There's a long history of kids going viral on the internet. The most notorious of the early examples was David After Dentist, in which a dad uploaded a video of his young son who was wildly woozy on the way home from having a tooth removed. The video's virality caused me to reflect on my own then young children's shortcomings in a post called, My Kids Refused to Go Viral. But more recently, kids are going viral less often because of random, funny home videos caught on camera and more often through planned campaigns to turn them into influencers, models, and celebrities. And it's getting really disturbing. "Elissa and her daughter inhabit the world of Instagram influencers whose accounts are managed by their parents. Although the site prohibits children under 13, parents can open so-called mom-run accounts for them, and they can live on even when the girls become teenagers. But what often starts as a parent’s effort to jump-start a child’s modeling career, or win favors from clothing brands, can quickly descend into a dark underworld dominated by adult men, many of whom openly admit on other platforms to being sexually attracted to children." (Is there an internet user on the planet who wouldn't have predicted as much?) NYT (Gift Article): A Marketplace of Girl Influencers Managed by Moms and Stalked by Men. 2Disco(ntent) InfernoIt's the question of our time: How can anyone still support this guy? He says something crazy and destructive, you scream into the void how crazy and destructive what he said was, and they still support him, leaving you and even the most vaunted political philosophers to wonder out loud, "Seriously, what the hell?" Consider this: What you see as a bug, many Americans see as a feature. The chaos you warn about is the the exact outcome they crave. Derek Thompson in The Atlantic (Gift Article): The Americans Who Need Chaos. "'These [need-for-chaos] individuals are not idealists seeking to tear down the established order so that they can build a better society for everyone ... Rather, they indiscriminately share hostile political rumors as a way to unleash chaos and mobilize individuals against the established order that fails to accord them the respect that they feel they personally deserve.' To sum up their worldview, Petersen quoted a famous line from the film The Dark Knight: 'Some men just want to watch the world burn.'" To avoid concluding on a negative note, I'll share another quote from the same movie. "I promise you, the dawn is coming." (Of course, that line is in a speech from a guy whose nickname is Two-Face...) 3Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch"It was a humanitarian disaster. It was a drug crisis. It was a national security emergency. It was a cartel war and an American political battle all playing out during a presidential election year within the remote confines of their ranch." The excellent Eli Saslow in the NYT(Gift Article): A Family Ranch, Swallowed Up in the Madness of the Border. "Just when you think you’ve seen everything, this place still shocks you,' Jim said. He turned onto a rugged road that paralleled the border wall and drove for a few more miles, until he saw a campfire burning in the distance. 'Nobody should be out here,' he said. He was on the most remote corner of one of the most remote ranches in America, but as he drove closer, he counted more than 45 people sitting near the fire. Children shouted in French. A woman prayed in Arabic. 'What in the world is going on?' Jim wondered." 4Weekend WhatsWhat to Watch: Amy Schumer and Michael Cera star in Life & Bethon Hulu. It's what I would describe as comfort TV and the second season is better than the first. 5Extra, ExtraCartelimarketing: "The first call came in December 2011. It was a real estate broker from Mexico offering an exciting opportunity: A buyer wanted to pay Stephen, a financial manager from the Midwest, $65,000 for his timeshare in Cancún – far more than the $47,000 he had spent on it six years earlier." Some Mexican cartels are expanding into a new business that can be as lucrative as cocaine: timeshare scams. 6Feel Good FridayDaniel Pink has an excellent new column at WaPo (Gift Article), where he looks at possible solutions to big problems. His first installment: Why not pay teachers $100,000 a year?
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See the post that he shared. Facebook 📄 Liaqat Ali Ali shared Waheed Zaman 's post. 26 April at 12:09 View This message was sent to ludomallam@idiot.cloudns.cc . If you don't want to receive these emails from Facebook in the future, please unsubscribe . Facebook, Inc., Attention: Community Support, 1 Facebook Way, Menlo Park, CA 94025 To help keep your account secure, please don't forward this email. Learn more
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