Member-only story
A Parallel Civic And Workers Internet.
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Platforms like Twitter and Facebook have a place in our lives, and provide value to society. However, their place and value are “free” market overstated, bitterness overpopulated, and civil communication overrated. We The People can do better America!
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We have been weaned in the last four decades on an ever increasing myth of “free” market magic, and to look the other way on its five finger discount, crony capitalism corruption of the E.P.A, D.O.D., I.R.S., Treasury Department, and the department of nearly everything else.
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We have been led to believe fear, anger, and violence are our closest friends.
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We have learned how freedom means a cold and creepy conservative government hand in every uterus, an AR-15 slung over every conservative white male’s shoulder, and a mass-shooting coroner based in every school.
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We have been told that our neighbor, nearby or faraway, who may look different, is from a different nation, or who worships differently threaten us, so they should be shunned, or even gunned down by local or military forces.
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The private communication platforms are susceptible to scourge and purge, immaturity and purity. There is no way to retrieve any sense of community from an overall perspective. Siloed groups can develop, but even those can be infiltrated because of their “free” market insistence on allowing disruption that inevitably proceeds to corruption. As long as some formation of their “free” market is evident, nothing else matters.
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Setting up a new system that is wholly siloed from aggravated disruption, and communication corruption can provide the gateway to a better democracy. A system focused on civic participation, communication, and transformation — not party affiliation or machination — and also tailored to worker support, skill enhancement, and employment engagement, will help us navigate the future much more effectively.
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If competition really was a hallmark of the “free” market, then this civic and worker system is exactly what it would order if it had any real stomach…
