(((Baslow)))

How Millions of Americans Got Tricked Into Using a Bank That Isn't a Bank Neobanks are (and, arguably, Fintech -- in general -- is) the enshittification of trust and the annihilation of responsibility. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiE7NvONU5U

@mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io I think we have to give some of the credit to DSA...

@mastodonmigration@mastodon.online Live caucus updates: York County puts Troy Jackson over the top https://www.bangordailynews.com/2026/07/19/politics/elections/live-caucus-updates-day-two-democrat-senate-candidates/

@aral I highly recommend the videos/substack/soon-to-be-published book of Tad Stoermer, resistance historian. Just as an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmIpv3ftEVM

@mergerson@mastodon.social I'd urge - realizing that this is a long-term goal and doesn't immediately address problems at hand - that we wean ourselves away from thinking of ourselves as consumers of online social media services and start thinking of ourselves - as open source and the fediverse empower us to do - as the collective creators of a new online world of communities. It will take commitment and determination but to do otherwise is to cede control. I say: #SeizeTheMeansOfCommunity

@ProfBatGirl@ecoevo.social @JeremyLittau@mastodon.social ...and, to be clear, I've *been* here for years and have urged people not to build only sanctuaries, ghettos, fallout shelters and preserves. Because we won't salvage the world unless we lesrn to rapidly form robust, enduring, mutual world-facing big-picture communities capable of engaging with and addressing the problems of the real world. We're running out of time and, at the age of 70, I feel a certain urgency....

@ProfBatGirl@ecoevo.social @JeremyLittau@mastodon.social Least you think I'm fibbing: @baslow@mastodon.social

@ProfBatGirl@ecoevo.social @JeremyLittau@mastodon.social If progressive, egalitarian don't build in this space the hyper-individualistic forces will, by iteratively trying/failing/improving until they have elaborate, viable online spaces that more collective-minded forces can't rival....

@ProfBatGirl@ecoevo.social @JeremyLittau@mastodon.social I understand, I do: https://mastodon.social/@baslow/109367307045004010 but, there's also this: https://mastodon.social/@baslow/108147342916246779 I've been devoting a lot of thought to these issues for awhile. Deference is great, applied selectively where appropriate, but it is harmful when wielded in an across-the-board sort of way. Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò has a lot of good, interesting things to say about "deference politics": https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1867-elite-capture

@ProfBatGirl@ecoevo.social @JeremyLittau@mastodon.social I hope we can be respectful and discuss (not demand, not impose) constructive alternatives... because if we can't we have surrendered certain fundamental aspects of democracy.

@JeremyLittau@mastodon.social I think this attitudinal shift is necessary. We (all of us) need to *build* the Fediverse, not just inhabit it. That may require initiating conversations and forging alliances between users and technicians that proprietary systems (in the name of convenience but in the service of control) put up barriers to prevent. https://social.coop/@baslow/109376864938026067