“Soziale Medien werden von Plattformbetreibern dominiert, die das eigene Interesse in den Vordergrund rücken und jede Entscheidung daran messen, wie sich eine Profitmaximierung erzielen lässt. Hat man das einmal verinnerlicht, wirft sich einem unweigerlich die Frage auf, was an sozialen Medien eigentlich sozial ist. Sozial bedeutet anderen zu helfen, was auch bedeuten kann, die eigenen Interessen zurückzustellen. Also im Grunde genau das Gegenteil dessen, wie kommerziell ausgerichtete Plattformen wie Twitter, Facebook und Co. agieren.” @kuketzblog erklärt die Idee des Fediverse und unterstreicht damit, warum es sich so grundlegend von Platformen wie Twitter und Facebook unterscheidet. Dieser Beitrag ist von großer Wichtigkeit, nicht nur für Nutzer sozialer Medien.
Category: article
This is a Britain that has lost its Queen – and the luxury of denial about its past
“Our parents and grandparents were recruited to Britain for its benefit, the terms and conditions of which my generation are still trying to make sense. We know how it feels to lack cultural continuity. Others in Britain enjoyed it at our expense. If continuity is an abstract subject, the other trappings of royal symbolism are more concrete. There were pompous reflections last week with the idea expressed in the Economist’s obituary that the Queen ‘came from good Hanoverian blood’. If that sounds like a white supremacist idea, that’s because it is.”
Afua Hirsch
The big idea: why relationships are the key to existence
“Too often we foolishly measure success in terms of a single actor’s fortunes. This is both short-sighted and irrational. It misunderstands the true nature of reality, and is ultimately self-defeating.” Carlo Rovelli provides a compelling explanation of the ways in which interactions shape our world and, in the end, determine our reality.
Western values? They enthroned the monster who is shelling Ukrainians today
“None of this is to defend Putin’s brutality. When 55 Ukrainian children are made refugees every minute and pregnant women in hospital are shelled mid-labour, there is nothing to defend. But to frame our condemnations as a binary clash of rival value systems is to absolve ourselves of our own alleged war crimes, committed as recently as this century in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is to pretend ‘our’ wars are just and only theirs are evil, to make out that Afghan boys seeking asylum from the Taliban are inevitably liars and cheats while Ukrainian kids fleeing Russian bombs are genuine refugees. It is a giant and morally repugnant lie and yet elements of it already taint our front pages and rolling-news coverage.” Aditya Chakrabortty explains why, in the search for solutions, Western values should be regarded as a problem.
Europe has rediscovered compassion for refugees – but only if they’re white
“There will be those who imagine that open arms for Ukrainians and fortress Europe for black and brown refugees can and should co-exist. They are wrong, and not only on an obvious moral level. Too many commentators in Europe have already fallen into the trap of separating deserving and undeserving refugees. Their rightful praise for Ukrainians has been laced with references to supposed exceptional qualities such as pluck and fighting spirit. These are insults that are heard and understood by Syrians, Afghans and others, who have been recently received with brutality at some of the same borders and, in the case of Syria, after fighting the same aggressor.” Daniel Howden highlights Europe’s political choices, many of which are based on lies. As a European, I feel a sense of personal embarassment at the double standards that have traditionally been deployed to shield us from having to confront our responisbilities.
They are ‘civilised’ and ‘look like us’: the racist coverage of Ukraine
“What all these petty, superficial differences – from owning cars and clothes to having Netflix and Instagram accounts – add up to is not real human solidarity for an oppressed people. In fact, it’s the opposite. It’s tribalism. These comments point to a pernicious racism that permeates today’s war coverage and seeps into its fabric like a stain that won’t go away.” Moustafa Bayoumi asks that we offer help and solidarity to innocent people who need protection, irrespective of geographical proximity or skin color.
Sanction the oligarchs, not the people
“This is one of the main contradictions of our time. The confrontation between democracies and autocracies is overplayed, forgetting that Western countries share with Russia and China an unbridled hyper-capitalist ideology and a legal, fiscal and political system that is increasingly favourable to large fortunes. In Europe and the United States, everything is done to distinguish useful and deserving Western entrepreneurs from harmful and parasitic Russian, Chinese, Indian or African oligarchs. But the truth is that they have much in common.” Thomas Piketty explains why effective sanctions against Russian oligarchs would require the establishment of a truly global financial registry.
COVID-19: endemic doesn’t mean harmless
“Thinking that endemicity is both mild and inevitable is more than wrong, it is dangerous: it sets humanity up for many more years of disease, including unpredictable waves of outbreaks.” Aris Katzourakis keeps the focus on how bad things could get if we were to give in to misplaced optimism.