The Internet Has Gotten Really, Really Sh*t

By Petr Navovy | Miscellaneous | December 7, 2023 |

By Petr Navovy | Miscellaneous | December 7, 2023 |

In general I try to steer away from arguments that are founded on reductive foundations like ‘both sides are to blame’, and ‘we’ll never get anywhere with this polarised discourse’, and ‘you should try to reach across the aisle to make common ground with your political enemies’. No.

That works when the other side isn’t actively trying to kill you. So I was wary when starting this video from Kurzkesagt (who I have a lot of issues with anyway—veering as they have occasionally in the past into weird, hyper-individualised, neoliberal points of view and presenting some quite dangerous arguments about climate change), as it started its thesis with describing the uber-polarised nature of social media. But once they started to expand their argument with a broader view at the material reality of the now monopolised, walled-off, hyper-commercialised internet, things fell into place. Especially when they described and reminded me how the internet used to be (a state I’m now sadly rapidly forgetting). It’s a pretty compelling argument: