100%

Scanned image of the page. Keyboard directions: use + to zoom in, - to zoom out, arrow keys to pan inside the viewer.

Page Options

Download this Issue

Share

Something wrong?

Something wrong with this page? Report problem.

Rights / Permissions

This collection, digitized in collaboration with the Michigan Daily and the Board for Student Publications, contains materials that are protected by copyright law. Access to these materials is provided for non-profit educational and research purposes. If you use an item from this collection, it is your responsibility to consider the work's copyright status and obtain any required permission.

October 21, 2020 - Image 7

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

On a Saturday night, after

being encouraged by my SI 110
professor as well as — ironically
enough — nearly all of my social
media feeds, a couple friends and
I decided to watch The Social
Dilemma, Netflix’s acclaimed
documentary centered around
the meticulously manipulative
aspects of social media. The
documentary claims that the
principal intention of all social
media is to exploit the vulner-
abilities of human behavior for
profit through engaging tech-
niques such as constant notifi-
cations, precise algorithms that
create personalized feeds, and
exploiting different demograph-
ics of users in order to propagate
agendas. The Social Dilemma
incorporates interviews from
high-up tech executives, shroud-
ed in despairing instrumentals
and
horrifying
infographics.

Though the notion that social
media can lead to addictive ten-
dencies — especially in an atten-
tion economy — is no revelation,
the documentary reveals exactly
how companies achieve this:
by capitalizing on our brains’
evolutionary demand for inter-
personal connection. Upon fin-
ishing the film, my friends and
I were, to say the least, terri-
fied. The fact that our data and
online personas were being auc-
tioned off to advertisers felt like
betrayal, and that isn’t even the
worst part: We’re allowing it to
happen.

Very quickly, we all posed

the same question: why would
Netflix, a company that thrives
off of manipulative techniques,
highlight all of this information
and make it readily available to
its audience? The techniques
described in the documentary,
such as perfecting algorithms in
order to keep audiences engaged
and stay glued to their screens
for hours, are precisely what
makes Netflix such a successful
platform. To produce and release
The Social Dilemma almost feels
like a magician revealing how
they do their tricks. Why would
you ever want your audience to
know?

Almost instantaneously, the

answer to my question struck
me, and I realized why Netf-
lix, along with platforms like
Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram,
YouTube, TikTok, Twitter and
Snapchat were okay with being
bashed in front of a global audi-
ence: They wanted to evaluate
how successful their manipula-
tive efforts really were. Millions
of people across the globe were
being presented with only nega-
tive information about our daily
habits, yet we accept the loss
of our privacy and the contin-
ued influence of our cognitive
processes as a price for a little
more
convenience
and
eas-

ily accessible entertainment. In
short, they’ve won. They have
successfully gotten an entire
worldwide population so addict-

ed and dependent on interper-
sonal connection and validation
through social networking that
all we can do is helplessly watch
and accept the fact that this is
something we need in our lives.
The implications of our reliance
on social media have led to an
influx of surveillance capital-
ism, a form of our economy that
mines human experience in the
form of data in order to produce
marketable inferences about the
next thing that we will do, pur-
chase or believe. Now, if you’re
anything like me, you’re prob-
ably shaking your head right
now and thinking “I’m not even
addicted!” After all, as members
of Gen Z, tech is kinda our thing.
There’s no way it could be doing
something to us that we don’t
understand — right? The harsh
reality is that computers don’t
discriminate, and regardless of
age or experience with technol-
ogy, you’re just another prod-
uct that they’re trying to make
money off of.

Despite being told by social

media developers themselves
that their platforms have got-
ten out of hand and that they
wouldn’t even let their own kid
use their creations, nothing in
my life has changed. Why, after
learning about how I’ve been
manipulated, fed content that
has trapped me in a filter bubble,
and sold to millions of adver-
tisers as a product was I still
willingly supporting my own
downfall?
This
documentary

was the cherry on top of all of the
other information I had learned
in SI 110, and the detrimental
effects of my social media usage
greatly outweighed any surface
level benefits.

