The why and how of Conspiracy Theories

Jul 12, 2023 | Navigating Reality, Lifestyle

When I reminisce about the  number of “sick” days I spent at home during my teens, I inevitably think about the  countless hours I’d spend just vegetating in front of a television. Back then, television was pretty drab, daytime television even more so. Well, that is, until you flicked to channel 186; The History Channel. Admittedly the idea of getting lectured on the Second World War while having the stomach flu sounds like torture, but unfortunately and for reasons that I still don’t quite understand, there is a severe lack of historical fact to be found on the channel. In exchange, you are greeted by the legendary Giorgio A. Tsoukalos and the fever dream show titled ‘Ancient Aliens’. 

‘Ancient Aliens’ is a conspiratorial TV show that doesn’t shy away from some of its goofiness. It doesn’t pretend that it is some all-knowing work of prophecy. It’s a conspiracy theory at its most harmless and perhaps a fun thought to occupy your mind. Whether you believe it or not would probably have very little effect on other members of society. The basic premise of the show is ‘evidence’ that ancient, extraterrestrial species have been visiting earth since the beginning of our planet’s origin and are potentially our creators through genetic experimenting. It’s kind-of-compelling because it portrays an ‘exciting’ answer to many of the mysteries we see in archeological findings such as the pyramids. Conspiracy theories, however, run far deeper than aliens potentially helping advance ancient civilisations and many of them can have negative societal impacts. 

DTS, Nich Fancher

What exactly is a conspiracy theory? Conspiracy theories are defined as alternative explanations of historical or ongoing events claiming that people or groups with sinister intentions are engaged in conspiratorial plotting. Consider David Icke’s infamous Lizard Elite Illuminati theory, chemtrails, the moon landing being fake, or more recently, that 5G (mobile network) was causing Covid. Honestly, there are simply too many to mention. Some may seem silly, but the stats show that there is far more widespread belief in conspiracy theories than you may initially think. “What we found is that the more conspiracy theories we ask about, the fewer and fewer people there are that don’t believe in any,” says political scientist Joseph Uscinski who has been researching conspiracies for over a decade. 

So, how have these theories become so deeply entrenched within society when at face value, a lot of them seem factually flimsy or laughably ludicrous? Well, many psychologists, philosophers, political scientists and cognitive researchers have poured countless hours into understanding conspiracies, looking at how they take root, why they are so popular, and why they seem so hard to shake. First and foremost, it’s important to note that certain conspiracy theories turned out to be true. Edward Snowden, for example, outed the National Security Agency of mass surveillance on a practically global scale, proving a longstanding theory that the US government had been spying on civilians in the name of “national security”. While true whistleblowers like Snowden exposed some immense intelligence secrets to the public, leading figures like Alex Jones emerge in the conspiracy space, capitalising on the inherent fear or feeling that we have that we are being lied to by society’s biggest institutions. More on that guy later. 

Simply put, we as individuals are not all-knowing. There are gaps in our knowledge, and when we seek out information to fill these gaps, there is a chance that the information we choose is factually flawed. In a video by The Guardian, they even point out that if we are repeatedly exposed to falsehoods, we become more and more likely to start believing it. So what is the point of humans seeking out this information; why do people create and perpetuate conspiracy theories? David Barron, an Academic Psychologist, explains that “human beings crave logic, human beings crave understanding, they need to know why something has happened.”  Dr Elise Wang and Professor Varon Swamy take this idea of understanding and apply it more directly to why conspiracy theories are so effective in capturing people’s imaginations. “Conspiracy theories fill a need for control. Essentially simple explanations are adopted more easily because they are simple. This gives you a target [i.e. the government]. The concept of an enemy is no longer abstract, it’s physical, and you can take action against it,” says social psychologist Prof. Swamy.

Stock Video Motion Array

Similarly, Dr Wang, a researcher on the internal logic and rhetoric of conspiracy theories at Duke University, explains that, at least to her mind, what conspiracy theories attempt to do is to get a powerful actor behind a powerful event. The more powerful the event, the more powerful the actor and it is often attempted to be focused on one person. These chaotic events are far easier to process when it’s a singular actor rather than the consequence of a complex combination of societal factors. Here you just have to look at how so many people blamed Bill Gates for Covid as if he cooked up the virus-like some billionaire playing ‘Plague Inc’ in real life. 

