The Present Age Weekly Recap: June 17, 2022

LGBTQ rights, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok

Jun 17

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.

From me this week: the right’s anti-LGBTQ push, plus a couple of media appearances

On Monday, I wrote about the resurgence of violently anti-LGBTQ rhetoric on the right, and why we need vocal allies now more than ever before.

The Present Age

The anti-LGBTQ right is going to get people killed

On Saturday, 31 people affiliated with Patriot Front, a right-wing white nationalist group, were arrested en route to an LGBTQ Pride event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The organization had apparently planned to crash Coeur d’Alene’s annual “Pride in the Park” event, a family-friendly LGBTQ get-together put on by the North Idaho Pride Alliance…

2 months ago · 45 likes · 6 comments · Parker Molloy

On Wednesday, I shared a clip of my appearance on The Daily Show’s Beyond The Scenes podcast with Roy Wood, Jr., and Chase Strangio.

The Present Age

Parker Molloy appears on The Daily Show's Beyond The Scenes podcast to talk about attacks on trans rights

Last week, I had a chance to chat with The Daily Show’s Roy Wood, Jr. and the ACLU’s Chase Strangio about the state of trans rights in the U.S. — the Republican-led attacks on trans people, the relative Democratic silence on the issue — and just reflecting a bit on the time we live in…

2 months ago · 7 likes · 1 comment · Parker Molloy

And on Thursday, I shared a clip of my appearance on MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes.

The Present Age

Parker Molloy went on MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes to discuss anti-LGBTQ rhetoric on the right

Last night, I was on MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes to discuss my Monday story about anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, laws, and threats from the right. You can check out the interview here…

2 months ago · 20 likes · 1 comment · Parker Molloy

Stories from others I’d like to highlight

Recode’s Shirin Ghaffary shared a leaked transcript of Elon Musk’s meeting with Twitter employees. It’s… not exactly encouraging, but it’s worth a read.

Vox @voxdotcom

While Musk provided few details that would assuage those at Twitter who fear his self-labeled free speech ideology and management style — it was one of the most substantial conversations Musk has had yet about how he actually plans to change the company.

Leaked transcript: Inside Elon Musk’s first meeting with Twitter employeesThe conversation provides the most detail yet about Musk’s plans to change the social media company.vox.com

And in other tech-related news, Joshua Benton has a piece over at Nieman Lab about Facebook’s path to “divorce” the news industry, as well as its TikTok-inspired algorithm changes.

Joshua Benton @jbenton

New by me —> Out of every 1,000 posts viewed on Facebook, how many, on average, include a link to a news site? Four. The saga of how Facebook has spent the past 7 years divorcing the news industry

Facebook looks ready to divorce the news industry, and I doubt couples counseling will helpOut of every 1,000 times someone sees a post on Facebook, how many of them include a link to a news site? Four. No wonder Facebook doesn’t want to write publishers big checks anymore.niemanlab.org

Embedded has a piece that makes me feel old, but that’s okay. It’s about TikTok as the town square.

Embedded

TikTok is the town square now

Embedded is your essential guide to what’s good on the internet, from Kate Lindsay and Nick Catucci. Stay tuned for when I make this article into, you guessed it, a TikTok. —Kate…

2 months ago · 12 likes · kate lindsay

The great Christopher Ingraham has a neat map breaking down the effect of air pollution on our lives.

The Why Axis

Map: How much air pollution is shortening lives in your community

This week the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago released the 2022 edition of its Air Quality Life Ind…

2 months ago · 3 likes · Christopher Ingraham

And finally, Jack Mirkinson at Discourse Blog has a story with a simple request to the New York Times: please stop publishing terrible journalism about trans people. In case you haven’t noticed, there have been a whole bunch of anti-trans stories being published over there. It’s getting ridiculous, and makes me think that recently-elevated Times managing editor Joe Kahn has some sort of ax to grind. Bad reporting about trans people and our lives will hurt us in major ways.