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- Date published:
3:24 pm, January 18th, 2026 - 16 comments
Categories: democratic participation, election 2026, internet, Media, Politics -
Tags: democratic mindfulness
The Romans developed an early algorithm to keep the plebs under control through offering bread and circuses. These tactics aimed to distract the people from burning socio-economic and therefore thorny political issues and occupy their minds with the thrills and frills of spectacles. The emperor was not merely a spectator in the audience but he and other VIPs were an integral part of the show.
Nowadays, social media platforms and search engines have optimised their algorithms to maximise engagement, i.e., more clicks and longer time spent online. Negativity and outrage increase engagement and ensure that posts rise up in the algorithmic stakes to trending and the lofty heights and holy grail (for the poster as well as for the platform owner) of going viral (notwithstanding the real meaning of explosive growth and unmitigated spread of viruses).
One of the most prolific and effective generators of outrage is POTUS. Much online content is about him and he even pops up in conversations about things that are completely unrelated to (world) politics with friends or family while trying to take a break away from the sad state of affairs for even a short while (aka a holiday).
My attention span is limited and has gotten shorter with age or because of too much time spent online. So, I refuse to read let alone engage in anything that or with anybody who mentions Trump, which causes me more social awkwardness than when I was in puberty (fortunately sans pimples, this time). I came to realise that when I engaged and started wrestling with other pigs in the mud, I got very dirty and my stress levels would rise beyond what might be considered normal and healthy. In that sense, the mind is no different from the body after a strenuous workout in the gym (e.g., a boxing class or lifting heavy weights) with shaking arms and wobbly legs and one should avoid anything that requires focussed fine-motor skills (body) or deep critical thinking and/or moral reflection (mind).
Besides occupying our minds and wasting our time and energy on feeding the outrage algorithms, there’s a real energy cost that’s hidden from us, the energy spent by our devices and the large data centres that consume enormous amounts of power (who’s paying for that?).
One effect of comparing our politics/politicians with those overseas is that it can distort our perception and lull us into a false sense of acceptance (e.g., it could be a lot worse and we don’t how good we’ve got it here and how lucky we are in our peaceful 100% pure & clean country where there’s no corruption or nepotism and where we all respect each other and are kind to others and our planet) or of despair (e.g., all politicians are in cahoots with each other and with corporate and techno-oligarchs who’re all morally corrupt self-serving seeking self-entitled money and power & control to feed their greed and egos).
Spending effort on things that you can influence or control is and oft heard advice for stress management, i.e., rather than being a ball in a pinball or pachinko machine, keep your eyes on the ball and direct its course. Feelings of futility breed cynicism and lead to distrust, disengagement, and disconnection, first from politics and the democratic process, or what’s left of it, and then from society at large (which, according to some, was a figment of our imagination in the first place and certainly not something that should be aspired to).
Of course, we shouldn’t close our eyes to what happens elsewhere in the world but I think it’s crucial to realise that highly similar playbooks are in force promoted by networks sans frontières, e.g., the increasingly visible (for those who have their eyes pierced open and want to see) hand of the Atlas Network.
So, my somewhat ambitious plan for this Election Year is to keep my sanity and use my time and energy as wise as I can and focus on matters that matter most [to me and my fellow Kiwis] and that I may be able to have a real say in and hopefully encourage others to participate also and vote – a form of ‘democratic mindfulness’ that can be learned and taught and that might become an increasingly essential skill in this era of AI. So, stuff Trump et al., and let’s drain the swamp away from our minds and discourse. That said, I expect it to be a gruelling election campaign this year with lots of dirt and ugliness that will cloud our minds with outrage and polarise and divide us – the (social and mainstream, although this distinction is becoming increasingly blurry) media will have large stake in this but it’s up to us to take the bait (and give away the election to outside forces) or reject it (and reclaim back some of our own power).
Love the sentiment Incognito. Unfortunately with the CoC being Trump lite, keeping the orange one out of the conversation is going to be tricky.
Most of my efforts will be in getting the Labour vote out in the most conservative electorate in the country.
Thank you.
It’s more of a sentimental commitment (that’ll hopefully goes the distance) rather than just a feeling (that fleets).
I agree that keeping Trump(ian) stuff out of our convos is impossible – I was playing a mug’s game when I tried – but as I said, I think it’s important that we don’t lose perspective of what really matters [to us here right now in NZ] and don’t allow breads and circuses to take over and dominate the discourse.
All strength to you in your efforts! The more you’re aware of the important issues and effective strategies (e.g., talking points and ways of dealing with rhetorical push-back) to engage with others, the more success you’ll have on the ground and hopefully you’ll have more fun too.
Kia kaha
Luxon-Trump Seymour Peters keep throwing dead cats on the table and we fall for it. Like a pack of dogs off we go yapping and snarling and of course distracted from the important stuff. So the stuff that Mountain Tui prints keeps focus on the stuff that matters. Health/Education etc.
Mountain Tui published a list of the important issues.
One is the Myth of Government Debt so how about this:
NZ Government debt below 50%
USA 123%
Japan 235%
Canada 123%
Singapore 173%
But Willis says we can't finance hospitals because we can't afford to. Lies. So her plan is to delay, delay until the costs rise so high that we can't afford them. What a hero1
Yr last comment is correct and it is way past time Labour's comms team had the nifty sentence that negates that oft told lie.
It would take the wind out of the sails of those that constantly grizzle about debt, budgets and finances.
Not "we". It's the MSM very intentionally falling on every damn distraction, and starving the real issues of any oxygen.