We’ve heard it all before, phrases that were plastered all over anonymous web-bulletin 4chan.com – conspiratorial catchphrases like “it’s all connected”. 

Some of the most well known  conspiracy theories include ‘The Illuminati’ or ‘cabal’ which suggest the existence of a secretive organisation that controls global events and manipulates governments, economies and media. According to believers, this group consists of elite individuals from various fields who work together to establish a New World Order, said to wield significant power and influence, using symbols and hidden messages to communicate their intentions – particularly through celebrities and pop culture. 

Other crazy theories like the ‘flat Earth theory’ propose that the Earth is not a sphere but a flat disc. It claims that evidence like the visibility of the horizon and the lack of perceived curvature can be explained by alternative explanations rather than the Earth’s actual shape. This theory contradicts extensive scientific evidence and observations that consistently support the Earth’s spherical shape, including satellite imagery, global positioning systems (GPS), and literal centuries of astronomical observations. Yet, ‘flat-earthers’ are some of the most militant, which shows that conspiratorial thinking cannot be met with reason or contrary evidence. 

One of the first conspiracy theories to arise in our century was around 9/11; with many people believing that the terrorist attack of the Twin Trade Towers was an inside job orchestrated by the US government, as a pretext to invade the Middle East for oil extraction and to destabilise their growing economic position in the world. This one isn’t actually much of a stretch of the imagination, considering the USA’s secret history of intervening in Latin America. It also points to the idea that at its core, conspiratorial thinking is part of how we rationalise our confusing and expanding world. 

Psychologists also point to a phenomenon called Illusory pattern perception as a hypothesis for the prevalence of conspiracy theories. As the hypothesis goes: what seems to actually be happening is that as part of our evolutionary journey, we have pattern detection hardwired into our brains. This helped our ancestors forage resources that clumped together and also helped us avoid danger, but we may have gotten a bit too good at it and now find patterns in things where there are none in an attempt to make sense of chaos. 

Humans are, at our core, storytellers, and often conspiracy theories are pretty enticing stories. As Zaria Gorvett writes for the BBC, “Conspiracy theories have all the elements of a good story – terrifying villains, creative plots, and moral lessons. Because of this, a well-constructed conspiracy can have a powerful hold on the public imagination, in a way that a narrative about a ‘virus emerged entirely unpredictably and killed thousands for no reason’ is unlikely to be able to rival. Some psychologists have compared conspiracy theories to religious beliefs, in the way that they help us to feel more in control, by taking unpredictable or random events and making them seem somehow predestined or shaped by human hands.”

We are almost predestined to believe at least some conspiracy at some point, but why, then, is it so hard for people to shake even in the face of empirical evidence? Well, first and foremost, I think this comes down to a level of distrust in anything related to the establishment, not only from conspiracy theorists but around the board. There is also the fact that our brain, incredible as it is, sometimes works in somewhat backwards ways. Nadia Brashier is a cognitive scientist who explains the dilemma faced by the brain when trying to unlearn misinformation. “It’s really hard to correct misconceptions once we accept them. The brain data shows that these myths are never erased, so we’re concurrently storing both the original misinformation and its correction.” Then there is also the fact that, for the most part, how conspiracy arguments are set up, the theory is not necessarily falsifiable. In this world, any evidence that seems to disprove the conspiracy only goes to prove the conspiracy further. It’s a classic case of “That is what they want you to think” and “Of course, they’d say that”. When you are living in the realm of conspiracy theories, everything can be distorted using cognitive bias to ‘prove’ the threads of these beliefs. 

Unsplash

What is the harm? So what if the Facebook tannies think chemtrails are being used to control the country? Well, here’s where it gets dicey. Statistics overwhelmingly show that very rarely do people believe in only one conspiracy. Yes, they may not think birds are real, but as the ridiculously anti-semitic comment section of Sex in Afrikaans shows, too many people believe the whole world is being controlled by a handful of Jewish overlords. And herein lies the problem. Political extremism leads to people having a ridiculously rigid perspective, and societal systems outside that perspective work in an us versus them kind of manner to these people. We end up in social media echo-chambers that reinforce or introduce us to extremist and potentially dangerous ideologies and dogma. Within these eco-chambers, massive conspiracy movements like QAnon thrive and, with the help of social media, disseminate at an almost unfathomable rate. In groups of like-minded anger, disdain and disillusionment, we see the rise of some absolutely terrible behaviours. As Prof Swamy states,”[conspiracies] are typically associated with negative outcomes. Whether it’s greater racism, denial of science, denial of medical consensus or the lack of engagement with mainstream politics, the danger is that actions driven by conspiracy theories can be dangerous because they are disconnected from our shared reality.” 

