CASE FILE!

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there's a certain rhetorical sleight-of-hand i often see on this website wherein the phrase "media literate" is deployed but what's meant is more along the lines of "sharing a specific interpretation of a text." the skills that make up media literacy have to do with the ability to understand what's being said in the text and how that message is conveyed mechanically. two people can be equally media literate and will still interpret the message radically differently if, say, one is a card-carrying marxist and the other votes tory. and that's not me saying that both are equally 'correct,' because i don't think that lol. but you can't resolve that type of disagreement by 'teaching more media literacy' (often a euphemism for economically inaccessible and culturally hegemonic university education) if you're ignoring the political and social interpretive frameworks and value systems that people are importing when they put their media literacy skills to use

the corollary is that some interpretations of a text ARE reactionary, but often that's not due to 'media illiteracy' and in fact, the assumption that the university functions as some kind of enlightening force is itself ALSO reactionary and doesn't engage with the political conflicts that are actually at hand

[looking at people younger than me] you have your whole life ahead of you [looking at people older than me] you have your whole life ahead of you [looking at myself] its over

very suspicious about any talk of needing to base your politics on empathy. like any emotion empathy is very easily manipulated, and even besides that that is a meaningless statement. im sure plenty of white supremacists feel pretty empathetic about the plight of the white man or whatever

not a caller not a texter but a secret third thing

don’t contact me. ever

[ID: a traditional oil painting of dandelions, daisies, and grass growing around a tree. Only the bottom of the tree trunk is shown. The rest of the tree is cut off at the top of the painting. End ID]