Sociological research into public response to disaster shows overwhelmingly that in general, individuals do not panic. On the contrary, responses are often calm and measured with a profound sense of caring for one another.
Research looks to ways in which panic is fostered and perpetuated during disaster, often by governments and agencies in power and often with concrete goals in mind. Clarke and Chess define panic as a breakdown in social order as the result of fear, which in turn can be responsible for creating more danger.* Considering the political and practical reasons why panic occurs, they specifically look at ‘elite panic,’ which is often seen in times of disaster and is often itself considered to be a creator of disastrous circumstances.
[*Clarke and Chess, “Elites and Panic: More to Fear than Fear Itself,”]
Citing moral panic theory researchers, their essay clarifies the ways in which elites (politicians, those in control of the media, those with economic and or stakes of power within a community) create disproportionate levels of fear post-disaster as a way to deflect attention from underlying social problems and to further their own interests.
[*Clarke and Chess, “Elites and Panic: More to Fear than Fear Itself,”]
...following Postman, Bridle points out: “More information produces not more
clarity, but more confusion.”169 Bridle looks to online conspiracy theories as an example of moments when the paradox of data-driven systems becomes visible, likening paranoia to part of the feedback loop of network excess.* In essence, our inability to understand the complexity of the world leads us to needing more information which in turn “further clouds our understanding – revealing more and more complexity that must be accounted for by ever more byzantine theories of the world”**
[Bridle, New Dark Age]
Continuing from Fredric Jameson’s analysis of paranoia within the postmodern narrative, Steyerl points to Edward Snowden’s 2013 NSA leak as a critical moment in the propelling of paranoia across [US] society, since it revealed that many of the theories that had up to then been considered conspirational, were in fact true (that the government was spying on everyday citizens, for example).* Paranoia operates like a feedback loop, because, in order to recognize it we need to compare it to reality, and reality is continually being formed. Clemens Apprich further outlines the conundrum: “By the same token, we can never be sure whether the reality we live in isn’t delusional itself. There are no generalizable criteria to determine its veracity, because every time we try, we are thrown back to reality.”**
[*Steyerl, “A Sea of Data,” **Apprich, “Data Paranoia,”]
WHERE TO START
DEPLATFORMING WORKS
Elise Wang 'Why conspiracy theories just won't die'
INFORMATION
DISINFORMATION
HUMOUR
IMAGINING THE FUTURE
WATCHING OLD SYSTEMS
DIE AND NEW SYSTEMS
TAKE SHAPE
GENERAL WEIRDNESS
The conspiracy theory is the dominant narrative and the lingua franca of the times: properly read, it really does explain everything
More information produces not more clarity, but more confusion.
...paranoia in an age of network excess produces a feedback loop: the failure to comprehend a complex world leads to the demand for more and more information, which only further clouds our understanding – revealing more and more complexity that must be accounted for by ever more byzantine theories of the world.
We are all looking at the same sky [world] and seeing radically different things.
We are all looking at the same sky and seeing radically different things.
An act of violence, like so many before it, was recorded in the weather itself
Conspiracy theories are the extreme resort of the powerless, imagining what it would be to be powerful.
The network that brings us knowledge wraps around us, refracting our perspective into a million points of view, simultaneously illuminating and disorientating us.
James Bridle, New Dark Ages - "Conspiracy."
We are all looking at the same sky and seeing radically different things.
What exactly are we seeing right now?
Potential strategies?!
What does it all look like (online)?
What are you seeing?
What does it all mean?
portal #1 [ruth]
portal #2 [group 1 - Keys to the Internet]
portal #3 [group 2 - Taking CTRL]
portal #4 [group 3 - The Spinning Top]
We are all looking at the same sky and seeing radically different things.
RESOURCES
Resources for Canadian artists, writers and media workers during COVID-19 shutdowns
Disability, Creativity, and Care in the Time of COVID-19 by Aislinn Thomas
the benefits of distance
Stuff to keep track of...
Remember all the conversation about the carbon footprint of the internet?! What happened to that? Funny how you don't hear about it at all these days that we're all turning to the online...
Decolonizing Community Care in Response to COVID-19
the ‘‘weirdness’’ of cyberspace
DISTRACTION
DISTRACTION
DISTRACTION
DISTRACTION
DISTRACTION
DISTRACTION
DISTRACTION
DISTRACTION
DISTRACTION
DISTRACTION
DISTRACTION
DISTRACTION
DISTRACTION
DISTRACTION
DISTRACTION
DISTRACTION
DISTRACTION
DISTRACTION
merriam webster trending
March 21 or 22, 2020
Note to self to look at this -- I have no idea who she is...
MOOD
“The tweet was just about sharing something that brought me joy in these gloomy times,” she says. She never expected it to go viral, or to cause any harm. “I wish there was an edit option on Twitter just for moments like this,” Ahuja says.
Nonetheless, she hasn’t deleted the tweet and doesn’t plan to, arguing that it’s still relevant because waters in Venice are clearer than usual—a result of decreased boat activity—and that’s what matters, she says. She’s tweeted about the “unprecedented” number of likes and retweets she’s received on the tweet. “It’s a personal record for me, and I would not like to delete it,” she says.
geez, this is brutal.
"We saw Trump on TV — every channel — and all of his buddies and that this was safe," the woman told NBC News' Vaughn Hillyard, referring to President Donald Trump. "Trump kept saying it was basically pretty much a cure."
"too much noise"
Who and How do we TRUST
WHAT WILL TRUST LOOK LIKE AFTER THIS?