This brings me back to  Alex Jones. He is a raging conspiracy nut known for his erratic, emotionally driven show ‘InfoWars’ that covered all manner of conspiracies, packaging them as ‘truth’ for his viewers. I have always found it perplexing that the man had such a massive platform while preaching the most off the wall shit that has ever been uttered, just to cut in with an ad about his supplements and ask for funding all “to keep the lights on for truth” while raking in millions. Well, simply to illustrate the radical impact one person with baseless theories can have. Jones’ rhetoric played a large part in the January 6 Capitol Riots in which QAnon Trump supporters occupied the Capitol Building in an event I still can’t believe happened. Most disgustingly was a staunch denier of the Sandy Hook Massacre where a 20-year old shot and killed 20 kids and six staff members. Practically since the horrific incident, Jones has spewed rhetoric that it was a government coverup and that the grieving parents were all actors. Imagine how fucked up and detached from reality you have to be? Fortunately, Jones has been ordered to pay 1 billion dollars in damages, but I don’t think any amount of money can make up for the years of physiological damage, death threats, and intimidation tactics suffered by the parents at the hands of Jones and his supporters.

It seems that conspiracies will always lead to the extreme. It serves to other already marginalised groups to justify racist sentiments and to reaffirm notions of dangerous extremism. Conspiracy theories are powerful because often they are far easier to digest than the nihilistic realisation that we are, in fact, not nearly as in control as we would like and that crazy, unexplainable things can happen to us at any time. What gets lost in the murkiness of conspiracy theories is the real accountability that we should be seeking from institutions; such socio-economic and political equality for all people around the world. 

We live on a planet and in a universe in which we are not even really sure how or why we got here. Questions like, ‘are we alone in the universe?’ are reasonable existential questions, and people spend lifetimes developing through science and spirituality  various ideas and answers. It’s not a conspiracy that we exist, but it will be a long road to ever knowing why we exist; I promise that MilfHunter777 on Reddit or 8chan doesn’t have any information that is accurate, reliable or remotely relevant to these queries.

Written by: Casey Delport

For more news, visit the Connect Everything Collective homepage www.ceconline.co.za

Threads App Reaches 100 million users in five days

Jul 11, 2023 | News, Community

With Twitter undergoing significant product degeneration at the hands of Elon Musk, people have been desperate for a replacement. As we reported last week, Twitter had started to limit the amount of tweets users could view in a day. In the strange saga that is the rise of tech billionaires, there is a very limited monopoly for companies behind the most used social media platforms in the world. Mark Zuckerberg sits at the pinnacle of this; his ‘Meta’ conglomerate boasts apps like Facebook (his initial conception in 2004), Instagram and Whatsapp. If anyone were to challenge Elon Musk’s flagrant mismanagement of Twitter, it was going to have to be Zuck – the original ‘connect billions around the world’ social media magnate. 

Threads was launched last week amidst the news of Twitter’s cap limit for users. While the project was top secret, and supposed to be launched later this month, it seems Meta had decided to strike while the going was going and Elon’s ship was sinking. 

Launched as part of Instagram’s suite of functions, it appears to be a relative copy of the format of Twitter, though with a very different energy. In a kind of ‘social media canon event’, signing up populated the minimal app with celebrities, influencers, brands and laypeople on what seems to be a ‘fresh’ playing field.

threads logo

Sourcde via Digital Trends

Threads shares similarities with Twitter, albeit with a few distinctions. It allows users to create concise posts of up to 500 characters, encompassing links, photos, and short videos lasting up to five minutes. The Threads feed operates on an algorithmic basis, combining posts from both people you follow and suggested content, similar to the current approach employed by Instagram. In contrast, Twitter provides the choice to switch between an algorithmic feed and a chronological feed that exclusively showcases posts from the accounts you follow. This kind of integrated functionality is part of Meta’s long term vision to bring ‘decentralised’ exporting and importing of one’s social media presence across all of its platforms.

