This is the age of "neo robber-barrons". Same tactics - worker intimidation, union breaking, political influence( this particular case bleeds into the political interference realm), monopolies , aggressive business tactics. In the early 20th century this was primarily seen in transportation of people and commodities. Now we see it in information and communication control, to a degree not even imagined in the turn of the 20th century era. Today's robber barons manipulate information through the use of social networks and AI to a degree that most of us can't identify what's real and what's not. The information age has ushered in the death throes of legitimate trust.
You’re touching on something a lot of people are feeling right now.
History does seem to move in cycles. The original robber-baron era was about railroads, steel, oil, and physical infrastructure. Today the power centers are data, platforms, and networks... but the underlying dynamic isn’t that different... concentrated wealth translating into political influence.
The information piece you mention may be the biggest shift. When people can’t easily tell what’s real anymore, trust erodes... and trust is the foundation of both markets and democracy.
The hopeful side is that societies have pushed back before. Antitrust laws, labour protections, financial regulations... those all came after periods of imbalance.
We may simply be in another correction phase.
Clear thinking and media literacy become survival skills in times like this.
I know that this is old news, but I came across a CBC clip that made me smile. Wording matters when reporting and I didn't notice it before. In this short clip, I heard the word “rambling“, “false claims”, “meandering”, “unclear”, “plain wrong”, “badly informed”, ““crackpots“, “low-lights” and “bizarre”. It's beautiful.
Anchor: "This new controversy was sparked by a rambling social media post by Donald Trump filled with accusations and false claims about the bridge project."
CBC correspondent Erin Collins in Washington: "There's a lot to unpack in this one media post, which is often the case when they come from President Trump. This post was long, it was meandering, it wasn't very focused."
"It's unclear what Trump is after here, though. I mean, this is a project Trump called vital during his first term... he fast-tracked it in 2017... a sense among many observers is the president is just plain wrong."
Guest, former US Ambassador "What he's saying is not true, he's badly informed. You know his first term he has some staff around him that were well informed and tried to restrain him. Now, he's got a lot of crackpots working for him and telling him things that simply aren't true."
CBC correspondent Erin Collins in Washington: "and so the bridge wasn't the only topic covered in this media post, it rambled on for about 300 words and some of the other - I don't know if you want to call them highlights or low-lights - the president railed again against Ontario no longer selling American alcohol... quite bizarrely says [any China deal] will lead to the outlawing of hockey in Canada. It's a lot.... I think it's important, whatever happens here to keep context of these posts in mind. You can't necessarily take the president's musings on social media at face value... It's hard to know how seriously to take any of this."
Many years ago, a Lebonese immigrant by the name of Maddy Moroun arrived in Detroit city with a couple of thousand bucks and a pick-up truck. From there he built a number of transport companies, two of which I drove for, one of which I was an agent for in Canada. when he accumulated enough wealth he bought the Ambassador Bridge. I don't know the details of this part of the story, but I do know that Maddy was a hardworking guy.
Late one evening I was doing a pick-up at a company warehouse and I was looking for a shipper to point me in the right direction. Maddy came around the corner, asked what I was doing, helped me out. I told him the load was going back to Brampton, ON and he started on a long story about Central Transport, his Canadian company. Finally I had to remind him I was running out of hours and needed to get on my way. His son Matthew has been described as a silver spoon scion not involved with the people.
In any event, it occurs to me that we need to tell Thumper that the old bridge was owned by an immigrant he'll fall over himself opening the new one!!
Not gonna lie when I first heard this it made me realize that the real reasons behind this bridge drama is somehow even more stupid (and concerning) than the initial reason I had of Trump just wanting his name plastered on the bridge
This is the age of "neo robber-barrons". Same tactics - worker intimidation, union breaking, political influence( this particular case bleeds into the political interference realm), monopolies , aggressive business tactics. In the early 20th century this was primarily seen in transportation of people and commodities. Now we see it in information and communication control, to a degree not even imagined in the turn of the 20th century era. Today's robber barons manipulate information through the use of social networks and AI to a degree that most of us can't identify what's real and what's not. The information age has ushered in the death throes of legitimate trust.
You’re touching on something a lot of people are feeling right now.
History does seem to move in cycles. The original robber-baron era was about railroads, steel, oil, and physical infrastructure. Today the power centers are data, platforms, and networks... but the underlying dynamic isn’t that different... concentrated wealth translating into political influence.
The information piece you mention may be the biggest shift. When people can’t easily tell what’s real anymore, trust erodes... and trust is the foundation of both markets and democracy.
The hopeful side is that societies have pushed back before. Antitrust laws, labour protections, financial regulations... those all came after periods of imbalance.
We may simply be in another correction phase.
Clear thinking and media literacy become survival skills in times like this.
There’s trump with his hand out for someone else’s money. Grifting again
I know that this is old news, but I came across a CBC clip that made me smile. Wording matters when reporting and I didn't notice it before. In this short clip, I heard the word “rambling“, “false claims”, “meandering”, “unclear”, “plain wrong”, “badly informed”, ““crackpots“, “low-lights” and “bizarre”. It's beautiful.
Anchor: "This new controversy was sparked by a rambling social media post by Donald Trump filled with accusations and false claims about the bridge project."
CBC correspondent Erin Collins in Washington: "There's a lot to unpack in this one media post, which is often the case when they come from President Trump. This post was long, it was meandering, it wasn't very focused."
"It's unclear what Trump is after here, though. I mean, this is a project Trump called vital during his first term... he fast-tracked it in 2017... a sense among many observers is the president is just plain wrong."
Guest, former US Ambassador "What he's saying is not true, he's badly informed. You know his first term he has some staff around him that were well informed and tried to restrain him. Now, he's got a lot of crackpots working for him and telling him things that simply aren't true."
CBC correspondent Erin Collins in Washington: "and so the bridge wasn't the only topic covered in this media post, it rambled on for about 300 words and some of the other - I don't know if you want to call them highlights or low-lights - the president railed again against Ontario no longer selling American alcohol... quite bizarrely says [any China deal] will lead to the outlawing of hockey in Canada. It's a lot.... I think it's important, whatever happens here to keep context of these posts in mind. You can't necessarily take the president's musings on social media at face value... It's hard to know how seriously to take any of this."
https://youtu.be/_dfXn6mKZzc?si=C5qDEYwuhv7RYcJi
You’re right... the vocabulary shift is noticeable.
When behavior is chaotic, describing it politely doesn’t make it less chaotic.
It just confuses the audience.
Plain language isn’t bias.
It’s accuracy.
Many years ago, a Lebonese immigrant by the name of Maddy Moroun arrived in Detroit city with a couple of thousand bucks and a pick-up truck. From there he built a number of transport companies, two of which I drove for, one of which I was an agent for in Canada. when he accumulated enough wealth he bought the Ambassador Bridge. I don't know the details of this part of the story, but I do know that Maddy was a hardworking guy.
Late one evening I was doing a pick-up at a company warehouse and I was looking for a shipper to point me in the right direction. Maddy came around the corner, asked what I was doing, helped me out. I told him the load was going back to Brampton, ON and he started on a long story about Central Transport, his Canadian company. Finally I had to remind him I was running out of hours and needed to get on my way. His son Matthew has been described as a silver spoon scion not involved with the people.
In any event, it occurs to me that we need to tell Thumper that the old bridge was owned by an immigrant he'll fall over himself opening the new one!!
Does that bridge go to Europe? That is where our economy is moving to.
Not gonna lie when I first heard this it made me realize that the real reasons behind this bridge drama is somehow even more stupid (and concerning) than the initial reason I had of Trump just wanting his name plastered on the bridge