most people in America haven't even heard the number one song, never mind being able to sing it! But the industry and the wankers who report on it refuse to acknowledge this. They keep testifying and printing a manipulated Top Ten that most people ignore. It's not the twentieth century anymore.
TikTok is where the youth live. Will they be living there in 2028? There's a good chance they will not. Everybody thought Facebook was forever, now if you're on Facebook it's the equivalent of having an Android phone, when that green bubble shows up everybody else rolls their eyes! Oh, so you're an iconoclast and you don't care. Fine, but you're part of the minority, and it's the majority who have sway in elections.
Biden needs to post on Twitter every single day, multiple times, evidencing a personality, not bland proclamations. Why? Because this is where reporters live, they're trolling for news 24/7. You never know what will go viral, but when it comes to hard news it usually starts on Twitter.
Most people never even go to Twitter. Talk to your friends, are they active? It's a laugh, the social network punches way above its weight. But that's where stories start.
But stories live on other platforms. Where is the twentysomething, or even the teenager, making daily TikToks for Biden? Once again, not policy so much as personality. Bill Clinton won by playing the sax on "Arsenio" and going on MTV and answering the question, "boxers or briefs?" It's kind of like that old Sam Kinison joke, telling concerned people to stop sending food to starving people in Africa...instead they should send suitcases! Because these Africans need to MOVE WHERE THE FOOD IS! Clinton knew this, and not only did he go where the youth were, his appearances humanized him. Made him more relatable. If you find Joe Biden relatable, you must be a relative.
Of course, the right populates social media with inaccuracies and indignation. I'm not saying the left should proffer inaccuracies, but outrage? I'm down with that. There's so much to be outraged about. The right is touching land mines 24/7, but some Democratic strategist somewhere said not to fight back. Before he got caught up in sex scandals, my guy was Anthony Weiner, because he FOUGHT BACK! He stood up to these bullies. The only people on the left who will stand up to bullies aren't elected! Like James Carville and Paul Krugman. I hate Chuck Schumer because he's got no balls. Nor is he evil like McConnell. Chuck is bland. It'd be like being behind by four runs and the batter refusing to swing away, willing to bunt at most. I mean what game are you playing? We're far behind, GO FOR IT!
And when some elected official on the left does so...they're isolated and excoriated.
Like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Marjorie Taylor Greene is looney-tunes, but do you hear anybody on the right saying so? They either support her or shut up. But we shoot our own on the left. I mean you may not like or agree with AOC, but if she was so bad, why was she elected? And don't tell me it was in New York, because the truth is active, enlightened youth live in the metropolis and they're like-minded! As a matter of fact, after the last election cycle Ocasio-Cortez bitched that the Dems didn't properly utilize the internet, that if they'd handed campaigns over to her, the candidates would have won! She was laughed at by the cognoscenti and nothing happened.
Who are these cognoscenti? Just because you studied the Great Books in college doesn't mean you're up to date. A good education prepares you for interpreting the future, but if you don't engage with the future your opinion is worthless.
As for AI...
Yeah, like the government has ever demonstrated that it knows ANYTHING about tech. Congress grandstanded for Napster and Ticketmaster and...didn't take action. And did you notice that most of the high profile people against AI are in the game? Talk about self-interest. And I want you to show me one thing that's been eviscerated online, that no longer appears or is talked about. Hell, you can Google porn. As for child locks, the children know how to beat them. AI is here and it's coming down the pike. Prepare for it, don't try to outlaw it. Yes, guardrails would be good. Then again, we don't want laws made by the ignorant, like Act 230, which made all the internet providers immune. Or even the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that allowed radio consolidation, and homogenized and ruined the medium. Yes, lawmakers were lobbied by radio station owners while most of us were asleep. Meanwhile, new outlets came along to supersede terrestrial radio: satellite radio, podcasts, streaming... Same deal with AI, if you think you can stop the future, you're wrong. Make laws, but very carefully. Does Silicon Valley hire legislators to code? OF COURSE NOT! These elected officials are bought and paid for and when it comes to things like this they think the average Jane and Joe are not paying attention and they bend to the donors who pay the most and that's not you and me folks, but fat cats with an investment in the outcome.
How about educating our youth so they can argue factually with those on the right? A daily list of topics. This is what the right does internally, but on the left? We throw our hands in the air if we react at all.
Steve Jobs famously said he was creating TOOLS!
That's what the internet is, a tool. And if you want to build an edifice, you need to use the tools.
And just like you wouldn't plow your field with a horse today, traditional media no longer does the trick.
Everything I said above? The right knows it. They're laughing at the left as they run circles around the Democrats. Whose hearts are in the right place, but don't organize and take action. Not online, where it all goes down today.
Sure, Biden won by hiding during the pandemic. But he won't be able to do that in 2024. How come everybody on the right is talking about Trump eating potential candidates alive on the campaign trail, but nobody on the left is concerned with Biden standing up to Trump himself? As for Kamala... She was piss-poor in the 2020 debates, she received few votes. She's got no constituency, not one of any size.
We hold the above truths to be self-evident. If you're online for hours a day and are plugged into society, America.
If you're not?
YOU'RE OUT OF TOUCH!
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