A bit ago I joined Ryan Holiday to talk ab online manipulation & smear campaigns, among other things. He wrote the 📕 “Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator” ab his own work in PR & manipulated narratives. If you’re interested in the Blake Lively story, listen. The tactics are almost identical bt entertainment & politics — it’s easy to smear someone in an age of online rage mobs & vitriolic factions!

https://dailystoic.com/the-new-age-of-media-manipulation-renee-diresta/

Here’s my contribution to The Discourse on the insane rumors that have become reality among a subset of X users

1. The platform privileges rumors. This has always been structurally true but “policy shapes propagation” & Elon’s policy changes juices it.

2. This is not accidental. Rumors are useful for political propaganda. MAGA elites now amplify & legitimize them. It’s not just “more visible,” it’s normalized.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/10/rumors-x-twitter-musk/680219/

Watch me try to explain modern propaganda and influence in three minutes on live TV — Morning Joe!

https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/propaganda-and-the-people-who-turn-lies-into-reality-the-subject-of-invisible-rulers-212738117766

I feel like I hit some age, maybe 35, where forever after every minor cold has turned into some kind of long-lasting infection. My kids are better in two days, and I suffer for two weeks.

I just turned in my book manuscript!

I could have second-guessed every word for many more weeks but it feels so good to just be done with it.

Excellent. More of this. Smear campaigns have real costs, and hacks who willingly destroy people for political objectives deserve accountability. I hope the award is massive.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/30/us/politics/giuliani-defamation-georgia.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

nostr:npub1f5260td9a56l87nwgkdrsjklj9vjnan8z3whsfn5llcyy0j5ya2sv2ud5z oh interesting. Did not consider that.

nostr:npub12ssaq8hmkfmsshruadrq3vz74rlkq8e9e9awmdmkjena952cemnqk7c7zf next summer also

nostr:npub12ssaq8hmkfmsshruadrq3vz74rlkq8e9e9awmdmkjena952cemnqk7c7zf thank you. :) when is yours out?

First draft of book turned in.

I’m not going to do any work this weekend for the first time in a year. Then it’ll be back at it for revisions time, since I feel like I hate 1/3 of it at the moment.