Founder, CEO @ Bluecadet, Artwrld and Futurespaces | Obsessed with how knowledge manifest in public space
We are watching a coordinated unraveling of institutions that used to sit between power and the public. They fired comedians and journalists. Directors are pushed out of museums. Public radio is hollowed out. The people behind the algorithms now have seats at the table where policy is made. That convergence matters. When those buffers go, the mechanisms that let citizens disagree without dissolving into mistrust also weaken. Culture becomes a battlefield for influence rather than a space for exchange. That is why this matters beyond late night TV. It is why protecting independent media, publicly accountable cultural institutions, and transparent tech governance is urgent. If you care about a functioning civic life, do something concrete: fund local public media, push for institutional transparency, vote for policies that protect editorial independence, and hold platforms accountable for how they amplify content. This is not an abstract crisis. It is happening now.
Josh Goldblum And immediately cancel Hulu, Disney+, ESPN. If we can’t manage that, then we continue to appease bullies.
The problem is that most of those institutions were taken over by one-sided conversations. They weren't sparking conversation or debate; they were pushing a one agenda.
Well said. And heavy censorship harms the creative industry.
It's not just about losing the spaces for civic discourse but how institutions let us balance the power of the state --- magazines & newspapers, churches, mosques, and synagogues, museums & libraries, colleges and universities, and community organizations -- they all let us connect, organize and provide a counterweight in both power and perspective. What an authoritarian state wants is a direct and exclusive relationship with the individual. This also happens to be ultimately what is most profitable for technology companies (hello AI!), which is why many of them have become such close partners of government.
And the most dangerous to those in power are those of us who are retired. We have no way to be fired or threatened when we speak up
Yes! In light of these developments I became a sustaining member of PBS-Wisconsin.
Yuval Harari's book "Nexus" has some REALLY good insights about how academic institutions, the media, and the judiciary are essential to a functioning democracy because of their internal self-correcting mechanisms for fighting corruption, correcting bias, and exposing error. And it's interesting to note the degree to which those exact institutions are currently in the crosshairs. Crazy coincidence.
Well stated Josh. Those buffers and culture as a space for exchange matters. Thanks for sharing the concrete ideas - really helpful.
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Global Executive Creative Director | Porsche Ⓥ
3dUSA is lost. #themaninthehighcastle