This article is trash, and a lie that white parents in the suburbs tell themselves. Trump didn't make Hudson Valley kids racist/sexist. Your kids were already that way, but you don't listen to Black kids, so you don't know that.
NY State is Blacker than the US overall, but Hudson Valley is much whiter than the US overall. Ask a Black New Yorker why that is.
And stop pretending that manly men are conservative. Again: Black men are more masculine + more progressive.
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@mekkaokereke Abandoning kids to the algorithms pushing extremism and to shtbags like Andrew Tate & his ilk have done enormous damage.
Black kids are online *a lot* more than white kids.
And yet, most Black boys think Tate is a loser, and that his fans are even bigger losers. Before the news became common knowledge, I explained what most Black men think of Tate. (CW: Discussion of Tate. It's bad. You really don't have to read this.
https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/109621372212531350 )
The NY Times' trash crime coverage, and copaganda shows like "Law and Order" have done much more to encourage racism in these kids than social media has.
@mekkaokereke @wendinoakland The algorithm shows different kids different stuff.
IMO, the tell in the original story is the dieting. That's always been a really niche idea, but selling diet pills to healthy people is literally the business of right-wing radio.
You don't think Black kids and girls of all races get shown Tate videos too? They do. The difference is who responds to it, likes it, searches for more, favorites, shares, comments positively on, Tate videos. I'll tell you who: losers that hate women and girls.
Recommendation systems don't magically know what you like before you've interacted.
The whole fitness industry sells stuff! But again, not everyone sporty goes fash. It's not fitness, or sports, or masculinity.
@mekkaokereke @wendinoakland I think you're being too reductive. These kids don't start out fascist.
I'm not trying to give them excuses. They are making conscious choices based on the media that's presented to them.
If we get out of this, we're going to have to seriously grapple with the challenge to society of giving anyone with an internet connection unfettered access to our brains.
@tob If the kids were brought up to be anti-racist they'd think racism is stupid. If they'd been brought up to treat girls as equals they'd treat girls as equals and think sexism is stupid. These are values that are learned at home. @mekkaokereke @wendinoakland
@fifilamoura @tob @mekkaokereke @wendinoakland I don’t think it’s that simple. I have a 9 year old that I’ve spent 9 years trying to do the right thing but he still gets Tate Jr content pushed to him and his friends online. We’ve had to have a lot of conversations about what he repeats because he doesn’t even realize that it’s racist and sexist dog whistles. It’s a full time job. Social media absolutely targets kids and subtly pushes this bullshit on them
@tas50 I'm not saying social media doesn't push it on kids, it's about how we innoculate kids so they recognize bigoty when exposed to it and don't get sucked in. If you have female and non-White friends as a man and model healthy masculinity then you're actively modeling embracing equality, being antiracist and being feminist.
And I don't have kids, though I talk to kids I love about these things, so I'm not here to lecture you. Obviously you're an engaged parent and you've countered what they're mimicking that they see online. Deconstructing and explaining why those dog whistles are racist/sexist/homophobic is part of educating your kid if they haven't already learned that and it's also teaching them to think critically and to be anti-racist and feminist. Feminism is also for boys because it's essentially just humanism at its core. @tob @mekkaokereke @wendinoakland
@fifilamoura @tas50 @tob @mekkaokereke @wendinoakland “Feminism is also for boys because it's essentially just humanism at its core.”
Amen.
Back in my early 20’s when I refused to accept the label “feminist*” I was still a feminist thanks to my beliefs.
(* I had been exposed to a LOT of a particular brand of hateful “feminist” propaganda)
@Wraithe Yeah, just as a counterpoint, women are exposed constantly to male hate on both personal and systemic levels. Women are allowed a bit of trauma response when men routinely rape and murder us. Maybe not you personally but you still end up benefiting from our oppression. It's like being perceived as White in our society, we benefit from the oppression of non-White people wether we intend to or not. Or living in the West, we benefit from the exploitation of Africa and the global south even if it's not intentional on our part.
@fifilamoura @tas50 @tob @mekkaokereke @wendinoakland Yep absolutely.
‘Much Later (like 2-3 years, hey I was like 20 
) I connected the shit I had read and how it bothered me and CONNECTED it to “this is a Tuesday for women”.
“This is what it’s like for women constantly”
@fifilamoura @tas50 @tob @mekkaokereke @wendinoakland On the “feminist” thing I finally had a friend get frustrated & point blank:
Her: “are women equal to men?”
Me: “Duh, of course”
Her: “congrats, you’re a feminist, get the fuck over yourself.”
