@aj @ben_hr @mcc Like hell, think about the way we listen to music now. I'm guilty of this and I've been thinking about how I'm going to adjust soon.

Prior to streaming apps, we used to listen to songs on the radio, remember the good artist names, and then buy their albums at the record store.

I mean, even in the iTunes days, it was still the same general idea. You hear a good song somewhere, then you remember a name, and search out the album or song to buy.

Today, you discover music through streaming apps (usually Spotify or YouTube). You click "start radio" and it gives you songs similar. The radio is good enough and consistent enough that you don't really need to think too hard about it. You rely on the system they've provided. Maybe you save playlists, but you aren't really discovering *artists* so much as *songs*.

I know that I'm definitely not listening to full albums that the songs I like came from. I think I'm missing out on something by doing that, though.

Social media recommendation is the same thing. You discover *posts* but not *people*. Everything is out of context. Everything is of pure utility, with no slower nuance and appreciation.

@aj @ben_hr It's been said before that while the original idea of the internet was that it would "expand our circle of compassion" to people far from our own lives, what we've actually found is that we as a society (on average) have gotten less compassionate, in ways that seem to be related to how we interact with the internet and social media.

Algorithms being used as a stand-in for community has something to do with this.

@mcc occasionally toots about the algorithmically-driven ecosystem going on over at Bluesky. Specifically this one really conveys the point to me: https://mastodon.social/@mcc/115727488742907850

It's that your reliance on algorithms, rather than on community (following people, seeing their posts + boosts) turns you into a nobody and a nomad. You are not connected to a *people*, you're connected to a *nervous system*. And that nervous system is, of course, a *system* which is subject to change. It's fragile, and even when it's not being centrally controlled, the thing still accidentally can alienate you when it changes.

@Em0nM4stodon Wikipedia is a great place to learn at first. After getting the overview, you should start reading books or watching documentaries or something.

Right now I'm reading "The Nazi Movement" by Theodore Abel (https://openlibrary.org/books/OL42887763M/The_Nazi_movement). It was written during WWII and focuses on *how the nazis came to power*.

It includes actual autobiographical snippets written by German Nazis that were sent in to the author willingly. They had pretty loose lips because they were still in power.

The author basically takes an ethnographic approach, rather than a sociological one in order to attempt to analyze the political movement and its unfortunate success.

I'm sure there's lots of other great books out there as well. Just read *something*, it's incredibly important to know history.

@Em0nM4stodon Right now is a really important time to be learning about the history of fascism in Europe.

Even if you think you know about Nazi Germany already, how well do you understand *how* it happened?

Did you know that Hitler's movement started initially quite violently, with him going to prison for a failed coup of government? Only after years of sitting in a cell did he organize a movement that would see him demolish democracy by *winning democratically*?

Do you know what the Night Of The Long Knifes is?

Do you know why seemingly normal, good natured Germans voted for Nazis?

Did you know that when Hitler rose to power, he did it with a *minority* of control in the Legislature? Their victory required tactical alliances with moderate Conservatives who believed that Hitler was just a man who said crazy things but wasn't serious about all of it. (Hmm, where have we heard that before?)

Did you know that the Nazi Party was basically always broke, and required heavy volunteer work by dedicated members?

Do you know what the methods of persuasion and political organizing they used?

Now is an incredibly important time to be learning about how Hitler came to power. We aren't going to see a one-to-one correlation with anything modern, but I'll tell you that you will absolutely start to notice trends.