jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So this is OP - and I was talking with a reporter friend about this yesterday. She observed that these TikToks seemed pretty random and obscure - until they got amplified by Yashar Ali on Twitter. And that's when they started getting insane traffic - and when the letter on the Guardian's website started getting insane traffic.

She thinks that basically this was a whole lot of nothing until excited old people gave it tons of attention - then it turned into something.

So, I guess yay to us olds for falling for it again.

I hadn't seen this post until just now, but I wrote about this thread in my blog post today and came to the same conclusion:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/weblog/2023/11/17/update111723

It's the last thread that I discussed today.

Sorry you found this embarrassing. Some of us are struggling with what we see among young people right now - on social media and in the world. It can mean that we might be more likely to take something like this seriously when we see it - because it's fitting in with the other things we're seeing and experiencing. But yeah, fell for it - and foolish me for that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So this is OP - and I was talking with a reporter friend about this yesterday. She observed that these TikToks seemed pretty random and obscure - until they got amplified by Yashar Ali on Twitter. And that's when they started getting insane traffic - and when the letter on the Guardian's website started getting insane traffic.

She thinks that basically this was a whole lot of nothing until excited old people gave it tons of attention - then it turned into something.

So, I guess yay to us olds for falling for it again.

I think this is significant backtracking to try and hide the tacit endorsement of OBL from members of the media. I’ve heard other reporters try to claim the same and I mostly think it’s a scramble to justify the Guardian’s promotion of OBL’s letter.

The fact is that the letter started resonating with an audience that doesn’t have the education or rigorous thinking skills to understand it as propaganda.

Did The Guardian do anything to "promote" it beyond hosting it on a website for the last 20 years?

Anonymous wrote:So this is OP - and I was talking with a reporter friend about this yesterday. She observed that these TikToks seemed pretty random and obscure - until they got amplified by Yashar Ali on Twitter. And that's when they started getting insane traffic - and when the letter on the Guardian's website started getting insane traffic.

She thinks that basically this was a whole lot of nothing until excited old people gave it tons of attention - then it turned into something.

So, I guess yay to us olds for falling for it again.

I hadn't seen this post until just now, but I wrote about this thread in my blog post today and came to the same conclusion:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/weblog/2023/11/17/update111723

It's the last thread that I discussed today.

Anonymous wrote:So this is OP - and I was talking with a reporter friend about this yesterday. She observed that these TikToks seemed pretty random and obscure - until they got amplified by Yashar Ali on Twitter. And that's when they started getting insane traffic - and when the letter on the Guardian's website started getting insane traffic.

She thinks that basically this was a whole lot of nothing until excited old people gave it tons of attention - then it turned into something.

So, I guess yay to us olds for falling for it again.

I think this is significant backtracking to try and hide the tacit endorsement of OBL from members of the media. I’ve heard other reporters try to claim the same and I mostly think it’s a scramble to justify the Guardian’s promotion of OBL’s letter.

The fact is that the letter started resonating with an audience that doesn’t have the education or rigorous thinking skills to understand it as propaganda.

The tiktokers are out of line.

Also, these people act like the government hid something from them. This letter has been out on the internet for decades. I've read it, I've seen the pre-attack interview that OBL gave to warn Americans, I've read lots and lots of terrorist propaganda magazines like Inspire. I have no idea how it's mind blowing to think that terrorists think their actions are justified. Of course they do! Why else would they do it?

But unless you agree with their vision for the world, why on earth would you support them? Yes, America isn't seen as perfect by people who prefer to live under an Islamic theocracy. That only makes sense. The question is why you would agree with them, unless you share the same vision for the world.

This is what I don't understand about organizations like Queers for Palestine. Is there a Trans for Matt Walsh group? No. But you take people with very similar views and make them look non-white/non-western, and the far left gets in bed with them. Okay, but don't pretend you have any guiding principles or really care about issues like gay rights, etc while also promoting groups who believe in executing gays. You don't take that crap from Americans, so you shouldn't take it when someone wearing a keffiyeh says it either. Unless you are just a spineless nihilist.

Young people have always been stupid about thinking everything in the world should be simply good or evil, hero or villain, as in a fairy tale, so they react to spirited criticism of establishment institutions, religions, norms, etc. by assigning them to the evil/villain category without a nuanced understanding that literally everything in history has flaws and a history of reprehensible excesses. The stupidest young people identify with the most extreme critics without the sense to grasp that they are villains, not heroes, and their “solutions” of terrorism, violence, and chaos is inherently worse. They have no appreciation for the importance of diplomacy, alliances, reforms, etc. that require compromise and accountability and time. They want an instant solution for everything.

Anonymous wrote:Need to add that the postmodern Marxism that most of Gen Z is immersed in is morally bankrupt. We need to take a really hard look at the social studies curriculum packages our school districts are buying and push back very hard against the dominance of these ideas in our universities.

This. CRT is, in fact, taught in many K-12 schools.

Anonymous wrote:So this is OP - and I was talking with a reporter friend about this yesterday. She observed that these TikToks seemed pretty random and obscure - until they got amplified by Yashar Ali on Twitter. And that's when they started getting insane traffic - and when the letter on the Guardian's website started getting insane traffic.

She thinks that basically this was a whole lot of nothing until excited old people gave it tons of attention - then it turned into something.

So, I guess yay to us olds for falling for it again.

The Barbara Streisand effect. It still is alarming how uninformed young people are. Maybe Pete Davidson can do another monologue.

Need to add that the postmodern Marxism that most of Gen Z is immersed in is morally bankrupt. We need to take a really hard look at the social studies curriculum packages our school districts are buying and push back very hard against the dominance of these ideas in our universities.

Anonymous wrote:Just goes to show that media can convince people of anything. Anything.

Scary but true. People are sheep.

So this is OP - and I was talking with a reporter friend about this yesterday. She observed that these TikToks seemed pretty random and obscure - until they got amplified by Yashar Ali on Twitter. And that's when they started getting insane traffic - and when the letter on the Guardian's website started getting insane traffic.

She thinks that basically this was a whole lot of nothing until excited old people gave it tons of attention - then it turned into something.

So, I guess yay to us olds for falling for it again.

Anonymous wrote:Just goes to show that media can convince people of anything. Anything.

Precisely.

Social media + cancel culture = crushing free speech by intellectuals

Trophies for everyone + lowering the academic bar = the dumbing down of America

Racialization of everything + political tribalism = skewed perception of reality

Just goes to show that media can convince people of anything. Anything.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What’s next? idolizing and justifying ISIS and claiming they were right?

Critical thinking skills are lacking in young people whose brains haven’t finished developing and who seemed easily swayed. Also radicalization isn’t reserved for Qanon lovers; it’s happening to young affluent liberal people (particularly white) who seem to need to quickly latch onto some idea with no real world experience or struggles.

The dots connecting that Bin Laden was ends justified the means because American citizens paid taxes that funded a government that had foreign policy that supported Israel or that supported oil rights in the Gulf is dangerously close to saying theories that would support blowing up China (as an example).
or the eugenic positions that were used to build “a better and stronger Germany) 80-90 years ago.

Perhaps you should stop for a moment and ask yourself why groups like Isis and Hamas exist? They were not created in a vacuum.

Because men teach their children that war and fighting is glorious and heroic.

Because religious extremism is a powerful tool used by a select few to manipulate and control the masses, forcing them to live under dictates that seemingly empower men over women, oftentimes in subhuman conditions, giving them a taste of power while pitting them against an enemy largely created by a false or exaggerated narrative.

We can’t fight terrorist groups if we don’t acknowledge the obvious impetus behind them: religious extremism.

This dangerous and embarrassing display of ignorance is emblematic of the real american privilege: first world privilege…where poorly educated people are too stupid and lazy to read and thus are easily manipulated.

We really need to reflect upon where this nation is heading…and how we got here. Otherwise we cannot correct this shocking display of cluelessness.