Aren't You Sick of Being Manipulated by Social Media?

All your support helps! I appreciate you! Upgrade at 40% offI’m a dad.When bots send me death threats because they don’t like my politics, they’re attacking a dad. Those who laugh at those comments, are laughing at an assault on an innocent man. Those who deny these things happen are complicit in enabling them.All I ever say is that I want healthcare for my kids. I’d like them to have access to education. I’d like there to be more tolerance and less violence in our nation.I get comments telling me I should die for saying these things.Sometimes my kids read these comments. I have to tell them these comments aren’t real. They ask, “Where did they come from then?”“Well, bad people who reap in profit from the misery of the world program computers to find people like me and leave mean comments on the articles they write.”“But why?”“Because other people read those comments and they think they’re real. Then they think good things aren’t possible. Then they get angry.”“So it is real,” my kids say. “Those threats are real even though they’re just the words that bots say.”And I have to admit to my girls that they are right. They are right.The comments are fake, but the consequences are real and one way or another, my children will have to pay the price.Today I saw an article about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. For the last few months, she’s been holding rallies all over the country. She’s been filling stadiums with real people. People like you and me. She’s been filling stadiums with moms and dads and children.She’s been saying, “We deserve universal healthcare. We deserve education. Most important of all, we deserve a government that works FOR us!”The article said she’s thinking of aiming for a higher office in 2028, and for the first time in a while, I felt hope.She’s a real person. She knows what it is to struggle to pay the bills. She’s like us.But then I scrolled down to the comments, and there they were. The bot attacks were back. “If the democrats want to win, they can’t run a fringe kook like her!”That’s what they always say isn’t it? They try to manipulate us with the psychology of despair. It’s hopeless! They try to make us think that there’s no point in even trying to make the world better. That can only result in failure! They make us try to feel foolish for even asking to be treated with dignity.“She’s nothing but a left wing kook that could never get enough support to win!”So they run some centrist again, even though centrists have a verifiable history of losing.But this time, I looked at that comment and thought, “Why don’t we let the voters decide?”That’s the real spin of it isn’t it? There’s no need in even talking about it now. Why are they pressuring her not to run already, if they don’t think it can be done?It’s almost as if they’re afraid. As the old saying goes, “That’s why we play the games.”It’s not a foregone conclusion. We can hold a primary. The people can choose who they want. We can go from there. Let’s be fair.Isn’t that the way of things?The problem is, the bots are already at work. They’re hitting us with their lies and their misinformation and their cultivation of despair.“It will never work! You have to compromise! It’s unreasonable to ask for too much!”So again and again and again we settle for nothing.But as I was reading the comments this time, for the first time, I saw right through them. I didn’t see failure, inevitability and anger.Instead I saw fear.The bots are afraid of us.Because, I think they too have seen the stadiums full of real people. They’ve seen the moms and dads and children cheer for a real human being. They’ve seen people toss aside their screens in favor of a human face.We are breaking the chains.Go and talk to your neighbors. They’re real human beings too. They’re moms and dads and kids just like you.I’m a real human being. I talk to people. You can see the videos. I’m afraid for my kids. I’m afraid for the future.But I’m not afraid of the bots.For too long, we’ve listened to what a handful of clever liars have told us on the internet. We’ve listened to faceless profiles spewing rage. We’ve listened to unverified accounts telling us that the future we want is forever out of our reach.We’ve been slaves to technological platforms and the digital page.Smirking billionaires own the narrative.But we the people own the truth.We the people have the power to vote.My advice to you is: log off.Make the oligarch tech bros know that we will not be brainwashed anymore. Let them feel despair as they see their power leak away. Let them know that we’re still in charge of our own minds and that this is a rigged game that we will no longer play.Go talk to your neighbors. Go talk to the moms and dads and children out there. Go to the stadiums and listen to Alexandria. She’s going to talk about education and universal healthcare.From now until 2028, the bots are going to tell us that this aspiration is impossible.They’re going to tell us to do the “safe thing” and compromise.But let’s not.Let’s listen to our hearts and ignore the bots. Let’s vote our hearts in the primaries. Let’s forget about strategies and being so clever, and instead just think about our neighbors.Don’t worry about who can win.Vote for the person you want to win.Dare to dream. Dare to seek change. Dare to live in accordance with your values and beliefs.I’m tired of people going bankrupt over medical bills.I’m tired of people fretting about how to keep a roof over their heads.Aren’t you tired of being manipulated by social media algorithms? Aren’t you tired of having tech bros lord over your kids?Don’t listen to them. It’s time to turn down the volume on their tidal wave of lies. Ignore them like you disregard televised advertisements. Strengthen your resolve. Don’t be manipulated.Listen to your friends and neighbors and relatives and fellow human beings instead. Let’s settle for nothing less than a rational and compassionate government. Let’s reject all the bullies, and select kind people instead.You all make this newsletter happen! Thanks for your sponsorship! I have payment tiers starting at as little as twenty dollars a year.Upgrade at 30% offUpgrade at 40% offUpgrade at 50% offUpgrade at 60% offI'm so happy you're here, and I'm looking forward to sharing more thoughts with you tomorrow.My CoSchedule referral linkHere’s my referral link to my preferred headline analyzer tool. If you sign up through this, it’s another way to support this newsletter (thank you).I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe