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The Present Age Weekly Recap: May 20
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TPA Weekly Recap

The Present Age Weekly Recap: May 20

Jam-packed with newsletter goodness.

Parker Molloy
May 20, 2022
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The Present Age Weekly Recap: May 20
www.readtpa.com

Welcome to the weekly recap. In this post, I’ll be linking to my work from the week, sharing some stories from others I thought were interesting, and providing a few casual thoughts on [gestures at everything]. If you’d like to receive this weekly email ONLY, please go to your account page and under “Email notifications” uncheck every box except “TPA Weekly Recap.” If you don’t want to receive the weekly recap, leave all boxes except “TPA Weekly Recap” checked.


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From me this week: Stefanik, change, foolishness, and nuts

On Saturday, I wrote about audio I obtained featuring one of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY)’s staffers trying to explain a tweet of hers that referenced “pedo grifters.” The staffer repeatedly insisted that Stefanik did not mean “pedophiles,” but then later admitted that yes, that’s what she meant.

The Present Age
AUDIO: Stefanik staffer twists himself in knots defending "pedo grifters" comment
Yesterday, just as I was wrapping up my work for the week, I saw this tweet from Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY…
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8 months ago · 30 likes · 2 comments · Parker Molloy

On Monday, I wrote about the frustration of watching while nothing changes after a mass shooting or terrorist attack. At this point, it feels like we’ve collectively given up on trying to stop these horrors from happening.

The Present Age
Mass shootings, inaction, rinse, repeat
Hello, and happy Monday to everyone. Let’s jump right in. As I’m sure you’re well aware, a white supremacist drove to a predominantly-Black neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, where he shot and killed 10 people. In a manifesto originally posted to Google Docs on Thursday evening, the 18-year-old shooter amplified the right-wing “great replacement” conspir…
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8 months ago · 24 likes · 7 comments · Parker Molloy

And then on Tuesday, I wrote about people who get duped by fake screenshots only to later argue that “Sure, it’s not true, but doesn’t it say something about society that I might think it was true??” (No.)

The Present Age
No, it does not "say something about society" if you fall for fake screenshots. It just means you're gullible.
Yesterday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's spokesperson, Christina Pushaw, best known for her smearing opponents of Florida’s anti-LGBTQ “Don’t Say Gay” law as being “pro-grooming,” tweeted out a screenshot of what she claimed was an article from The Washington Post…
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8 months ago · 12 likes · 10 comments · Parker Molloy

And on Wednesday, I wrote about the so-called “Intellectual Dark Web,” nut allergies, and victimhood.

The Present Age
Aw, nuts!
So, this morning, I saw a really goofy tweet from one of the members of the iNteLLecTuaL DaRk wEb, a collection of libertarian doofuses given a big ol’ profile boost by galaxy brain Bari Weiss in a 2018 New York Times feature. “We’re being denied nuts on this flight because we have a passenger on board with a nut allergy,” tweeted Bret Weinstein. “Also, …
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8 months ago · 28 likes · 6 comments · Parker Molloy

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Stories from others I’d like to highlight

Adi Cohen and Benjamin T. Decker have a piece over at Tech Policy Press that I find extremely fascinating (and pretty worrying). I debated making a whole post about this, but it’s really better if you read the whole thing yourself. In it, Cohen and Decker detail how the Buffalo shooter made “the ephermal eternal” by streaming his attack on Twitch, which got archived and distributed quickly to other platforms. Really, truly, sit down and read this one.

Twitter avatar for @techpolicypress
Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress
Internet Trolls Should Not Dictate the Terms of Public Exposure to Hate An analysis from Memetica's @adico11 & @btdecker of how the Buffalo shooter’s content artifacts traveled from message boards to platforms and other file sharing services:
techpolicy.pressInternet Trolls Should Not Dictate the Terms of Public Exposure to HateMemetica’s Adi Cohen & Benjamin T. Decker map the spread of the Buffalo shooter’s content via a patchwork of sites and services.
10:52 PM ∙ May 18, 2022

Ryan Broderick has another great edition of Garbage Day out in which he digs through Facebook’s quarterly Widely Viewed Content Report. I don’t use Facebook much these days, but oof, it seems grim over there.

Garbage Day
Facebook's current state of decomposition
It’s Time For A New Widely Viewed Facebook Content Report! Dang, it seems like Facebook’s Widely Viewed Content Report for Q4 of 2021 was just yesterday. If you aren’t familiar with these reports, they’re put out by Facebook’s Transparency center and they usually contain some incredibly bizarre thing that the company hopes no one notices. Like how one of…
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8 months ago · 21 likes · 3 comments · Ryan Broderick

Don Moynihan has an entry over at Can We Still Govern? about connections between the Buffalo shooter’s manifesto and mainstream Republican politics. It, like Facebook, is pretty grim, to use that word once again.

Can We Still Govern?
Mainstreaming a murderer's manifesto
How do we make sense of a 18 year-old man deliberately going to a zip code that had the most Black people in his vicinity in order to kill as many as possible? Many have argued that we should not share the manifesto of the killer, his name or the images he live-streamed. Such sharing does what he intended, giving his vile actions the attention he craved…
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8 months ago · 14 likes · 1 comment · Don Moynihan

And Talia Lavin is really in her element in the May 17 edition of The Sword and the Sandwich. Just read it.

The Sword and the Sandwich
White Supremacy's Warped Rationale
In the aftermath of any mass slaughter in this country, the conversation turns, in desultory fashion, to the issue of mental illness. Tucker Carlson, hastening to dismiss widespread recognition of the fact that his show’s white nationalist politics echoed those of the shooter’s, who he dismissed as a…
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8 months ago · 32 likes · Talia Lavin


Today’s Tunes:

“Love/Hate Letter to Alcohol (Live on Saturday Night Live)” by Post Malone ft. Fleet Foxes

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The Present Age Weekly Recap: May 20
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