The police shut down First Friday here in Phoenix at 9pm yesterday. They ended up using chemical weapons on people (ie: assaulting hundreds or a few thousand ppl with gas). Vendors were upset because they paid for stalls and their very LEGAL and COMMERCIAL gathering was shut down, harming them as well as the innocent people brutally attacked by police. They justified their actions because there was a shooting NEAR First Friday last month.
I found no reporting on this fascist BS. Our media sucks
Apparently they announced strict curfews starting at 10 on first fridays last year? So no one under 16 without parents at that time, and no one under 18 past midnight? Which is also absurd fascist nonsense. But this is even more ridiculous.
Again, the justification was "increasing violence."
I feel like they just don't want people coming together IRL. They want to make sure all communities are mediated by platforms controlled by the elon musks and peter thiels of the world
Dying country. Sad.
@cykonot jesus, yall are the bad place.
@Gina "This Is America" intensifies
I'll note that the policy announced last year is at least backed by the city code. The egregious enforcement last night, where they declare an early curfew and bust everyone's heads for no reason, is much much less justifiable. And the vendor who was the reason i know about this was very frustrated that the booth she paid for had all her customers driven away an hour early (it was busy).
Further, the absolute dearth of coverage is quite galling IMO
@cykonot sorry to hear that. It's bizarre what's happening in the US. I installed TikTok again last night because it's one the few ways left to get news from the US that isn't propaganda.
@Gina Larry Ellison (tiktok's new owner) has the background, motivation, and connections to make effective use of the platform as a propaganda vehicle
Oracle is all about big data, he has deeply suspect emotional + idealogical + financial interests, and he's long been tied to US and Israeli intelligence. While much of the content you see will be made by real people, they'll be subjected to algorithmic nudges, and your feeds curated
He sets the agenda & curates the framing there
@Gina i know that you're very technically capable lol, sorry.
Here's a theory of mass media i like!
https://www.sociologygroup.com/theories-of-mass-media-gatekeeping-agenda-setting-framing-and-priming-theory/
And just imagine all the bots and algorithms driving one another, not to mention how "ai" distorts people's worldviews
I fear future generations will be utterly unmoored from reality, as finding truth gets harder and harder in a society stripped of trust
