E215. Thomas de Zengotita Discusses The Rise of Identity Politics

Mediated Series - Part 5:

Published in 2005, Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live In It , became Bridget's bible for understanding the changing media landscape and how it is affecting our society and behavior. Now she sits down with author Thomas de Zengotita for a multi-part series discussing the book chapter by chapter.

In Part 5 Bridget and Thomas discuss identity politics, how they evolved from the effort to get yourself a platform where you could be heard, which turned into self-promotion, and their evolution into grievance politics. They cover the attention economy and how if you can’t package what you want to say into soundbite form you’re not going to be heard at all, how when you take on an ideology it starts to do your thinking for you, why highly focused and committed activism is the response to psychological numbness and apathy, and the difference between what we’re presenting and what we believe vs the reality and the actions we take, armchair activism, and finding hope in the rise of independent media.

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