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How George Orwell was right — and Steve Jobs was wrong | Opinion

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Frida Ghitis: Social media algorithms purify and concentrate hate and fear spread across society.

She says they create a broader sense of fear and rage, making these emotions more easy to exploit.

Ghitis says social media sites’s populistist” sites push people to the right stage of the stage of stage.

Law-and-order campaigns and promises of severe punishment acquire a sudden appeal.

Fear of crime — and fear more generally (of your kids being victims of trans people or renegade surgeons in public schools, for example, or of immigrants raping your wife or taking your job) — push people toward an embrace of conservative and then authoritarian politics and governance.

Is it possible this is making the world less stable, less peaceful, and more violent through a reverse “ Maharishi Effect ”?.