The documentary leaves its

audience with an almost dys-
topian
message
of
urgency:

continue the conversation, and
regain control of your life. The
most dire question posed by
The Social Dilemma is whether
or not democracy can survive
social media’s ability to blur the
line between reality and fiction.
Tristan Harris, president of the
Center for Humane Technol-
ogy and a key speaker in the
documentary, poses “imagine
a world where no one believes
what’s true.” How do we rum-
mage through conspiracy theo-
ries, propaganda and infamous
“fake news” in order to discern
facts from lies? More impor-
tantly, is this our responsibility
as the consumer, or is it on the
tech industry to actively make
efforts against the spread of
disinformation? While I person-
ally don’t believe that everybody
needs to delete all of their online
accounts, we can collectively
make efforts to limit our screen
time and set aside blocks of
our day for activities that don’t
involve our devices. I under-
stand, however, that this sounds
extremely cliché, and it’s noth-
ing that’s never been suggested
before. I suppose that I, along
with tech professionals, still
don’t have a concrete answer to
this social dilemma.

Wednesday, October 21, 2020 — 7
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Michigan In Color

Are you still
watching?

‘Hamilton’ and the erasure

of white supremacy

YOUR WEEKLY

ARIES

If you can keep calm in the face of
provocation, Aries, his can be an
exceptional week for your career.
Teamwork shows you in a good
light, so don’t neglect your

colleagues. It’s not
always about going it
alone or being top dog.

AQUARIUS

GEMINI

Allow yourself to listen to your
inner instincts. Your intuition is
strong, and your mind is able to
recognize things that your
conscious may actively choose to

ignore. In doing so, you
will be able to choose
the path that is best for
you.

SAGITTARIUS

CAPRICORN

SCORPIO

CANCER

In this romantic week, communi-
cation between you and your
sweetheart is almost telepathic.
You can make an unbeatable
team now, Cancer, as your shared

goals and dreams are
coming to fruition. If
you’re single, look out
for someone who
shocks you.

TAURUS

Dip your toe into exciting waters
by being prepared to try
something new. From exotic travel
to adrenaline sports or intriguing
affairs, you’re willing to take a risk

now if something stirs
your soul. Beyond your
comfort zone, Taurus,
life takes off.

VIRGO

PICES

LIBRA
LEO

An easing of financial pressures
does a lot of good for your anxiety
and mental health, Leo. However,
it’s important now that you take
control of your own emotions.

Don’t leave yourself
vulnerable, mentally, to
fluctuating external
circumstances.

Read your weekly horoscopes from astrology.tv

Your superpower this week is your
creativity, Virgo. You have a
strong feel for lateral thinking and
innovative ideas, or creations will
get you noticed. Don’t feel that

you have to do things the

way they’ve always
been done. Dare to be
different.

Loving support from your family
means a great deal to you this
week and you’ll feel blessed by
those closest to you. If someone
confides in you, Libra, it’s vital that

you keep their confidence.

Don’t turn this into an
issue of trust.

Your words have a lot of power and
presence this week, and once the
Sun arrives in your own sign,
Scorpio, your magnetism and
charisma are off the scale. All of

this means that people are

taking notice of you – so

you’d better have
something meaningful
to say.

Recognition at work is long
overdue but welcome, nonethe-
less. This week, Sagittarius,
stretch your ambitions by looking
for new challenges. Not

necessarily a new job,

but new responsibili-

ties within your
existing role. You’re
more than capable.

You have the gift of the gab this
week, Capricorn, so you’re able to
put your opinions quite forcefully
without coming across as
insensitive or dogmatic. Turn this

to your advantage if you

want to get someone to

agree to a new idea.

Messages from your dreams
become easier to recall and
interpret this week. Spend some
time with a dream journal if you
can – there is a lot if insight here

which could change your

life, Aquarius. Don’t
dismiss what you can’t
quite understand.

This is a healing week for a close
relationship, Pisces, which will
benefit from as much fun and
laughter as possible. Socialize as a
couple if you can, because you’ll
love seeing each other in a new

light. Mix and mingle,
enjoy good company,
and shine.

WHISPER

“I've made my peace with
college, it is what it is.”

“Meat book.”

“in love with my best friend in
love love love but I have to let
it go.”

If you know anything at all

about musical theatre, you know
all about the rise of ‘Hamilton:
An American Musical’ in 2016.
The musical, written by Lin-
Manuel Miranda and adapted
from Ron Chernow’s book ‘Alex-
ander Hamilton,’ debuted off-
broadway in 2015 and since then,
it has become the most popular
musical in recent history. The
show played in New York City,
Chicago, San Francisco and Los
Angeles and now a recorded per-
formance with the original cast
is streaming on Disney+ for mil-
lions of streamers to watch in
their own homes.

