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(Episode previously named “Propaganda”)
In this episode, Dani tells us how the propaganda used on social media sites are controlling our lives and our futures.
See full episode notes for links & recommendations.
Dani is honest and refreshing in her takes on the world and society. Listen as she explains how she’s come to understand the world through kindness, both towards ourselves and everything else.
[0:00] Hi everyone! My name is Dani and this is Understanding Kindness. Welcome. We’re glad you’re here. Today I’m going to talk about a subject that I am deeply passionate about; I’m going to be talking about changing the world. Yes, that’s what I’m trying to do with each episode of this podcast, but this episode especially I want to discuss what is going on currently in this world and as always, direct you to some resources from people who’ve already been doing this work.
[0:35] Today I’ll be highlighting The Social Dilemma & The Great Hack (two documentaries on Netflix), Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (especially the episode on China & Uyghurs), and The Happiness Lab (particularly the episode on Aristotle). All of these gave me the idea for this episode here.
[0:58] Before I start, I’d like to dedicate this episode to my nieces and nephews. Along with my selfish want to live in a better world, one without oppression, one with compassionate beings, one filled with love for everyone, I want this world for them. So before I begin today’s episode, to my nieces and nephews, I want to say that I love you and I am fighting for a world where you will be accepted, loved, and taken care of by all, no matter who you become in your lives. I’m also fighting for a world where you and everyone else do not need to worry about others being oppressed and murdered, where you do not need to be scared. My attempt with this episode, and well, frankly all the episodes of this podcast, is to help people understand that we can create this world, and in order to do so, we need to all work together in this fight. Let’s get on the same page, let’s learn together, and let’s strive for a better world. Welcome to this episode of Understanding Kindness.
[2:10] (Theme)
[2:19] While watching the documentary The Social Dilemma, I was struck by how scared the individuals who’ve created the programs and algorithms that collect our data on social media are. They understand that they’ve created something that is no longer under human control, it is out of our hands now. These algorithms used by social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, TikTok, etc., etc. work by collecting as much information about each of us as possible. The algorithm monitors which posts we click on, which friends we keep in contact with the most, whose profiles we scroll through (and how long we spend scrolling there), and even times how long we look at each individual post. The algorithm collects all this information and learns what will keep you scrolling, what will keep you on their app the longest. The algorithm uses human psychology to figure out what will keep each of us individually hooked onto their app. Have you ever thought how odd it is when you talk about something, or even think about something, you’ll see an ad for it almost immediately? It’s learning about you. Maybe you’ve seen an ad for something and said, “oh hey! That thing is cute!” or “I could use one of those!” or “I could buy this one thing that would solve this one specific problem I have in my life!” Weird how it’s almost as if the ads are coming straight from your own head…sometimes before you’ve even thought of them yourself. It’s learning about you.
[3:53] The programmers who developed these algorithms worked with psychologists to create a platform that’s designed to keep you on it, based on our psychology. What will hook us? What will keep us on here for as long as possible? What ad will work the best so we spend our money on things we don’t actually need and do not actually make us happy? What ad, or meme, or picture will get us to change our beliefs, our world views (more on this, particularly, later)? What will get us addicted to our phones? Literally, addicted. Each time you look at your phone because a notification popped up, or you were just hoping one might pop up, it works like a slot machine. Sometimes we get something, sometimes we don’t, but it keeps us checking, just in case this next time we actually do get a notification. We do not have agency over ourselves, our time. There is a computer program that has learned more about us than we’re even aware of and used our psychology against us, as a way to create profits. The longer we spend looking at our phones, the more ads they can shove in our faces. The longer we spend on our phones, the more of our lives are being wasted on something that isn’t even actually real. Social media is not reality. Our minds were not created to receive input from tens, hundreds, or even thousands of people. Our minds were created to gather the opinions and ways of life from those around us, those who care about us and that we care about ourselves. We want to be accepted by those who help take care of us, and who we help take care of; not Sheryl from high school who we no longer speak to, not Akramah from around the globe whom we’ve never even met, not An from Vietnam, not Nkrumah from Ghana. Of course we need to stay informed and think critically about what we’re seeing on the internet, but we do not need to take every person’s opinion into account. These people are not important to us individually if we’ve never met them or never will again. Why, then, do we take their opinions so deeply to heart? Why are we trying to please everyone? It’s not possible. If it were, someone would’ve done it already. And guess what, no one has! We need to accept the love from those around us, those who actually know us, know the people that we really are. They are the ones that know that we are valuable, worthy, and capable of anything. They are the ones that will make us happier. Listen to them.
