Douglas Rushkoff's Blog, page 5

As Above, So Below

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how I’ve decided to turn off the Wrestlemania passing for national news and focus on my local reality. I was hoping that helping neighbors, engaging in mutual aid, and working on local issues might just engender a kind of solidarity. And if we all did this, it would eventually trickle up to the way we handle big issues at scale. Maybe the hands-on way we interact down here on the ground in the real world will stand in such stark contrast to the sensationalist puppet show on Facebook and the cable news, that we’ll all come to realize the debates on TV are not an adequate representation of who we are, nor an appropriate venue in which to work out our collective problems.

Read more of As Above, So Below on Medium.

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Team Human ep. 200: Renee Hobbs

Founder of the Media Education Lab and author of Mind Over Media: Propaganda Education for a Digital Age Renee Hobbs joins Rushkoff to discuss how the enlightenment project can work without gatekeepers.

In his monologue, Rushkoff wrestles with his decision to focus on local civics as the influence of national culture wars seep in.

Renee’s book, Mind Over Media: Propaganda Education for a Digital Age, is now available.

Keep up with Renee:
Media Education Lab | Twitter

Click here to stream Team Human now.

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Team Human ep. 199: Jamie Cohen

Head of Education at Digital Void and cultural theorist Jamie Cohen walks us through — and hopefully to the other side — of our fascist media environment.

In his monologue, Rushkoff argues that the culture wars on Twitter and television are not based in reality, but rhetoric,.

You can read a written version of Rushkoff’s monologue, Move Along: The Car Crash is Fake, now on Medium.

Keep up with Jamie:
Twitter | Website | Digital Void

Click here to stream Team Human now.

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Move Along: The Car Crash is Fake

I have let myself get too worked up for too long about the culture wars on Twitter and its extensions on cable TV. They are not based in reality, but rhetoric. So this year, I’m ignoring them.

I think we can trace today’s ideological Wrestlemania in part to Donald Trump’s invented facts about Obama’s birth (he’s not an immigrant) or a Mexican invasion (when Trump announced his candidacy, undocumented immigration from Mexico was actually at a fifteen-year low). Likewise, Hilary Clinton’s ill-advised characterization of Trump’s supporters as “a basket of deplorables” unnecessarily inflamed nearly half the country. The rest of what we are living through feels like the reverberation of these original sins.

Read more from Move Along: The Car Crash is Fake on Medium.

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Team Human ep. 198: Maggie McGuane

Mass casualty animal and human rescuer Maggie McGuane shares the exhilarating joy of being part of the life force that is our planet.

In his monologue, Rushkoff explores how he’s embracing compassion of the moment.

Learn more about Wings of Rescue: https://wingsofrescue.org/

Click here to stream Team Human now

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Team Human ep. 197: Stuart Swezey

Founder of Amok Books and producer of the documentary Desolation Center Stuart Swezey helps us remember what it’s like to do something for its own sake, and stop before it becomes something else.

In his monologue, Rushkoff reminds us of the work involved in producing social media content, and the real downsides of being on 24/7.

You can read a written version of his monologue, We Are Not Alone on Medium.

Learn more about Desolation Center at the official documentary website.

Click here to stream Team Human now.

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We Are Not All Journalists.

I was at a convenience store the other night, and watched some kids come in who had just escaped from a party they didn’t really like. As soon as they were inside, though, they pulled out their phones and started watching social media reports from the kids who had stayed.

It wasn’t these kids’ FOMO that got my attention. I really don’t think they wanted to be back there at the party, anyway. If anything, they were looking at the photos to remind themselves they weren’t missing anything at all.

Read more of We Are Not All Journalists on Medium.

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Team Human ep. 196: David Zweig

Author and writer David Zweig helps us parse the well-meaning but sometimes inaccurate communication from our health officials about Covid-19.

In his monologue, Rushkoff remembers his late accountant, Sheldon Gordon, and how we can morally blend together our economic and social lives.

You can read a written version of Rushkoff’s monologue, Family Enterprise, on Medium.

Zweig’s book, Invisibles: The Power of Anonymous Work in an Age of Relentless Self-Promotion, is available at your favorite independent bookseller now.

Twitter | Website

Click here to stream Team Human now.

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Family Enterprise

My accountant Sheldon Gordon died Monday night. It might not be the kind of news one would normally think about for too long, much less write about. Your accountant dies, you find another one. It’s just business. Right?

Not really.

See, Shelly cared about me and my family in a way that transcends what we would call a client relationship. He didn’t just do the sorts of things that one might learn in a sales or customer relations course about sending calendars or Christmas gifts, making small talk, or remembering the names of their kids. No, Shelly merged his business and personal life — what Marx might call his economic and his social lives — in a way that made them indistinguishable. Ethically, creatively and, sure, professionally.

To read more on Medium, click here.

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Team Human ep. 195: Ryan George

Actor, writer, and media philosopher Ryan George helps us contend with the absurdity of our particular instance in the multiverse.

In his monologue, Rushkoff ponders what Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse means for our humanity.

You can read a written version of Rushkoff’s monologue on CNN.

Click here to stream Team Human.

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