Morning news
Today is March 16, 2022. Yesterday's visuals. No bad news sharing, which means no news to share. Just a question about the truth of how we learn it, or think that we learn it.
This morning is a bright sunny one in Moscow. Despite the news, you can’t deny the beauty of nature and the spring vibes under the sun. I wish I could live eating the air and listening to the wind and birds. I agree even on a boring car noise. But I need to run, react, adapt.
So back to the news. I was keeping a few articles for the later discussion, but let’s be honest, my time for writing shrinked till Sunday. I have only morning hours to write, evening to read and analyse. Here’re some links, you might find interesting to read and watch with me. Let’s start a news reading club, shall we? :))
For those of you who are interested in the influence of social networks and search algorithms on the personal mindset and society in general, there’s a documentary “The Social Dilemma” (I add the link on Netflix, but you can look for the title on other platforms as well). I drop a couple of links that address the same problem in conversation with the filmmakers and experts and the TED talk further in the text.
If you think that your news choice and the feed of your Instagram has nothing to do with the algorithms you are deeply wrong. Unfortunately no matter how sure we feel about our opinions that they are ours, they are pretty much based on the things that we use to read. As far as journalism and blogging become almost the same thing, there’s a huge field for spreading misinformation and agitation about the same facts. You can see the same footage, read the same words on very personal social media and in the articles of many different magazines and newspapers, that also have not just “news” and “reports” sections but “opinions” columns.
Basically, it’s the same as blogs. News conglomerates need to produce tons of content and they don’t have the budget for the huge professional staff, so what they develop is almost user content promotion. A lot of experts for little money or for just the opportunity to be published provide their texts. There’s no fact checking, especially on small or independent news media. But even on large platforms there’s a lot of unproved content. And the crowd opinion is the opinion that will prevail.
Social media provides fast reaction on the facts, media explore the opportunity to grow the traffic on the stories. As far as almost every title has relationships with advertisers and the owners and big brands have their reputation and historical political angle in every story, the results are almost always just one side of the story.
And if we talk about the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, as you all know, there are only 2 sides that are published and reproduced. In reality when we look at such a great in proportions process it’s never about 2 opposite sides. There’re many other stories, many opinions and facts interpretations that the general public doesn’t have a chance to know or to learn about. Unfortunately viral content doesn’t mean it’s the truthful content. It means only that it has a trigger that attracts attention and provides an effective response from the masses.
Why do I write that? I want to advise not to follow the mass hysteria and don’t spread the same messages following your best intentions and will to help people. The war time officials provide a lot of disinformation. Read numbers and compare them to history, to different times, countries. Read official statements and compare them. Use your mind more than your emotions.
And don’t trust historical reviews made in the last few years. Each regime - democratic or totalitarian - tends to rewrite the history, interprete the facts and events so the ideology and moral systems would correlate to the contemporary political or social agenda. But human mentality changes with time.
For example, we wouldn’t think the same thoughts about sex and sexuality in 18th century. as we think now. In 16th, 11th, 6th centuries there were completely different stereotypes and progressive thinking in use. We can’t even relate to Ancient Greece. We can think we know about the food, clothes and weapons people used but we don’t know the tastes, smells and the music of words, the actual live languages they speak. We suppose we can learn something from archaeological discoveries, but how much? There’s no sound records, no videos, and in most cases no original texts survived.
I wish we could change the history just by our will to change interpretation of it to a better one - kinder and fairer. The only thing we really change is our minds and put the base under the future generations. The past stays as it was. Solid and gone. To learn from it, we need to accept it as it was. And witness the shift in human mentality.
A digest from my Instagram for March 15th, 2022
6.00am zakharova_kaetano Good morning 🌞 How are you today? …. #haveagoodday@durmoosh reminded me about that artist - @tatiana_brodatch. I share her works today. In the whirlpool of the news and events, opposite emotions I miss warmth… #morninginspiration#morningmood #goodmorningart #artasinspiration #beautyofart#goodmorningpost
5.00 pm zakharova_kaetano #finding after a very nervous day when my sites and my clients sites were blocked in Russia because… well, because. Fortunately I was among many many others surprised, now the block is lifted. 🌹 i need a relaxant. That Lion bracelet by @roberto_coin looks so fine. Source: @donna.jewel#artofjewellery #beautyofjewellery #jewelleryasinspiration#contemporaryjewellery
10pm zakharova_kaetano In the end of the day I’m ready to self-sanction myself. #nightmood #todaymood with Anja Niemi. 'The flower room' from 'The Woman Who Never Existed' series. 2016 #thewomanwhoneverexisted @anjaniemiphotography#selfportraiture #selfidentity #artofphotography#contemporaryart #artisticphotography#conceptualphotography #beautyofwoman #colours
My platforms
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zakharova_kaetano
Twitter: https://twitter.com/olga_kaetano
Telegram: https://t.me/f_simulacrum
Tumblr: https://fashionistaru.tumblr.com
If you like F! Simulacrum and want to help make it even better, give me feedback, point out factual errors or typos, or send me news subjects you want to describe. My email: o.zakharova@adlifestudio.ru
Substack says I have exciting news to share with you: You can now read my F! Simulacrum in the new Substack app for iPhone.
With the app, you’ll have a dedicated Inbox for my Substack and any others you subscribe to. New posts will never get lost in your email filters, or stuck in spam. Longer posts will never cut-off by your email app. Comments and rich media will all work seamlessly. Overall, it’s a big upgrade to the reading experience.
The Substack app is currently available for iOS. If you don’t have an Apple device, that sucks (for me:))) you can join the Android waitlist here.