The response to Threads has been mostly positive. With Instagrams (supposed) stricter guidelines, there will be more monitoring on hate speech, sexual content and so on. We will see if this lasts, as Twitter has amassed a polarising reputation for being a chaotic realm to say and do almost anything. Part of Musk’s manifesto for Twitter was ‘free speech’, which for he and conservative-right wingers alike usually just means allowing folks like Donald Trump and Neo-Nazi figures, as detailed by Hunger Magazine here. The general mood on Threads when I signed up was the overwhelming sense that we could truly connect in a space with less expectation and baggage.

Threads has been downloaded 100 million times and counting since its launch. Twitter has around 250 million active users daily; so it seems Musk and Zuck are headlocked in a battle that far surpasses their cage fight debacle, possibly set to occur at the colosseum. This world just seems to get stranger and stranger and we will clearly have to choose between one Tech overlord over the other. For now? I’m threadin’.

Written by: Holly Beaton

For more news, visit the Connect Everything Collective homepage www.ceconline.co.za

The Cultural Significance and Redemption Arc of Barbie™

Jul 11, 2023 | Lifestyle, Community

Few children’s toys have had as contentious an impact as Mattel Inc.’s Barbie doll. As the original fashion doll with a presence on the market since 1959, Barbie represents a complexity unknown by almost any other toy. In one way, Barbie represents the suppression of femininity through idealised beauty standards (specifically, she is usually the initial example of a thin, white, blonde body standard that young girls are introduced to) as well as the lack of diversity and inclusion within society’s infrastructure (the first Black barbie, named Christie, was only made in 1980) – on the other hand, Barbie is the baddie with many careers and multiple lives. In a male-dominated world, her counterpart Ken is merely a sidenote. As a response to declining sales, Mattel Inc. has released 35 skin tones into the Barbie universe since 2015. Now, there are Barbies in a variety of races, body-sizes, there are Barbies with Vitiligo and Barbies in wheelchairs. There are Barbies with varying hair textures and styles, and fashion-choices too that reflect a move beyond the ‘pink, femininity’ of Barbie’s earliest years.

My childhood was saturated with Barbie – my most favourite was my ‘Camper Van’ Barbie set that I got for Christmas one year. In the way that most children’s toys do, ‘playing Barbies’ is a form of imagination exercise. I remember specifically about Barbie, like other games such as ‘House-House’, these are experiences in which children are able to colour in their developing conception of the reality around them. 

Specifically in my Barbie games, she and Ken were always getting divorced and there were always fiery and dramatic narratives; perhaps not dissimilar to the context of my own environment around six or seven years old. Then, there is the very sticky issue of Barbie’s appearance. Barbie has served as the cultural archetype of all the most harmful messaging to young girls for the last few decades. As Afua Hirsch writes of the disproportionately sized doll in her piece for The Guardian, “traditional Barbies represent the body shape of 1 in 100,000 real-life women, have a waist size 20cm smaller than a group of anorexia sufferers, and would have insufficient body fat to menstruate.” 

That’s not even mentioning the research published in Body Image, a scientific journal, which hypothesised that “In both studies, girls who played with thin dolls experienced higher body size discrepancies than girls who played with full-figured dolls. Girls who played with full-figured dolls showed less body dissatisfaction after doll exposure compared to girls who played with thin dolls. Playing with unrealistically thin dolls may encourage motivation for a thinner shape in young girls.” Considering that Barbie has only seen recent revamp in inclusion – there are already two generations of people for whom Barbie subconsciously programmed their understanding of beauty. I wonder if there is a correlation between Barbie’s success in the late 1980s to early 2000s, and the era of thinness and celebration of eating disorder-physiques? Cue celebrities like Paris, Lindsay, Nicole, Kate and even Pam. 

Then, there is a question about Barbie’s facial features. Mass-producing a doll perhaps comes with its manufacturing challenges and it can be said that Barbie’s facial structure is just an easy identifier of the brand’s signature. Still, the messaging is the same. With her almond shaped, mascara heavy eyes, tiny nose and lips; there is a singular beauty convention, even within the array of diverse Barbies now. Where is the real representation of how women look? What are we still teaching young girls about beauty – that there is only one to look to be accomplished, powerful, beautiful and fun? My own internalised thin-idealism and perception of beauty can be traced as early back as my time playing Barbies. This was then replaced by fashion models in magazines – and thus, my entire early development in childhood and teenhood was predicated on confirmation bias from the world around me. I am also a cis-gendered white woman in a body that holds privilege. Barbie’s role has been far more detrimental to young Black, Asian and girls of Colour.