[6:37] Shifting gears a bit, I want to go back to something I mentioned earlier: those ads and memes and pictures that tell us things about specific groups of people, specific beliefs we should have, specific actions against others we should take. These are literally changing the world, and not for the better. The white supremacist rallies we’ve seen here in the US are the result of propaganda shown to people on social media, sold to them for a few cents each. Those political ads that you’re seeing now for the presidential candidates or your local election candidates are propaganda sold to you for a few cents each. Do these ads, memes, pictures really have validity? Or are they just there to get a quick reaction out of us and change our view of someone? This isn’t just happening here in the US either. It’s happening all over the world. Brexit is a successful result of propaganda used on social media. The re-election of Jubilee Party of Kenya candidate, Uhuru Kenyatta, in the Republic of Kenya is a result of propaganda used on social media. The Great Hack on Netflix tells about how Cambridge Analytica (which is a data mining company), they used the information that these algorithms learned about us to sway people’s views and beliefs, and in effect sway elections and create hate groups in the real world. This propaganda is changing the course of history and none of us are immune to it while using these social media platforms.
[8:12] Now, keeping this all in mind, let’s talk about the topic of 27 July’s episode of Last Week Tonight: China and Uyghurs. John Oliver highlighted the current internment camps in Xinjiang, China. These labor camps are holding over 3 million Uyghur people against their will currently, right now, today. Uyghurs are from a largely Muslim country in the northwest of China called Xinjiang. Uyghurs have been at odds with the Chinese government for a loooong time, they have their own language, their own culture, and they’re currently being forced into labor camps to produce products (such as Volkswagen cars, Nike products, and even the PPE masks that have become part of all of our wardrobes). They’re being forced to make these products and they’re being re-indoctrinated by the Chinese government. Please watch the full segment done by John Oliver on YouTube to really get a full view of what’s happening. I’ll link that in the episode notes. There’s a clip in the episode with a Han Chinese person talking about “the people from XinJiang”, saying “[they’re] not very good, robbers and thieves.” This immediately reminded me of the language used in the propaganda used to sway people’s views that was discussed in The Great Hack, as I mentioned earlier. So, connecting the two I could see how this propaganda is being used right now to cause the largest imprisonment of people based on religion since the Holocaust. Yes, the actual Holocaust. This person’s quote also reminded me of something that a particular person in our White House has said about Mexicans, and, well, frankly anyone that’s not white. This same exact language and type of propaganda is being used here in the US right now. If China is able to brainwash its citizens into forming a negative group opinion about another group of people (whether that be based on religion, or on the color of their skin, or on their political views), they’re doing this so much so the citizens will openly speak and spread these false broad generalizations about this group of people, and the United States’ own president is spouting this hateful language based on literally no facts, well how far is the United States from doing the same to its citizens? How do we stop this from occurring?
[10:42] We have to do something ourselves. Our government hasn’t been doing anything sufficient to combat these false claims, this bigotry, this xenophobia. Obviously, we’re going to have to be the ones to do something about it, or else it will continue to follow the same path. We have to stand up and make a stance against this oppression of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang, not only for our own selfish reasons of saying that we will not allow this untrue, hateful, violent propaganda and these actions to infiltrate our own lives and country, but because the oppression of anyone is the oppression of us all. Listen to the first-hand account of someone who was in the internment camps in China in the Last Week Tonight episode, and feel this person’s pain and suffering (I think you’ll find it hard not to). Understand that their pain and oppression is your pain and oppression. If you do not do something now to make a stance against this, if we do not all continue to put pressure on those with the power to do something, we will find that it is only a matter of time before these things start happening in our own backyards.
[11:55] John Oliver mentions that awareness by itself isn’t enough to combat these atrocities happening in Xinjiang, but it is a start, and it gets more people talking. So share this information and let’s be so loud about it that they have to listen. In a recent episode of The Happiness Lab, Dr. Laurie Santos has their friend Tamar Gendler on to talk about the ancient philosopher, Aristotle. Aristotle believed that you can make yourself into the type of person you want to be. They said, “we become just by doing just actions; temperate by doing temperate actions; and brave by doing brave actions.” That is how we become the type of person who acts based on their morals, their ethics, based on what they know is right, we do the things that someone who already is that type of person does. Tamar says, “If you want to be a brave person, act the way a brave person acts, and you will manifest bravery and you will be reinforced in your experience about how pleasurable and possible it is for you to act bravely.” Do the thing to stop the injustice. Do as much as you can. We’re not just fighting for the lives and freedoms of the Uyghur People, we are fighting for our own lives and freedoms. We have to stand for something, or we’ll fall for anything, any false, hateful, xenophobic ad, meme, or picture we see on social media. Become a brave person by doing brave things, you can do it. We all can do it, and we can do it together.
