Benjaben

But can you SSH into it?! IDIOT

Oh interesting, didn't realize and explains a lot!

Don't sleep on The Expanse!

Do you have any idea how much greater the harm across the globe will be, the more power these fascists get?

You're not wrong, I just don't think it's the whole story. I really do think there was a media campaign of different kinds (podcasts and other "intellectual" media) for a period to create an intentional public image. I mean maybe his rise in the public awareness was organic, I just don't think so anymore.

I am fairly sure a campaign like that was used to elevate JD Vance, there was also this Eric Weinstein guy that was appearing a lot in stuff I saw for a while, those two both closely associated with Peter Thiel. I can probably come up with other examples. I think Musk had a similar "look how smart and great this guy is, everyone!" campaign, and I think the difference is Musk had enough money that he could afford not to rely solely on that image, and he had enough ego that he could never not be himself online for long.

I'm in a similar boat. Seems like there was a big marketing / branding push for him to be seen that way in those years, or maybe it was just media doing media stuff (regurgitating and iterating on successful content). And then I stopped paying attention to him, and then he made weird ass comments during that cave rescue situation, and then it's been just rapid fire incidents ranging from embarrassingly childish to shockingly brazen leading to today. Apologies if I've misremembered the timeline, but I seem to remember that as my "wait wtf" turning point with him.

Went from thinking "huh, smart driven guy working on difficult problems few others will" to realizing he's among the most threatening forces working against humanity today, while also a thin-skinned man-baby. Pretty crazy swing. If he'd have kept his crazy under wraps...like...just literally didn't spew it on social media constantly, that one change alone...we'd probably never have realized.

Blocked for the censored word, we must not tolerate this horseshit.

My solution is to block every individual who ever posts a meme censoring words. I know they didn't create it, I don't care, willingly censoring benign words (and sharing this behavior like it's acceptable) is my line in the sand for dumb Internet bullshit and I will die on that hill. We must not reshape our language for this nonsense.

Downside is I'll be having a quieter Lemmy experience soon, lol

Blocking for participating in this dumbass censorship.

I have a copy of Josan's "The_Future_is_Now / Neon_Rising" and it's maybe the coolest fucking thing I've ever laid eyes on. The photos don't really do it justice, it's just page after large page of jaw-dropping, gritty, detailed cyberpunk illustration. Like if Mœbius was infected with some digital virus. And it tells a story and follows characters through the world he's created, and there's some limited text at the end. If you can get hold of a copy (no idea if that's difficult or not), it's seriously remarkable.

Every fascist act is carried out by just a mere human. Same old problems have the same old solutions.

Cheers, glad to hear it resonated with you! Small automated donations to things I find important and unambiguously good (mostly food banks and human knowledge projects in my case) really help me feel more connected to the world and its current state. And in a productive, prosocial way - it helps to counteract the doom and gloom a bit.