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Social media are turbocharging the export of America’s political culture

economist.com

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Re: Social media are turbocharging the export of America’s political culture

#141

Post by aaron695 »

LAC-Tech wrote: post #54

It's not a recent phenomena - it's been happening since WWII. The weirdest part is - the stronger someone is influenced by American political culture, the more they'll tell you about how awful America is.

> It's not a recent phenomena - it's been happening since WWII.

Yes, they don't seem to understand their point.

QAnon/BLM would always have made it out pre internet, just it would have taken years.

Things now are quick. Even early internet ie 2000-2010 it was much slower.

The turbocharge really is how quickly it changes and mutates. The feedback loop is what's different.

Re: Social media are turbocharging the export of America’s political culture

#142

Post by ehnto »

dylan604 wrote: post #49
lainga wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same in Canada. The CBC was particularly egregious. The "World" section was just the "US Politics" section. I stopped reading; but, of course, like all Canadians, I have kept funding it.

To be fair, the rest of the world's activities seemed fairly stable than the random events regularly occurring under the Trump administration.

By comparison certainly. It was the best drama in town.

Re: Social media are turbocharging the export of America’s political culture

#143

Post by tkgally »

ne0flex wrote: post #11
sms737 wrote: post #3

No country is willingly importing this divisive rhetoric. Aspirational young citizens who repeat the same formula within their home countries and are quickly rewarded with status and power. So the scourge continues. Short-term, this toxic, zero-sum behaviour reaps havoc. Long-term, American culture capital will have been exhausted and the US will have signed its own death warrant.

It's definitely being brought into other countries one way or another. Back in university, I went to study abroad in Japan and there were several American professors at the university. The one's teaching arts courses such as English, Journalism, etc. would definitely sneak America's political rhetoric in their lessons. Now, I work for a Japanese company in the US and often go take business trips to Japan and can defi…

Most culture, politics, education, and business in Japan is conducted in Japanese, and a large majority of people in Japan—some surveys suggest around 90 percent—do not regularly use English either online or off. The influence of American culture and political rhetoric is not very apparent in the discourse conducted in Japanese.

I am an American professor at a Japanese university. When I came to Japan, nearly forty years ago, I thought that the American influence was indeed strong, because, at first, all of my media consumption was in English and most of the Japanese people I interacted with spoke English and had some connection to the United States. After I learned Japanese and broadened my social contacts, though, I realized that I had received a distorted view and that most Japanese people live their lives with little influence from or thought about the United States.

Re: Social media are turbocharging the export of America’s political culture

#144

Post by Popegaf »

The rest of the world should be aggressively promoting their culture, values and language, just like the US. Japan is doing a very good job of that with the proliferation of weebs, but others are not.

Europe barely exports any culture or media - especially in their own languages. Most things EU are regionally locked and if they aren't, they are behind paywalls or accessible through American networks. Were I to try and watch Polish TV shows, it would most likely happen over Netflix or Amazon. It's barely possible to browse their shows in English nor can most services be paid for using non-Polish payment means (except maybe VISA&Mastercard).

That's just Europe. I'm sure China has some great shows and movies, probably Russia has too but finding them and accessing them is entirely different issue. Even knowing what exists is difficult.

The U.S is at the top of their propaganda game while the rest of the world is acting like a bunch of amateurs.

Re: Social media are turbocharging the export of America’s political culture

#145

Post by rsj_hn »

Popegaf wrote: post #144

The rest of the world should be aggressively promoting their culture, values and language, just like the US. Japan is doing a very good job of that with the proliferation of weebs, but others are not. Europe barely exports any culture or media - especially in their own languages. Most things EU are regionally locked and if they aren't, they are behind paywalls or accessible through American networks. Were I to try an…

I've gotten into Israeli TV recently. You can watch Fauda on Netflix. There are some pretty cool shows out there.

Re: Social media are turbocharging the export of America’s political culture

#146

Post by pjc50 »

pjc50 wrote: post #103
trophycase wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lmao the "discrimination is about power" is so played out and is used as a tool to justify "reverse" racism (which is just racism). What does a police officer being more afraid during a traffic stop of black people have to do with institutional power? What does people walking home at night and crossing the road when "certain" people are on their side have to do with institutional power? Nothing. This whole "racism =…

> What does a police officer being more afraid during a traffic stop of black people have to do with institutional power? The police officer is institutional power. The organization which issues him a gun is institutional power. The prosecutor who will decline to prosecute him when he murders a black man is institutional power.

(there's an entire academic discipline addressing the question of "what does X have to do with institutional power", but you're not going to like what it's called)

Re: Social media are turbocharging the export of America’s political culture

#147

Post by ahartmetz »

zozbot234 wrote: post #128
ahartmetz wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not that there is anything wrong with American political thought being exported. I strongly disagree. The vitriol, demonizations, oversimplifications, "every issue has exactly two sides - ours and theirs" limitations of the space of thought, virtue signaling, bullshit / distraction issues, puritanism, etc... There is much wrong with exporting these. These things are happening especially on social media.

There's nothing specifically American about these. It's just the kind of political discourse that gets structurally amplified by social media sites that are clearly maximizing mass "engagement" with posted content.

It's a mix of many things, some of which are more specifically American (e.g. puritanism) and others less (e.g. two-party system effects). Twitter is present everywhere, but the importance it is granted also varies a lot from country to country. That is again local culture.

Re: Social media are turbocharging the export of America’s political culture

#148

Post by dmitriid »

nickelpro wrote: post #134
slim wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You sure it's a free market of ideas ? What do you make of intellectual property ? Content zoning ? Media consolidation ? On social media : what do you make of algorithmically selected content ? Thought bubbles ?

People who engage with social media do so freely. If the content wasn't what they wanted or sought out, it wouldn't be popular and successful. Would you rather have it policed? A grand council that determines which algorithms you may enjoy and which are verboten?

> Would you rather have it policed

It is being policed? What do think algorithmic feeds are?

Re: Social media are turbocharging the export of America’s political culture

#149

Post by dmitriid »

rsj_hn wrote: post #145
Popegaf wrote: post #144

The rest of the world should be aggressively promoting their culture, values and language, just like the US. Japan is doing a very good job of that with the proliferation of weebs, but others are not. Europe barely exports any culture or media - especially in their own languages. Most things EU are regionally locked and if they aren't, they are behind paywalls or accessible through American networks. Were I to try an…

I've gotten into Israeli TV recently. You can watch Fauda on Netflix. There are some pretty cool shows out there.

Surprisingly, Netflix may be one of the forces to make people aware of other cultures, as they have been busy buying and funding local content all over the world.

Re: Social media are turbocharging the export of America’s political culture

#150

Post by nickelpro »

dmitriid wrote: post #148
nickelpro wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who engage with social media do so freely. If the content wasn't what they wanted or sought out, it wouldn't be popular and successful. Would you rather have it policed? A grand council that determines which algorithms you may enjoy and which are verboten?

> Would you rather have it policed It is being policed? What do think algorithmic feeds are?

They're content referrers that people are free to engage or disengage with at their leisure. If you don't like Twitter's content you can go use Youtube, or TikTok, or Facebook, or HN.

What I wouldn't want is some government agency telling me I'm not allowed to use Twitter for my own good. Or that the content I enjoy on [insert social media network] must change because HN finds it objectionable.

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