The useful ideas project

This website is a mix of bite-sized ideas, notions, concepts and quotes that I’ve found to be useful.

My definition of “useful idea”:

• Accessible explanations, tools and resources for those wanting to think about how they think (and perhaps wanting to encourage their friends and family to analyse the media they consume).

• Other fun notions I think you may like.

Why “useful ideas” are important

[I’ve expanded this page as a reaction to the news that Meta is to get rid of factcheckers and recommend more political content.]

The UK and US are highly unequal societies, which means that the corporate media in these countries tend to promote the interests of the billionaire-class. As inequality grows, the media will become increasingly billionaire friendly.

This is a problem because billionaires will crush us poorer people like we are ants. Some billionaires won’t mean to do us harm, but won't worry about it too much when they do. After all, we’re just ants.

In the UK and US, our political systems are supposed to protect us from being stepped on.

But: as voters, us non-billionaires rely on accurate information to make decisions.

And: many media organisations in highly unequal societies will not provide that information, as it threatens the interests of the ruling elite.

If the media is less likely to interrogate power, it becomes more difficult for the majority of us to articulate why we shouldn’t be stepped on. It becomes more difficult for us to identify any oppressors, to object, and to organise our defence, because those arguments and concepts are not as easily available.

We’ve all been there. You’re in a conversation with a well-meaning person who’s repeating a political story that you know is misleading and wrong, but, in the moment, you can’t quite articulate why the half-truth-riddled story is misleading and wrong. Which then means that the half-truths go unchallenged and we all sink a little further into the zone flooded with excrement.

So, in my small, hopeless, naïve way, I’m attempting to put words into your mouth. I’m attempting to provide easier access to a few useful ideas that, if they were more widely known, would make all our lives better.

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I’m a former journalist/producer that has first-hand experience of the weaponisation of digital media. I’m trying to write simply and briefly.

Let me know about your favourite media literacy resources and I’ll add them to my list.

Thanks for visiting,

Ciarán.
UK
ciaranryan.com

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