The Illusion of More

David Golumbia on Facebook & Fascism

Episode Summary

In this episode, I speak with David Golumbia, author and associate professor of digital studies, American literature, literary theory, philosophy, and linguistics at Virginia Commonwealth University. I asked David to join me after reading his blog post published on October 20th in which he asserts that Facebook is not just dropping the ball when it comes to curbing hate on its platform but that, in his words, Facebook Loves Fascism.

Episode Notes

Episode Contents

• 00:00:55 - David Golumbia background.
• 00:03:24 - Facebook loves fascism.
• 00:08:24 - Defining "right" vs. proto-fascism.
• 00:11:36 - Paths to authoritarianism.
• 00:13:50 - mysticism and fascism.
• 00:18:56 - Facebook's astrology  TV spot.
• 00:23:48 - More subtle forces driving division.
• 00:32:02 - Facebook is too good for democracy.
• 00:36:32 - Better/more information is not a solution.
• 00:45:11 - "Educate yourself."
• 00:48:50 - Considering outcomes.
• 00:54:05 - Rapidly changing narratives.
• 00:56:25 - Latent extremism let out of the box.
• 01:00:35 - What do Facebook et al really want?
• 01:07:06 - The Big Tobacco analogy.

Read David Golumbia's blog post here.

See David Golumbia's university page here.