[13:39] I’m absolutely horrified and completely saddened by what is currently happening to the Uyghur People; also to all of us that have become addicted to our phones and subject to the propaganda plastered in our faces on it, without even our consent or knowledge. We cannot let this keep happening. Please, join us in standing up for what we know is right. Make noise about this. Watch The Social Dilemma and The Great Hack to really get a sense of how invasive and disgusting these apps really are, and how susceptible we are to them. Watch Last Week Tonight and really feel and understand what the Uyghur People are going through, feel it so much that you have no choice but to do something about it. Join me.
Join those that have already been making strides to save the Uyghur People. I’ll have a link in the episode notes to SaveUighur.org where you can make a donation, contact your elected representative urging them to vote to pass Bill 3471, the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, or use social media (if you’re going to continue using it, with heightened awareness of course) use your social media to amplify these stories. SaveUighur.org outlines many more actions that you can take as an individual to combat this oppression, so I’ll provide a link to that page as well in the episode notes.
[15:08] To sum it all up, we need to do something now, right now. Do the actions, be a brave person. I’ve literally handed you the resources so that you are able to start making change, making a difference. Remember, if you feel safe now, this is temporary. If you feel that there is someone out there now, possibly say running for president of the United States, who you believe will “restore things to before all this mess”, you’re not fighting for anyone but yourself. Before “this mess”, everyone did not have equal rights, people were still being oppressed, maybe it just wasn’t you. Let’s fight for a world where no one is oppressed, where everyone can feel the safety that you feel when you lie you head down at night, sure that no one will break into your home and murder you. As we’ve obviously seen, not everyone feels that safety. Help me strive for a world where my nieces and nephews get to be themselves, and be safe, and feel loved. Help me strive for a world where everyone is entitled to those things, no matter who they are or where they come from. Check out those recommendations, go to SaveUighur.org and do something. Start spreading the awareness. Go click those links in the episode notes. Start doing the things to actually make a difference. Be brave.
[16:46] Alright, I understand that I just made a big case for all of us to stop using social media, and I stand by that. However, I know many of us still use it and find it useful sometimes. So, I will still be posting recommendations on the usual platforms, but in addition to that, I will be sharing some recommendations that haven’t quite made it into an episode (well, yet at least), I’ll be sharing those at the end of each episode going forward. So, today, in addition to the recommendations in the episode I’d like to recommend the podcast Witch, Please, specifically the episode titled “Orientalism”. This is a Harry Potter podcast done by two Canadian female scholars. And in this episode, Hannah McGregor and Dr. Marcel Kosman discuss common tropes used in the series and how they impact our worldview. Since the full extent of the author’s bigotry has recently been revealed, the hosts dive deep into the series and uncover the bigotry within it so that we can look at the books through a more critical lens, while still being able to enjoy the series and world we all love.
[17:52] To learn more about these topics talked about in today’s episode straight from the places where I was able to, watch The Great Hack and The Social Dilemma on Netflix, check out the Last Week Tonight with John Oliver episode on China & Uyghurs, and listen to The Happiness [Lab] episode on Aristotle. To help those currently being held against their will, forced to do labor, and forcibly re-indoctrinated and stripped of their culture in Xinjiang, visit SaveUighur.org. Links to all these will be in the episode notes.
[18:23] If you enjoyed this episode, help support the podcast! All this content is free and I’d love to make it my job one day, so if you’re financially able join our patreon or send a one-time or recurring donation through paypal! You can also share an episode with family or friends, and give UK a kind rating and review!
Check out UnderstandingKindness.com for all episodes, transcripts, and blog posts. And why not take a listen to my other podcast, Better When Awkward, co-hosted by my childhood best friend Jasmine!
Get in touch with me by emailing UnderstandingKindness@protonmail.com, or through social media. You can find all links in the episode notes.
For now, be kind, be compassionate, be understanding, and question everything. I’ll be here. Thank you for listening to this episode of Understanding Kindness. [End transcript]