This isn't really anything new or to be unexpected, especially with how the incoming administration is allowing more or less vocal billy clubbing of corporations that don't fall in line (TikTok more or less being absorbed into Meta and Zuckerberg going mask off fascist and incel) but does anyone else get that sensation or feeling we are about to see a massive effort to suppress or outright destroy specific media especially if we see congress and senate gain a majority under the midterms?
A lot of new media and programming has become, at least tangentially, LGBTQ supportive (especially recent children's media) and I can see this being used alongside anti-communism/wokeism (whatever the fuckism), in a new redscare that will see streaming services outright destroy or write out shows as tax write offs in an attempt to avoid the clubbing.
So yeah guess this has made me even more focused on having physical media be they movies/shows, comics, books (either in disc form or burned on to a personal media server for the sake of preservation) to preserve in case we see a likely repeat of fash book burnings.
Also did not really know where to post this since it encompasses movies, art, literature, politics etc.
Albert Szymanski, I think in "human rights in the Soviet Union", discusses a framework of oppression, in which he explains oppression as a tool that states apply when they feel like they're at risk of losing popular support. This has a lot to do with how powerful and influential a state is, the power of its media vs media of other countries, and importantly, the living conditions of people inside vs outside.
The West™ has, for the past century, had the luxury of showing itself as the paradigm of social progress and freedom, because it had the economical advantage and therefore the strongest and most omnipresent media, and people could see that they had better material conditions in many cases than in other countries (at least in terms of income, not so in welfare depending on the country). Things are changing. Since 2008, living standards in Europe have plunged, social services have been cut, and the rise of China with yearly increases in both GDP and earnings of 5%, make Europe pale in comparison. The only way the state apparatus in the west will have to make citizens believe they're still the best, is through oppression, and in China we're seeing / we will see the opposite trend.
That's my guess anyway
Yeah I'm honestly wondering when we will have our own hammer down moments (i.e. a full open fire "incident" on a protest for abortion rights or just against the administration itself).