A powerful class of tech billionaires believes democracy is an obstacle — not a value.

From crypto empires and AI dominance to “network states” and effective altruism, a growing broligarchy envisions a future ruled by elites, insulated from accountability and untethered from democratic norms.

David Z. Morris — longtime technology and finance journalist and author of Stealing the Future: Sam Bankman-Fried, Elite Fraud, and the Cult of Techno-Utopia — joins the show to expose how Epstein’s elite network, Silicon Valley power players, and crypto utopians are reshaping politics in ways that threaten democratic institutions worldwide.

http://thelefthook.substack.com/

#EpsteinFiles #TechFascism #CryptoBros #SiliconValley #BillionaireClass #DavidZMorris #AIpolitics #Authoritarianism #democracyunderthreat #trump #news #breakingnews #trending

  • verdigris@lemmy.mlEnglish
    4·
    2 months ago

    In terms of the terminally online, yes, GamerGate was absolutely a critical point of radicalization of young males and the metastasis of far-right fascist thought. In the greater culture it was a blip, but it swayed a lot of guys who were previously either politically inactive or broadly liberal to pivot into misogyny and anti-woke conspiracy.

    This isn’t particularly difficult to research – if you want primary sources it is, but there are a ton of video essays and other media exploring this exact phenomenon. For a perspective published as it was actively developing, I recommend this video by Folding Ideas.

    • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      3·
      2 months ago

      Appreciate that link. Thanks for that as a starting point.

      I don’t consider this an easy thing to research; the word gamergate itself becomes a verb/ adjective in the dialectic around the conversation very quickly. I’ve gone so far as to pull the entirety of the reddit archive from 2005-2022, which includes subs like r/kotakuinaction, r/antigamergate. There is a whole language and vocabulary these communities glommed on to, which for an outsider, is practically incomprehensible. I mean even this video you’ve posted (which I’m listening to as I respond) is already drifting into the phenomenology of logic and epistemology. Six minutes and they haven’t even mentioned gamergate, and as soon as they do, there is this assumption I know what actually happened.

      I would hardly call the topic of researching gamergate as easy. For example, very soon in the conversation we come into terms like “pro-gamergate” and “anti-gamergate”…

      I mean…