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return to office, my a--
Policy vs. Reality.
Incredible chart from Theo Francis / The Wall Street Journal based on data from Nick Bloom et al.
Incredible chart from Theo Francis / The Wall Street Journal based on data from Nick Bloom et al.
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Unsavory food, but for nourishing thought
While much of the world is arguing over whether to be happy or sad about Charlie Kirk’s death, here’s what you should really know:
- At least 72% of the world’s population (about 5.7 billion people) live under authoritarian rule.
- In Australia, just four companies control 84% of the newspaper/media market share.
- Globally, Google, Meta, and Amazon dominate the digital information landscape.
In other words, you’re not nearly as free as you think you are. The conversations we have, the information we see, and even the outrage we feel are shaped by corporations who profit from your attention.
Why would you interrogate the structural drivers of harm, like the way the economy is organised (and benefits only a few), the way power consolidates etc, when it’s so much easier to yell at strangers in the comments section of an Instagram post about Charlie Kirk?
As Noam Chomsky says, “The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum — even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.”
Here are some conversations we COULD be having, instead of getting stuck in the same endless arguments that keep dividing us and amplifying the conflict:
- Why must economies grow forever?
- Why do a handful of private actors own things like oceans, water rights and minerals?
- Why is "a job" the default way to justify existence?
- Why is the work of care, community, and ecosystems invisible in economics?
- Why do we think of housing as an “asset class"?
- Why is democracy framed as voting every few years - reduced to periodic elections?
- Why has society normalised the fact that millions die every year from causes we have the resources to stop?
- Why do we spend more on militaries than the world’s best defence system (nature)?
Sources:
University of Sydney University of Gothenburg
- At least 72% of the world’s population (about 5.7 billion people) live under authoritarian rule.
- In Australia, just four companies control 84% of the newspaper/media market share.
- Globally, Google, Meta, and Amazon dominate the digital information landscape.
In other words, you’re not nearly as free as you think you are. The conversations we have, the information we see, and even the outrage we feel are shaped by corporations who profit from your attention.
Why would you interrogate the structural drivers of harm, like the way the economy is organised (and benefits only a few), the way power consolidates etc, when it’s so much easier to yell at strangers in the comments section of an Instagram post about Charlie Kirk?
As Noam Chomsky says, “The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum — even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.”
Here are some conversations we COULD be having, instead of getting stuck in the same endless arguments that keep dividing us and amplifying the conflict:
- Why must economies grow forever?
- Why do a handful of private actors own things like oceans, water rights and minerals?
- Why is "a job" the default way to justify existence?
- Why is the work of care, community, and ecosystems invisible in economics?
- Why do we think of housing as an “asset class"?
- Why is democracy framed as voting every few years - reduced to periodic elections?
- Why has society normalised the fact that millions die every year from causes we have the resources to stop?
- Why do we spend more on militaries than the world’s best defence system (nature)?
Sources:
University of Sydney University of Gothenburg
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My parents guilty of this!
haha hard to believe
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Yumm! Team offsite
On sweet!! <3
express, not stress