Phishing For Tax Dollars
Creator Congress: Issue 12
Another two weeks, another set of appointments of the most unqualified individuals to ever grace the halls of power, and another flurry of executive orders. Executive orders that are cruel and stupid and serve no purpose but to performatively punish women and minorities for “stepping out of line”. At the helm is the richest man in the world— a failson South African immigrant known for his experimentation with felony class drugs and a stubborn commitment to gaslighting us about his hair plugs.
Portraying himself as above greed (after all, how could the wealthiest man on earth want more), Elon Musk, has successfully phished the American public into giving him access to our six trillion dollar Treasury, attempted to secure a $400 million contract for armored Teslas, and learned that America has public accounting sites for all federal spending (and we always have).
His success is, I’m sad to admit, a vicious own on the American people, especially considering how bad he is at everything else (going so far as to pay people in other countries to play video games for him so he could pretend to be good).
At break neck speeds, we are witnessing the worst conspiracies peddled by Russian bots and provocateurs play out but not led by the “blood-sucking” Democrats. Rather, they’re being led by the right’s (and Russia’s) preferred Presidential nominee, Donald Trump. If the goal was for America to “sell [..] the rope with which [they’ll be hanged]”, then, well played, Russia. You certainly sold us expensive rope.
But while the current fascist takeover of America’s government can’t be reduced to just Russian interference (how on earth could we ignore things like the Chicago School, John Birch Society, Ronald Reagan, or the Koch Brothers), their interference tactics leave a roadmap for how to spot—and combat—misinformation campaigns. It also points to the heavy responsibility laid at the feet of New Media and the bright minds succeeding within it. One such strategy to combating misinformation might be found to our south, in Mexico, where presidents have built trust with voters using daily press conferences that spoke not just to the elite, the donors, and the media but to people directly. Falsehoods take root when our representatives are silent.
At Creator Congress, our goal is to assess these propagandizing threats, recruit the bright minds, and tackle the threats head-on with transparency and a healthy dose of old-school organizing. We can’t fight fire with fire. The outcome of that would be an internet so littered with propaganda that the truth will be indistinguishable from the bullshit. But we are committed, above all things, to being good stewards of the New Media ecosystem and supporting Creators who care about its well-being. We won’t always get it right, but if you are following along, we hope you will join us in committing to truth-telling and authenticity in an age where virality is often the reward for lies and duplicity. If well-told lies can topple democracies, maybe truth-telling and a unified front can save them.
News by Creators
Overview of the private/public partnerships that are the reason for government bloat // @moneywithkatie
After Mississippi lawmaker Sen. Bradford Blackmon proposed the "Contraception Begins at Erection Act," last month, Ohio lawmaker Anita Somani followed suit to put forward legislation that shows the hypocrisy of legislating what people do with their bodies //
Employees of DOGE have set up couches in the Department of Education and set up white noise machines to muffle what they are saying // @mrs.frazzled
Donald Trump met with Vladamir Putin this week to encourage and end to the war in Ukraine but without guaranteeing any stolen land would be returned and Pete Hegseth discouraged the idea of Ukraine joining NATO //
Elon Musk claims to be a top 20 gamer in the world in games like Diablo, but has allegedly hired surrogates to level up in video games for him //
News about Creators
Creator’s mimicking MAGA makeup looks reached a fever pitch the last few weeks with backlash from conservatives trying to interpret “liberal” makeup but with people claiming in the comments they ended up looking better
TikTok went back on stores today despite its future still being unknown
Former Facebook employees have launched a venture capital fund targeting entrepreneurial Creators with investments ranging from $1-3 million.
Creator Congress Updates
Creator Congress had a presence at Roots Camp this past week where I (Rynn Reed) met with partners to discuss this project and led a session on narrative building and working with Creators. It was extremely fruitful and for the next month we’ll be working on a research project around Creators and New Media. If you’d like to contribute to that research in a conversation or working group - please reach out! hello@creatorcongress.net
If you are a Creator and have not yet filled out the application, please do. Link here
Thank you for subscribing and we’ll be back in two weeks!
In solidarity,
Rynn