1. The idea of social platforms as Public utilities
There has been much discussion and suggestion that leading social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, by virtue of their large public membership, are public utilities.
This comment at Popehat’s blog explains fairly eloquently why this is probably not a correct way of thinking.
2. Anti-intellectual dog-whistles
Ed Brayton explains here how the slogans “common sense” and “cosmopolitan” have been used for some time to frame a worldview that despises intellectuals and intellectual analysis.
The word “cosmopolitan” also has a more sinister past, in that it has been used by Fascist governments in the past to demonize opponents.
