Comment by cblconfederate
5 years ago
well said, but it s not a revelation. When social media started lots of people objected to the mindless sharing of everything for narcissistic reasons. The onion joked that facebook was a CIA project. Social media and China's social scoring system are very much related, elements of an unfree society in which average behavior is rewarded and weirdos, outcasts, misfits and rebels are "disappeared". Instagram feeds is pretty much like those soviet and north korean paintings in which everyone is smiling in front of fruit. Imagine if they had social media in the 60s, it would be an absolute shitshow.
There's a contemporary russian illustrator who specialises in Ostalgia, as if the soviets had had pinups and Norman Rockwell.
Young Pioneer examples: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24440206