I am not unique when I say

that I fell in love with this musi-
cal when I first discovered it.
My friends and I would play
the soundtrack every day after
school and my high school’s
marching band even performed
its hit song, “Burn,” through-
out the football season. My best
friends even took me to see the
show for my birthday in Chica-
go a couple of years ago (I have
no idea how they swung that
because we’re broke college stu-
dents) and I absolutely loved it.

At first glance, I’m sure many

people would not expect a musi-
cal about Alexander Hamilton
and other Founding Fathers to
be a wildly popular sensation.
However, the fusion of hip-hop
and history is what makes it so
entertaining and was the rea-
son I loved it so much. But due

to my naivety and ignorance of
accurate American history, I saw
‘Hamilton’ as a fun show with
cool songs instead of a confus-
ing and distasteful retelling of
history. The show has received
criticism since its debut at The
Public Theater in New York, the
majority of which stems from
Miranda’s inaccurate retelling
and framing of history.

Many critics of color think it

is necessary to remember that
‘Hamilton’ is nowhere near an
accurate representation of the
Founding Fathers. They were
not underdog heroes or abo-
litionists, but capitalists who
stole Native American land and
enslaved and exploited Black
and Brown people. They were
white
supremacists.
Among

many atrocities, Thomas Jef-
ferson sexually assaulted Sally
Hemmings, an enslaved Black
woman who worked in his home,
and then enslaved the children.
George
Washington’s
teeth,

that many of us were told were
made of wood, were teeth from
enslaved people. And of course,
Alexander Hamilton purchased
enslaved people to work for his
family. How can we be so far
removed from these horrors that
we can sing and dance along
to songs about these men and
ignore the terrors they inflicted
on Black people?

After knowing this informa-

tion, other points of criticism
become increasingly valid. For
example, some viewers question
the choice of hiring nearly all
people of color to play the role
of white historical figures. In
regards to this, Miranda stated
he wanted the story to be “told
by America now.” But I wonder
how this can be successfully
done when the whiteness of the
Founding Fathers and their fam-
ilies is crucial to why they were
able to rise into power. If the
story of the Founding Fathers
were to be told based on the way
America looks now, they should
still be portrayed as rich, white
men who exploit and oppress
low-income, Black people. By
erasing that their race had an
active role in the power they had
to oppress others, we downplay
the racism that they wrote into
our country’s foundation.

Another major critique focus-

es on the musical’s use of hip hop
to portray white supremacists as
relatable and comedic. Miranda
believes “hip-hop’s the language
of revolution and it’s our great-
est American art form,” which
I would have to agree with, but
whose revolution? Black people
were not included in the Dec-
laration of Independence when
slave-owner Thomas Jefferson
wrote, “We hold these truths to
be self-evident, that all men are
created equal.” So why appro-
priate Black culture to uplift
white supremacists? If we want
to make a statement about revo-
lution and fighting for freedom
in the United States, telling the
story of the white men in power
seems to be the worst way to do
so.

I am puzzled and conflicted

about how I feel about ‘Ham-
ilton’ today. I don’t believe
Lin-Manuel Miranda or any
of the crew and cast purpose-
fully wanted to erase history or
offend viewers, and for the most
part, many people still love the
musical. We cannot deny that
‘Hamilton’ has opened the doors
for many performers of color to
become household names on
Broadway. But as a Black Ameri-
can woman, it makes me wonder
how our ancestors would have
felt about this story. They were
the ones who built this country
from the ground up, not Hamil-
ton, Washington, or Jefferson.
And yet, we collectively gloss
over their stories and hard work.

The criticisms and conver-

sations that people around the
world have been having about
‘Hamilton’ dig into important
questions about how history
should be told and who should
be centered in those retellings.
Could you imagine if, in 200
years, there were a musical called
Trump? We would see actors of
color portraying Donald Trump,
Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo
instead of hearing the stories
of Black and Brown people who
were targeted and suffering at
the hands of this administration.
That would be outrageous, and
yet, how different would that
be from ‘Hamilton?’ We must
pay attention to the way we are
retelling the stories of the past as
not to have our current reality be
inaccurately retold in the future.

GRACE GARMO

MiC Columnist

Photo courtesy of the author

Photo by Marcus Spiske via Unsplash

CAMILLE MOORE

MiC “Off the Record” Blogger

Back to Top

© 2024 Regents of the University of Michigan