Ultimately, it’s still us (i.e., we) who both are the target [of all media] and do the damage [to ourselves and indirectly to other readers/clickers].
Mainstream media, just like social media, undoubtedly have algorithms as well to monitor clicks/reads in order to maximise engagement and time spent on the article/page/site because their revenue streams depend on it (and/or it might suit an ‘editorial agenda’). You can see this in action by how & where articles appear & shift on the home/landing page throughout the day. Further, mainstream and social media have become increasingly integrated and boundaries have become fuzzy, as I wrote in the OP.
Even here on TS we apply a rudimentary ‘algorithm’ by making some Posts ‘sticky’ (a strictly manual and human intervention) that pushes them to the top of the home page if they cover an important topic that’s actual and when they (still) attract relatively many views – this tends to go hand-in-hand with active comment threads and lively & robust debate.
When there’s political will in the CoC, they’re more than happy to ram through things under urgency and resort to kneejerk actions, but anything that doesn’t fit the/their Atlas Agenda is slowed down and delayed. The CoC’s various delaying tactics are straight from the playbook of the tobacco industry, which is not coincidental either given that the CoC is stacked with tobacco and other (e.g., dairy, fishing, meat, etc.) industry pseudo-former lobbyists and similar shady shills for the corporate-private sector (mostly overseas owned).
Indeed, Mountain Tui does awesome work and puts a lot of effort into it; MT’s articles have a laser focus on stuff that really and directly matters to Kiwis and Kiwi politics. No wonder that some of MT’s post attract a lot of views (and comments), here on TS and on other platforms, as they resonate with reasonable people and strike a nerve with those who suffer from affective polarisation.
And add the net interest paid on public debt is around 1% of government revenue -way, way less than net interest as a % of income paid for house mortgages.
Pretty well sums up my sentiments. Thank-you.
As far as I like to go with POTUS and his outbursts is to point out that he is a useful distraction. He uses up far too much bandwidth and emotion and stops us from organising to resist similar antics here.
What he is a distraction from is the likes of Seymour enacting the Atlas Network's agenda here in New Zealand.
This is compulsory viewing for anyone with a passing interest in NZ politics.
Love the sentiments too Incognito. A refreshing change from the dreary and often petty, pin pricking point scoring on this site. Credit to weka who has tried to minimise it as much as possible.
Unfortunately banishing Trump from our over-cooked minds is a big ask, since much of what he already has done and is threatening to do will have an effect on all our lives one way or another.
We have a government that is closely associated with the ATLAS network and like a human version of an Octopus… it is embedding it's sinister tentacles across the globe. Together, they represent the biggest threat to this planet outside of natural force catastrophes. We have to come together and fight it for all our sakes, and its going to take a monumental effort to succeed.
"…the large data centres that consume enormous amounts of power (who’s paying for that?)."
It's so annoying. My colleagues are devoted to figuring out how AI impacts the future of our work and I have to keep reminding them it's mostly about acres of data centre run by coal-fired power stations so that creeps worldwide can command "Put her in a bikini" or amuse themselves by asking for the best recipes involving rocks, and our work continues regardless.
LOL
I wonder what Olive [Woolworths’ chatbot] will make of that.
https://theconversation.com/do-woolworths-shoppers-want-google-ai-adding-items-to-buy-well-soon-find-out-273342
I can’t wait to buy my spuds with Olive.
"…adding items to buy…"
Yep. If anyone's wondering how AI will "help" us in the future, top of the list will be "Help us buy more stuff!" All for the low, low price of accelerating destruction of the environment, hooray!
My mission at the moment, is trying to move away from as much big US corporate IT systems as possible, and to be more selective about what I attend to on social media and blogs.
I dislike how US Big Tech mobilises AI in their own interests, and am wary of the way they collect meta-data for surveillance and manipulation purposes. They mostly seem to be in bed with the Trump regime. I also dislike the way they avoid paying taxes in countries like NZ that provide them with a significant amount of income.
The social media I use most is X. I rarely use FB. I am considering ditching X and have started looking daily at Mastodon & BSky. I think I can be selective about what I see there so that I get a mix of topics that interest me and some NZ & World social & political news using follows & selective feeds.
On X my greatest dislike is the trolls & influencers who dish out abusive one-liners in response to tweets. I tend to scroll quickly through a few then go back to the initial post & feed. I think the algorithms on the "For You" feed there tends to feed me topics I respond to. But I can also choose the "Follows" feed which is more selective of topics I choose to attend to and can keep me quite informed.
I also find following some substack accounts provides some very helpful analysis.
I don't use AI much, although when I search on Duck Duck Go the research assistant often offers me a summary in answer to any question I ask, which is sometimes a useful start to look for sources.
I have opened accounts at a couple of European free email providers that promise they protect privacy. I am thinking to wean myself off gmail.
I am also planning to ditch Microsoft 365 in the next year. Today I set up Mozilla's Thunderbird on my laptop as an alternative to the MS desktop mail client.
I tried to use one of my new email addies to post this and it was deleted as spam.
I use Thunderbird for emails as i avoid ms products when i can. Thunderbird is ok but not a patch on long lost Eudora.
Yes. thunderbird is like an old version of MS outlook. I also installed Libre Office yesterday. I've found the writer app in it pretty good. The Calc app is not as good as MS Excel, but it's good enough for my uses.
In the future of climate change, resource depletion , and probably the decline of capitalism, I think we will be getting used to practical tech that is not as flashy as some of the newer stuff coming out.