A Social Dilemma Indeed

This is less a review of Netflix's documentary The Social Dilemma, and more a brief reflection on my biggest takeaway. If I were to review it? I dunno, man, how do you review something that simultaneously tells you everything you already know and contextualizes it in a way that makes you sick to your stomach? (And how to factor in the fact that Peter Campbell is there, personifying three different versions of Facebook's monetization algorithm?)

Nah, no need to go over the thesis of the doc, because you know it already—social media exists to make money, and you are the product, and by transforming you from human being in pure data, social media has a net negative effect on society. We all know this, and yet we still engage in it—yes, even the person who deleted Facebook, since I pretty regularly visit Twitter and Reddit (and, fuck, does Blogger count?).

The part that hit me the hardest wasn't even that revelatory either, but it still kinda hit me harder than I expected anything from this documentary to hit. Fact: social media is an accessory to the active spread of disinformation by extremist groups. Since social media is ingrained so thoroughly in how society functions at large, then it has in effect aided in creating two entirely different universes with two entirely different bases for fact and logic.

It's scary, and I've known it's scary for a while. I've been pulling my hair out for years now over the fact that some family and friends live in an alternate universe. Allowing yourself to believe such propaganda requires a pretty potent cocktail of both stupidity and desire to believe that the "other" is "evil," and both sides of that coin offend me deeply.

Offends me, and yeah, scares me too. Scared the hell out of me when, less than 24 hours after Pam and I sat down to watch The Social Dilemma, some of the people who live in that alternate universe decided to show just how much they believe in that disinformation by storming the U.S. Capitol (assisted by the police, who are by and large also residing in that alternate universe, but that's another argument for a different day). You and I both know that there is zero fucking evidence whatsoever that any significant part of the 2020 election was fraudulent, but we only know that because we live in the world where facts are provable. Other seditious motherfuckers know just as strongly that the election was stolen from trump—you don't break into Nancy Pelosi's office and fart in her swivel chair if you don't believe something with every fiber of your being.

I guess the reason that my understanding of this whole shitty phenomenon struck a different chord while watching The Social Dilemma was that the documentary shifted the blame just a little bit. Their point was that humans are, regardless of political beliefs, almost universally susceptible to the dangers of social media, and so social media must shoulder some of the blame when it allows generally moronic people believe something that is definitively and provably false. Not all the blame, but some of it.

It hit me because it gave me a brief window of opportunity to soften my image of people who have been taken by this dangerous propaganda machine. It made me want to... I dunno, not necessary help these people, but at least try to understand them a little better, and try to make some sort of connection between our two worlds. Whereas in the past, I've done nothing but dismiss, and continually feeling ill-will toward people you mostly still care about can destroy you emotionally. It has for sure in these past five or so years.

Is that even possible? To try to get someone sucked in by right-wing propaganda to understand that a lot of their beliefs are based on lies and falsehoods? I have no idea. I've rarely tried. There was one time, in February 2019, when I had a conversation with an uncle-not-related, who was and still currently is caught up in the pro-trump Fox News propaganda machine. He's never been an outward dick about it (he was never on Facebook, so maybe that's why), and I don't think he was near D.C. last week (though who the fuck knows, the pandemic kinda cut off communication between most people in my life). 

 

But I remember he was making an argument about how we need stricter voting laws because there's a lot of voter fraud. Pretty par-for-the-course shit about illegal immigrants voting, etc. And I really did try to make an honest effort to explain to him that opinions can be wrong if they are based on false information (voter fraud is very, very rare, and is usually caught and prosecuted during those rare times it does happen). You could tell it wasn't getting through to him. The conversation didn't even end acrimoniously or anything, it just kinda petered out, because he was unwilling or unable to understand that opinions have to be based on provable facts.

Anyway, my point being that I do not know what the solution is. I keep picturing scenarios in which I'm inviting trumper friends and family to sit down with me one-on-one, and just having a frank discussion about all this, about what makes a fact a "fact," how news is obtained and digested, how social media can manipulate. I don't know if something like that would be effective. It's definitely not necessarily doable as a plan right now anyway (especially since people I'd want to interview would most likely refuse to wear a mask). I don't even know how I'd react if I were to hear their bullshit in person. I'm feeling pretty empathetic now, but that empathy might be short-lived if I have to hear a cousin tell me that "Antifa was actually the group that stormed the Capitol" or some fucking nonsense.

The only solution that The Social Dilemma offered was to delete social media, but we all know that's not possible at this time. There's too much money being pumped into too many powerful people for the faucet to be shut off, and the dopamine hits from Twitter timelines is just too strong for most people to resist. The only solution, really, is regulation through legislature, but if the Republicans are actively exploiting social media to incite social unrest, and the Democrats are continuing their campaign to be as chickenshit as possible, then I don't see that solution happening any time soon either.

The best I can do, I think, is at least be aware of the reason behind my family and friends falling trap to forces that may be beyond their control. The word "empathy" I used above might even be too strong. I just want to be able to step back and not put the full impetus of this problem on victims of the same disease. Like, I don't even need to try to "consider where they are coming from" or whatever, because where they are coming from is an alternate universe where lies are believed as truth. I just want to understand and to be aware of the problem, that it exists, and why it exists, before I get so angry at my loved ones that it keeps me up the entire night and potential ruins another family gathering.