Given all of this, how could Barbie truly serve as a feminist icon? Barbie has been presented in various professional roles, ranging from doctors and astronauts to engineers and computer programmers. By highlighting diverse careers and encouraging girls to imagine themselves in these roles, Mattel Inc have promoted the idea that women can pursue any profession they desire, emphasising empowerment of  the aspirations of young girls with slogans like ‘You Can Be Anything’. In 1965, the first astronaut Barbie was introduced, at a time when women were very much still relegated to the patriarchal role of the ‘homemaker’. Barbie has also ventured into areas such as girls’ education and social activism. 

In collaboration with organisations like Code.org, Barbie has launched initiatives to encourage girls’ interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Mattel Inc. released dolls honouring inspiring women from various fields, such as Amelia Earhart, Frida Kahlo, and Katherine Johnson, which could serve as educational tools for girls to pursue their own passions. Barbie’s career-powered, skillset-varied legacy is well worth celebrating and has made the Barbie universe able to withstand the evolving values of modern society. We still have a long way to go before true representation of women is seen across institutions, with equal rights, equal pay and safety continuing to be barriers and far from the status quo. 

While we are just ten days away from the Barbie Movie’s launch, the plot has been kept as a locked secret. Suggestions have been made that this film serves as Barbie’s personal reckoning with the artifice of her world. As the Apple description of the plot simply states, “To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken.” Knowing Greta Gerwig’s style, we can expect to welcome some measure of chaos and flux to Barbie’s highly stylised existence and expression. Interestingly, the film has been co-signed with the Barbie™ brand as a kind-of collaboration. If the suspected contents of the film prove to be true, we might be witnessing a genuine effort by Mattel Inc to uncover and evolve the way Barbie can be understood by past, present and future fans. Through Barbie The Movie, us older generations of Barbie-players might even find a measure of healing for the ‘Barbie’ archetype embedding within our earliest subconscious programming. I’m excited for the film and to relish in the absurdity of ‘girliness’ – the sweetness and complexity of being a girl, too.

Courtesy of Mattel Inc.

Courtesy of Warner Bros.

Written by:  Holly Beaton

For more news, visit the Connect Everything Collective homepage www.ceconline.co.za

Conceptual fashion designer Yamkela Mahlelehlele’s manifesto for South Africa’s young creatives

Jul 10, 2023 | Interviews, Fashion

We have never lived under more commercialised conditions. Contrasted against the pursuit by so many to forge creative paths that can actualise as fruitful careers – we still find that one of the strongest components for developing ones work in the world is the necessity of financial, sustained security. So, the notion of being a ‘conceptual designer’ in the fashion industry is a rare mantle to take up. To push the boundaries of traditional fashion design through storytelling, symbolism, and experimentation into their creations and to challenge conventional notions of style and beauty is a kind of privilege that many designers have to contend with. This is done amid lack of resources, infrastructure and the ever-gleaming road of corporate safety. It takes a young designer like Yamkela Mahlelehlele to lay down a kind of framework that the two need not be mutually exclusive; Yamkela is a recent graduate of CPUT’s stellar Fashion Design department and is a ‘conceptual designer’ – and yet, she has found that working for and alongside commercial brands has only strengthened her point of view as a conceptual designer. You might have seen Yamkela at events dressed in experimental pieces; if not in real life, her Instagram serves as an archive of her work as a DIY, upcycling virtuoso.

In our conversation, Yamkela describes the focus underpinning her work, “I refer myself to a fashion curator, as well as a designer. I say this because I’m concerned with immersing myself in as many different aspects of the industry that I can – my skill set is in design and construction, but I think fashion is the primarily the way that I’m telling my story and finding my community. My main objective is to create things that are both relatable but can be understood as art.” I am endlessly fascinated by upcycling as a response to both our consumption problem in fashion, but also as a means to reimagine the old. I ask Yamkela how, in and among learning to create new garments from scratch throughout her studies, upcycling became her primary vantage point? To which she says, “it started from being broke, to be honest. I ventured into thrifting and I started to find amazing pieces for cheap. From a young age, I liked the idea of turning something from its original into something different. Giving things a second chance and being in the fashion industry, I understand how much we contribute to the destruction of the planet. Through my work, I try to find ways to make something new of things that have been discarded. I feel like it’s a way of working that is a metaphor for the human experience; giving people second chances or being seen is so important, and I want to apply that idea to fashion.” 

