We all engage in casual forms of debate almost constantly, and free argumentation is so integral to our daily decision-making that it’s only natural for it to be the foundation of a free, democratic society. Throughout American history, public debate has remained consistently central. Debate shaped the nation’s founding documents, like the Federalist and anti-Federalist […]
Tag: social media
Indonesia and the Chronically Online Political Voice of Gen Z
Searching Indonesia on TikTok once yielded viral videos of an 11-year-old kid racing boats and “aura-farming”. Now, the same search is instead met with clips of burning buildings, demands to the government, and the “Jolly Roger” flag from the 1997 Japanese manga and anime One Piece. These two jarringly different snapshots have one thing in […]
The Warden of the Panopticon: Trump and the Dawn of Digital Authoritarianism
Digital control is the bloodstream of modern authoritarianism. From the streets of Hong Kong to the border of Israel, technology has begun to amplify domination. The history of anti-authoritarian organizing has forced fascism to evolve, birthing the era of digital despotism. Left unchecked, the trend threatens to concentrate power into unelected elites, eliminate social movements, […]
A Post-Mortem of the Youth Vote in 2024
This article is a follow-up to an earlier Berkeley Political Review article entitled “Blue Generation: Gen Z and the Democratic Party.” In the 2024 presidential election, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris underperformed President Joe Biden’s vote share in 2020 nationally by three percentage points. Harris’ underperformance is more striking when looking at individual states, even states […]
Social Media’s Most Wanted: The New Age of Digital Villain Worship
“Double, double toil and trouble”—the cauldron of public opinion is once again brewing, this time casting criminals as misunderstood cultural icons. The romanticization of villains and criminals is nothing new. Yet, in an era where social media actively blurs the line between fact and fiction, Luigi Mangione is recast as a martyr, raising questions about […]
Fitness Influencers and the Unseen Market of Teenage Exploitation
Being trapped inside the house for months during the COVID-19 lockdowns gave everyone new options for how to spend their newfound free time: one could turn to binge-watching a new Netflix series, picking up a new hobby, or for many, attempting a new workout regimen. Thanks to social media, during quarantine, it became a trend […]
Addressing the Alt-Right Pipeline
It’s no secret your social media algorithm knows you better than you know yourself. What you click, what you ignore, and how long you stare at a post gives algorithms slews of information they collect, store, and use to keep you on the app for as long as possible. While this feature has been great […]
The First Amendment Security Blanket
Prior to January 24th 2021, if you were to open up Spotify and click on the “Podcasts & Shows” tab, “The Joe Rogan Experience” would take up the entire top half of your screen. This Spotify exclusive is the largest podcast in the world, where notoriously controversial comedian Joe Rogan has smoked marijuana with Elon […]
Revolutionizing Sex Work? The Growth of OnlyFans Within a Hostile Working Environment
In early August of 2020, actress and child-star Bella Thorne’s OnlyFans account captured the attention of many young adults when she posted a highly edited Instagram video, in which she revealed that she would be selling her nude photos for roughly $200 each. While she received thousands of orders, buyers never acquired the promised photos. […]
Growing Pains: The Evolution of Influencer Marketing
Double tap. Click subscribe. Retweet. In 2010 Instagram was established. With it emerged the influencer. Influencers are public figures that exert influence on the habits and commercial choices of their followers through their social media platforms. They do so by publicizing their purchasing choices, recommendations and opinions on these accounts. Users have come to look […]