As some Democrats fear social media is exaggerating economic problems, the White House faces a crucial choice on election strategy
On Dec. 20, 2022, Topher Olive went to a McDonald’s in the town of Post Falls, Idaho, and ordered a limited edition “smoky” double quarter pounder BLT with fries and a Sprite. The meal cost $16.10, and he posted the receipt on TikTok.
Even though he had ordered a novelty item, Olive’s video about a $16 McDonald’s order went viral, racking up hundreds of thousands of views…
[…]
One anomalous price from one store in Idaho 11 months ago was ripping through people’s social media feeds as if it explained the entire economy. One Democratic official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations, said: “What are we supposed to do, tell the president or Chuck Schumer to send a tweet saying, ‘Hey, most Big Macs aren’t that expensive?’ It would look ridiculous.” A spokesperson from McDonald’s did not return a request for comment.
Will Stancil has some fame on Twitter but he turned it to crank and a nut. The last ~6 months he’s been punching left like an insane person. I’m surprised he’s managed to get quoted in a major newspaper. But then again - his entire shtick for years has been that young people don’t know anything and their brains are poisoned by the media - particularly Tiktok.
Will Stancil, a research fellow at the Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity, said the problem goes far beyond TikTok, pointing out the media also focuses disproportionately on negative news. He said that Republican voters turned on the economy as soon as Biden was elected — hardly a sign of underlying conditions.
It is not a conspiracy theory, Stancil argued, to believe the media ecosystem has warped people’s views, particularly given how hard it is to assess nationwide economic conditions from one’s own personal experience.
“This has a lot to do with the social and media environment that young people live in. People’s ideas of things like the economy — which they can’t experience directly — are being constructed from what they’re hearing from other people. It’s being constructed from what you hear from your peers, trusted sources, and the news media, and so forth,” Stancil said, arguing that while people can have their own experiences of the economy, they cannot individually form a comprehensive picture of it. “People begin to incorporate that into their worldview.”
People’s ideas of things like the economy — which they can’t experience directly — are being constructed from what they’re hearing from other people. It’s being constructed from what you hear from your peers, trusted sources, and the news media, and so forth,"
"This isn’t faaiirr! People are forming their opinions from their and other people’s lived experience. Of course things will look bad if you go by social media posts, you’re bound to see tens of thousands of people complaining about not being able to afford food, rent, and healthcare before you find a billionaire whose net worth has doubled because of his holdings in Raytheon and Lockheed!Now, when you’re willing to grow up, act like adults, and form your entire worldview around reliable metrics like GDP and…well just GDP actually, then we can talk."
this comment hit the nail exactly on the head. any time i try to argue with someone it’s always this.
Millennials are doing just fine when you factor Mark Zuckerberg into the average.
I just love the continued talking down the entire Democratic party is doing to the American working class. Surely the reason you can’t afford rent or groceries or healthcare or transportation or education is because you don’t understand the complexity of the economy! If you would just go get your MBA you would understand that it’s actually good that you can’t afford anything!
Like bro people don’t have to understand the complexity of a global economy to understand that they aren’t getting paid enough to pay their bills. That’s not complex shit.
the economy’s only bad when it doesn’t work for me specifically
Americans can only conceptualize something in burger units
I mean burgers are a good economic measure honestly. Not USian but the Big Mac index is a pretty decent approximation of relative purchasing power and easy to understand for most people.
Imagine trying to argue that young people are out of touch with fast food.
Where’s the MAGA Communists when “McDonald’s is communist” when a burger costs $20?
there was a citations needed ep in the last weeks on how “The Economy” is a phrase bandied by the media to justify property relations and flatten class conflict. when the regular working class person is getting hammerfucked from all angles, they are encouraged to soldier on and accept their lot because “The Economy is strong” and therefore this is the good/normal status quo. but when strikes loom on the horizon, big scary numbers from right wing think tanks are paraded around uncritically and then The Economy is this fragile thing that can be deeply damaged… but only by the working class coming together and negotiating for more pay. and even though ultimately, when the strike ends, any “damage” was momentary and the improved wages/benefits improves many economic metrics in the long term… it is never discussed. and further, it must never be said that the 500 million or 5 billion or whatever in “economic damage” merely shifted from a tiny minority of the owning class and into the hands of the workers.
https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/ep-191-how-medias-use-of-the-economy-flattens-class-conflict
People’s ideas of things like the economy — which they can’t experience directly
Sorry poors, inflation and astronomical prices for bare necessities isn’t experiencing the economy
Meanwhile, the Adults In The Room who Make Hard Decisions and Get Shit Done, experiencing the economy directly
>16$ McD menu
Welcome to Europoor, Americans
The only way to save america from fascism is to go back in time and stop McDonald’s from releasing the Smoky Double Quarter Pounder BLT
My rent goes up by $100-150 every year no matter what these people say.
(2000s): “Oh you naive kids, bad things just HAVE to happen to you or else the apocalypse will happen. If only you dumb poors could understand basic economics like us!”
(2020s): “Oh you naive kids, bad things just HAVE to happen to you or else the apocalypse will happen. If only you dumb poors could understand basic economics like us!”Marx failed to consider this Mcdonalds order
He covers economic crises under capitalism about every 10 years in Das Kapital actually.
