Notices by JA Westenberg (daojoan@mastodon.social)

Next time a tech CEO cries “freedom,” follow the money. You’ll find contracts, grants, and government deals that make the myth of “independent innovation” laughable.

https://www.theindex.media/silicon-valleys-secret-love-affair-with-the-state/

This is how modern oligarchs work. They don't burn books—they bury them in content. They don't silence the news—they reframe it as entertainment. They don't kill publishing—they make it appealing to a four-quadrant audience.

https://www.theindex.media/democracy-dies-in-a-rebrand/

Bezos, Musk and Zuckerberg give new meaning to the phrase "an embarrassment of riches" because they're rich as hell and we're all embarrassed as fuck

In the world according to Bari Weiss, the rich are not merely wealthy—they are victims. Victims of public scrutiny, victims of mild taxation, victims of a society that dares to ask if their ceaseless accumulation of capital might just be the problem. It’s a defense that requires not only a suspension of disbelief but a full lobotomy of moral clarity

Men deserve better than having their gender used as cover for petulant, capricious and immature misbehavior.

New from me in @theindex

https://www.theindex.media/what-does-masculine-energy-even-mean-mark/

Being right all the time would be exhausting if the accompanying sense of moral superiority wasn't so dashed invigorating

Several times a day, I discover I'm carrying around a backpack full of rocks.

And then I realize I can simply...put it down. A short thread on my rage in 2025. 🧵

Nothing says ‘I lack conviction in my own drivel’ quite like a desperate little ‘lol’ at the end of a post.

Banning TikTok doesn't challenge China's model of Internet control—it validates it. It tells the world that the U.S., the originator of Internet freedom, believes the solution to digital threats is to build walls rather than bridges.

https://www.theindex.media/rednotes-surge-shows-the-hypocrisy-tearing-the-internet-apart/

I’m not normally a fan of biopics but Nosferatu really does capture Neil Gaiman

The Cost of Cynicism (a thread 🧵)

Cynicism feels like wisdom. It's not.

It's the discount store of intellectual positions. The fast-food equivalent of critical thinking. Available without effort, satisfying in the moment, empty in the long run.

Steve Bannon, former Goldman Sachs banker turned populist tribune, is attacking Elon Musk, an immigrant entrepreneur turned MAGA icon, over who truly represents the soul of a movement that claims to speak for the common man. If there's a better metaphor for the political contradictions of our age, it's hard to find it.

https://www.theindex.media/why-populist-movements-like-maga-are-doomed-to-eat-their-own/

Based on how completely men like Zuckerberg and Musk have turned on progressive politics and burned their boats, there’s a good chance they don’t believe the pendulum is swinging back. They’re betting on Republicans never relinquishing power.

Steve Bannon, former Goldman Sachs banker turned populist tribune, is attacking Elon Musk, an immigrant entrepreneur turned MAGA icon, over who truly represents the soul of a movement that claims to speak for the common man. If there's a better metaphor for the political contradictions of our age, it's hard to find it.

https://mastodon.social/@theindex/113817709315742813

Here's the thing about bias: sometimes what looks like bias is actually pattern recognition. Sometimes it's mathematics. Sometimes it's the simple calculus of survival. Sometimes it's just common sense.

Imagine accusing a chess piece of bias against the player trying to remove it from the board. That's pretty much how it plays out.

The accusation of bias has become a powerful weapon in modern discourse, wielded like a ceremonial sword that's meant to end all debate.

It's frequently directed at members of marginalized groups who dare to express concerns about political movements explicitly targeting them.

Someone accused me of bias this morning. Specifically, bias against MAGA and Trump supporters. Apparently it's disappointing to discover that I'm not the morally neutral arbiter of truth they imagined me to be.

So let's talk about it. Let's talk about my neutrality. A thread. 🧵

This isn't speculation or paranoia – it's published policy. What exactly is the rational, unbiased response supposed to be to an institution deliberately removing protections from you?

This week, Meta decided to modify its hate speech policies to explicitly allow certain slurs against people like me. They made this change with the precision of a surgeon, carving out special exceptions that target a specific group.