Paul Matzko

Historian. Author of "The Radio Right" (Oxford, 2020).

[Paul Matzko @PMatzko]

Elon opened the doors of content moderation jail and flooded this platform with vile idiots whose hate he actively promotes.

I've deleted this app on my phone although I'll maintain my account for DMs. Find me on Threads at the same handle where I'll be more active.

[Paul Matzko @PMatzko]

@AlecStapp Anyways, I could go on -- as if "clickbait" is categorically different than "yellow journalism" etc -- but the point is that this chart doesn't stand up to even casual scrutiny. And it was created in service of a flawed argument that boils down to the Simpson's could meme.

[Paul Matzko @PMatzko]

@AlecStapp Or consider video, where it marks dopamine culture as reels of short videos, as if the origins of the movie industry wasn't literal nickelodeons, hundreds of thousands of which lined boardwalks and entertainment venues all over this country in the early 20th century.

[Paul Matzko @PMatzko]

@deanwball @mkratsios47 I'm happy for you, and I'd prefer you in that role over many others, but please use whatever internal influence you have to discourage the White House from using AI to implement its various fascist and authoritarian policies.

[Paul Matzko @PMatzko]

@micsolana @DKThomp How about this: on a per dollar basis, public health aid is a remarkable investment in American soft power.

This was a given reason for the creation of USAID and other post-WW2 aid programs, to generate affective bonds that advanced US interests in the middle of the Cold War.

[Paul Matzko @PMatzko]

@dansally @BMStudebaker Great thread, Dan!

[Paul Matzko @PMatzko]

@DKThomp @marcelolima @paulg If Trump wanted to, here are the key ways he could weaponize the FCC to punish critical media outlets. Note: he's signaled his interest in abusing FCC authority repeatedly. https://t.co/v6M1mRMV5z

[Paul Matzko @PMatzko]

@PhilEdwardsInc Stryker's treatment of Lange vs firing Walker Evans ("I didn’t give a damn about the office in Washington—or about the New Deal, really.") was telling about the purpose of the information division.

[Paul Matzko @PMatzko]

@energybants Love it. We have to teach every generation to feel gratitude towards the ways technological innovation makes their lives safer, healthier, happier, and more prosperous.

https://t.co/c9szKVWVvI

[Paul Matzko @PMatzko]

@Noahpinion In re your point on a strong(er) Democratic Party, I think you'd find this article I wrote about the decline of the modern parties of interest.

https://t.co/QPxCHHHVbS

[Paul Matzko @PMatzko]

@HansFBader Southern South America has lower adherence rates than northern South and Central America, but it's also not a major source of immigrants compared to those regions. You're right that African immigration -- with sky high adherence rates -- is the future.

[Paul Graham @paulg]

A new paper estimates that Chernobyl cost 318 million life years by discouraging the construction of nuclear plants and thus increasing air pollution. If we conservatively estimate life expectancy at 80 years, that's about 4 million lives.

https://t.co/iaVpDKEwy7

[Paul Matzko @PMatzko]

Severely underrated innovation in content moderation.

[Will Duffield @Will_Duffield]

@eigenrobot Well, 3 years ago they let journalists bully them out of releasing a revolutionary anti-harassment system. https://t.co/mnTQnj39TD

[Paul Matzko @PMatzko]

@Meta_Myself Hmmm, I see it as a response to status anxiety in Hofstadter’s sense. Embattled-feeling Christians worried about falling respect for their place in an assumed cultural consensus are ripe for radicalization by opportunistic religio-political entrepreneurs.

[Paul Matzko @PMatzko]

I was raised fundamentalist, so the neo-fundamentalist movement is familiar in many ways although the key difference is that this version is organized primarily along political and cultural rather than theological lines.

[hannah anderson @sometimesalight]

The previous thread on Shepherds for Sale was brought to you by growing up fundamentalist & I gotta say, you all are still amateurs at this 2nd-degree separation game. I leveled up to 3rd & 4th & have the badges to prove it*

(*not Awana badges of course b/c #separation)

[Paul Matzko @PMatzko]

@Tim1AP I’m not sure I agree. Many of those folks—Jerry Falwell Sr, Bob Jones Jr, Pat Robertson, etc—are dead, of course. And there are meaningful differences between the methods and ideology of the New Christian Right and the, shall we call it, the Alt Christian Right.

[Paul Matzko @PMatzko]

Just take a look at the online hubbub over Megan Basham’s book, which simply assumes that support for addressing climate change or defending minority rights or criticizing Trump is ipso facto proof of a pastor being a functional heretic.

[Paul Matzko @PMatzko]

This isn’t to say that old school fundamentalists were apolitical, but the organizing focus was on wayward theology as opposed to wayward politics.

Eg, accusing someone of being a Democrat today fulfills the same function as a fundy in the 1920s labeling someone a “modernist.”