yesterday at the Melbourne ABC studio

15th July, 2019: “Go back…” – these words have been used by some individuals in connection with refugees and migrants. However, if the president of the US says them, it becomes a sort of legitimising template for others. “Well, that’s what the president said, so I can also say it.” This then goes way beyond the freedom of speech. So, the effect of the same words is entirely larger when they come from the top. Everything a president says, becomes important because he is the president. We may call this “power” (with a lot of simplification). History has shown what can happen, if the people of a country are misled by their leader. Suddenly, there is a licence for what otherwise would be simply illegal. A very dangerous playing field indeed.

https://www.npr.org/2019/07/15/741827580/go-back-where-you-came-from-the-long-rhetorical-roots-of-trump-s-racist-tweets

5th August, 2019 Today I hate to see that my worst fears are confirmed. No doubt, there is a measured responsibility of the leadership for what happened in El Paso and Dayton. You simply cannot talk as a leader in the same way you would talk as an ordinary person. 29 people are dead now because of the missing gun law review and because of the loose tongue of the leadership.

Letter from JANA Partners & CalSTRS to Apple, Inc.

A very worthwhile read for any parents of children with smartphones.

How social networks destroy the very foundation of democracy:

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43465968

“The reporter posed as a Sri Lankan businessman wanting to influence a local election.

Cambridge Analytica boss Alexander Nix was apparently filmed giving examples of how his firm could discredit political rivals by arranging various smear campaigns, including setting up encounters with prostitutes and staging situations in which apparent bribery could be caught on camera.”

https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/05/meet-the-real-alexander-nix-an-interview-with-the-notorious-former-head-of-cambridge-analytica/