The only people who care about that shit are common folk. Tesla is still doing well because those who care about money still think he’s a tech genius that will invent the next great idea - robots, AGI, space colonies - and investing in/high evaluations of Tesla is investing in Elon.

Elon’s feelings might be hurt if commoners reject him, but he’s still going to have plenty of friends and opportunities. Once you’re wealthy, your social circle stops being about other personal values and become entirely about money and power. Which he still has plenty of.

Feel like this title should’ve been Wisconsin Demands Arrest of… Because holy shit my heart skipped a beat to think something might change :(

I think that social media (which is much broader than most people think) isn’t really the issue. It’s a tool being leveraged by the real danger. As you say, Lemmy hasn’t been bought and sold by special interest groups.

The way social media is leveraged is very harmful, but those groups are also leveraging other media (particularly the news). I would blame our ibcreased social division on the special interest groups that benefit from, and promote, social division.

IMO blaming social media itself for our woes is like blaming the ocean’s plastic on straws. It ultimately let’s the real damage continue while blaming the everyman’s suffering on their own consumption.

Most people vote Conservative because they are afraid, and are drawn to leaders that seem strong, powerful, and promise to destroy or protect them from the things they fear.

They might’ve been dumb enough to be tricked. Now they’re too afraid to admit they were. They’re in too deep, and they’d have to sacrifice standing, community, stability, and their understanding of their place in the world if they were to admit they were wrong.

That’s too scary. Most of them aren’t too dumb to understand, they’re convincing themselves because the alternative is too horrible for them to admit.

How do you reconcile that with how social media platforms like Lemmy allow people to collaborate across groups also? Or to educate?

Like, I do agree that social media plays a hugely pivotal role. But that’s because humans are social creatures with pliable perspectives and are reactive to the views of those we call our peers.

That means special interest groups can tell us what our views should be and sway millions, but it also means that small towns have always been extremely insular and would reject ‘out-group’ people, with or without social media. The ‘liberal redneck’ can only exist now because they can have contact with diverse and nuanced people outside of their local communities through online platforms.

I think humans have stunted relationships with their local communities in favour of fragile online ones, but I believe bad actors are leveraging the power of humanity’s propensity for community groupthink. Social media expands the size of our ‘tribes’, but it’s engagement algorythms that are enforcing echo chambers, to keep us on platforms in profitable ways. That is a property of for profit Capitalism, more than of remote peer-to-peer interaction.