Welcome To My Echo Chamber
Welcome To My Echo Chamber
On TikTok, news, and media bias.
There are so many more of you!! Since my dramatic return to TikTok, I’ve gained 20 more subscribers, which is very encouraging! Welcome, and thank you for enjoying my art :)
I didn’t have a ton of time to do deep writing this week, since I started my new job recently and that’s taking up most of my time. However, I wanted to give a few thoughts on an app I recently found.
I don’t often spend my nights spiraling about the state of the world (#RadicalOptimism) but when I do, it’s usually about the harms associated with mediating all our intracommunity dialogues via digital means, never truly grounded in each others’ presence or mindful of our responsibility to one another. My summer break from TikTok has allowed me to take a step back and wonder, am I indeed making a difference with my art? Or, am I simply constructing an Anna Marie Echo Chamber, making videos for people who already agree with me about everything and never truly advancing The Discourse?
Does TikTok have the infrastructure for society-shifting conversation, or does it only have the infrastructure for online hate and dance challenge videos? (This is the central question of my October podcast episode, by the way, so I guess I better figure this out quick.)
One app presents itself as a solution to the problem of media bias. Ground News (this post is not sponsored, btw) tracks down “left-leaning”, “center-learning”, and “right-leaning” news articles for the same topics so that you can compare them side by side. The paid version has more functionality, but the free version allows you to read headlines and articles, check the app’s personal summary of the news stories, and make note of how that news source generally “leans” (left, center, or right).
Naturally, I’m skeptical; a cursory search of the site presents “left leaning” news sources such as CNN, Huff Post, and The Daily Beast (yep, super radical). But to be fair, I wouldn’t want the extreme-right (Breitbart, et al) to be represented on this app, so it’s a fair enough compromise.
Let’s look at an example…
Left-leaning article title: “Biden to cancel up to $10K in federal student loan debt for certain borrowers and up to $20K for others
Center-leaning article title: “Biden cancels $10,000 in federal student loan debt for most borrowers
Right-learning article title: “Biden announcement student loan handout as national debt soars
You can really get a sense for my country’s political values by pursuing through the article titles. To the left, student loan debt cancellation is a relief to the average American consumer. One can even make a strictly capitalist argument for debt cancellation, stating that it will increase consumer spending and introduce more money into the economy.
Meanwhile, to the right, *angy white man voice* it’s just a fuckin’ handout.
Another example I’ll share is the recent railroad strike that has a chance of halting the American economy altogether (solidarity with railroad workers, by the way!!”
Left-leaning article title: “US Department of Labor Says Rail Companies, Union Reach Tentative Agreement
Center-leaning article title: “Railroads and labor unions reach tentative deal to avert strike:
Right-learning article title: “Biden administration says ‘tentative’ deal reached to avoid national rail strike”
From the titles alone, one can gleam the following: 1) Republicans are obsessed with Joe Biden and blaming him for everything. 2) Center-leaning stories seem to give nothing but facts and not much interpretation. And 3) some people think Bloomberg is a “left-leaning” news source???
One can wonder, with the right-leaning bias out there on this story, where is the online left’s coverage of this? Shouldn’t we be providing a counter-narrative? Or perhaps, people on the left are covering this, but my personal TikTok/Twitter/etc. algorithm isn’t yet tuned into things like this. This is impossible to say, and that’s the core of my regularly-occurring existential crisis; everyone, all across the political spectrum, is in their own little bubble, unaware of what’s going on outside. It makes dialogue impossible, and perhaps, that’s the point.
I’ve always found it fascinating that people from different political parties can interpret the same facts differently. I think it says a lot about not just our opinions but our values. When the discussion on the table is “do trans people deserve healthcare” or “do railroad workers deserve more than 30 days off per year”, and one side says “yes” and the other side says “no”, that seems like a pretty irreconcilable difference.
The Right has branded itself as the side that “tells it like it is”, and yet they obfuscate so much blatant hatred for human life behind economic arguments. “We would love to cancel student loan debt, but we need to think about the economy!!” they say, not actually giving a shit about the working class. Democrats are no better, supposedly being the party of human rights while Democrat-run cities have the most homelessness, likely due to racism and NIMBY-ism.
It makes me realize the importance of actually cutting through the bullshit. Leftists are too good at telling it like it is, unafraid to go on rants about how a communist/socialist/anarchist world would be better, and unafraid to go on rants about white supremacy, colonialism, patriarchy, et al. Liberals think that this is our biggest flaw (“if we could just be a little more palatable…”), but I feel as though it’s our greatest asset.
My personal political beliefs are not obfuscated by capital-P Politics, or what I feel is technically achievable via the electoral system in, say, the next few years. My beliefs are simply, “every human being deserves food, shelter, healthcare, and water, and we should dedicate every waking second to address these issues. If you disagree, you might be a bad person.”
Doesn’t get any simpler than that.
Currently Reading
The Ford Fellowship, one of the most important ways for historically-excluded people in academia, is winding down operation. This is heart-breaking to so many who wanted a chance at higher education, and will likely set many departments on fire as they scramble to find funding for marginalized students. If you’re not angry yet, ask yourself this: how many fighter jets were commissioned by the U.S. government this year, rather than being focused on education?
In positive funding news…
Watch History
Coffeezilla videos are a cathartic watch for me, given how much a despise crypto/NFTs. This recent one shows how little NFT Bros actually care about helping poor people, and really just want to flex their fancy technology.
amandamaryanna’s new video about Be Real paints a skeptical portrait of yet another app I won’t download because TikTok takes up most of my time.
I never turn down a chance to learn from my lesbian elders!!
Bops, Vibes, & Jams
Rina Sawayama’s new album “Hold The Girl”, all day every day.
I’ve been revisiting the abrasive sound of HOLYCHILD’s “The Shape of Brat Pop to Come”. This is what the inside of my head sounds like at all times, if you weren’t aware.
And now, your weekly Koko.
That’s all for now! See you next week with more sweet, sweet content.
In solidarity (with U.S. railroad workers),
-Anna