Sept952

Really, I just don't want more base stations everywhere because I consider them aesthetic eyesores -- I admit the pettiness here, but I also have concerns about the State being able to more effectively monitor and track the movements of citizens, about the functions of Captial possessing even greater speed and efficiency, about the consumption of rare earth minerals necessary to build this infrastructure.

Do you think that human beings who desire parts of the world untouched by blanketed anthropogenic EM radiation deserve to have such spaces?

So, as someone who has just written a book about the benefits and downsides of nonconformity, do you stand by the statement that -- at least when it comes to journalism and media -- the Establishment/Status Quo editorial/ideological line is preferable to so-called "extremist views on both sides", no matter how destructive or morally repugnant the "respectable" Establishment journalism may be (think: mainstream media outlets generally falling in line during major imperialist US wars because they don't want to lose "access" to primary sources in government)? Put another way, do you feel there is a pertinent difference between (for example): a radical right wing journalist "researching" welfare recipients to try and discredit social programs, a "respectable" centrist publication publishing research which frames social spending as too high with not enough ROI, and a radical left-wing journalist who says that the military budget should be cut to make room for more social spending?

I don't mean this to be a "gotcha," I'm genuinely interested how you view this media landscape in light of your research. Thank you!

Do you think it is more responsible to try to bring about wide-ranging material conditions in people's lives that are less deleterious to mental health overall, or to keep putting out millions of individual little fires?

Put another way: as a historian, my awareness of the (more often than not, unwilling) human sacrifice that got our society to where we are now really skeeves me out. This skeevy feeling is not helped by my perception that our tax-funded educational system is more or less geared to inculcating mass ignorance of this fact. I believe that the calls to reopen states heavily hit by COVID-19 in the name of the Economy are tantamount to human sacrifices on the altar of Capital. I consider this situation morally repugnant, and I don't feel good about being aware of it.

I guess my question really boils down to: what do you tell someone like me? Do you tell us to focus on ourselves and trying to live our best lives within abhorrent socio-economic conditions? Do you tell us to express our frustrations in a constructive, legal, proper (and, frankly, politically impotent) fashion? Do you help a lot of history and political science students come to grips with the terror we feel seeing the States of the world sliding toward techno-authoritarianism?

Thank you for your patience with my rambling question. Answer as much or as little as you care to. Thank you for doing what you do