Not only is differentiation through upcycling an ethically valuable mode of designing and not only is it brilliantly creative for Yamkela’s self-expression; differentiation is the absolute key for designers against a saturated market and fosters a competitive edge. Though for Yamkela it’s not about competition, for her it’s rather about community – a designer like Yamkela showcases what it means to expand the idea of innovation. Rather than continually seeking newness, she seeks expansion from forgotten materiality through the lens of newness itself. As Yamkela explains, “I like to deal with one-off pieces. I know this is difficult to scale, but I’m trying to find a way in which design can facilitate the individuality that I see in other people. I want to encourage a niche of people who want to wear art. For me, a successful design combines the piece’s voice, my voice but also the wearer’s voice. I think that should be encouraged and that young designers should find their voice, no matter what the trends might be saying.” We are used to seeing something we like and expecting that there are hundreds of units behind the piece that everyone can have. As I speak to Yamkela, I understand that her opposition to this idea is not because she wants any kind of exclusivity in her work; rather, she wants to be able to create with the inclusion of individuality at the forefront of her work.

On the subject of sustainability, Yamkela reflects on the mindfulness that human beings once had around clothing, “our parents used to keep clothes for their children. They would mend and preserve what they had. If we look at our fast trend cycle moves and our throw-away culture, I want to find a way to create heirlooms that can go back to our appreciation for fashion.” I ask Yamkela, as an artist, why fashion is her medium? To which she says, “it sounds simple, but if you dress well, the chances of you having a good day are really high. Clothing is a protective barrier and you are within yourself, trusting and loving yourself. I’m really interested in fashion as this way of honouring who we are and showing who we are to the outside world.”

When Yamkela graduated, she knew that she had to find her way in the fashion industry. This daunting task was met with an internship at Superbalist.com – a space that she owes a lot to in teaching her the ins and outs of commercial fashion production and selling. It is heartening to listen to her describe that as conceptual designers, there is so much to absorb from a commercial structure like Superbalist. It was around this time that Yamkela found denim as a malleable material for her work; and it attracted the attention of Redbat Posse, who selected her to showcase alongside other finalists at SA Menswear Fashion Week SS23. The initiative is a women-focused design program by TFG’s Redbat Jeans, in which young designers were given Redbat samples and offcuts and tasked to patchwork, experiment and re-create something totally new. For Yamkela this was the perfect opportunity. As she says, “doing my first fashion show with Redbat was amazing. It showed me that it’s possible to work in a brand-specific way and still retain my essence as a designer.” Initiatives like Redbat Posse suggest a future in which residencies and programs foster unique and truly innovative design is par for the course.

For Youth Day, Yamkela was part of Levi’s ‘Haus of Strauss Africa’ celebrations. Perhaps one of the most critical spaces of design-development through a brand specific lens, Haus of Strauss’ mission statement reads “The space serves as a physical embodiment of the Levi’s® brand on the continent, a place to build community engagement and nurture and celebrate African creativity. This is achieved by hosting educational workshops and enriching network-based gatherings. We invite creators and innovators into Haus to work with our team to customise garments. This results in unique pieces that have a personal connection to the creator and carry a story that will accompany that garment throughout its life.” Yamkela describes how she sent them a proposal and hoped for the best, off the back of a DM that she sent to their IG channel. The concept that Yamkela proposed was an homage to the Soweto Uprising that occurred 47 years ago, with a six-piece collection that celebrated the spirit of Blackness and the strides in creativity and expression that she and other creatives have been able to make. On this experience, Yamkela says “I was blown away by the experience. It’s my first exhibition and the exhibition is on until August at Haus of Strauss. I felt very seen and understood. It’s given me so much fuel to my fire, to move forward knowing that I’m on the right path.” I ask Yamkela lastly, what her hope for the future of young designers in South Africa is, to which she responds that “I want us to keep our clothes forever. To honour ourselves through our expression. I hope that our industry continues to allow creatives to have opportunities so that they don’t have to forfeit our talent, just to eat.”

Written by:  Holly Beaton

For more news, visit the Connect Everything Collective homepage www.ceconline.co.za

The Dirty Skirts release new EP ‘Radiant Clouds’

Jul 7, 2023 | New Release, Music

During lockdown 2021, The Dirty Skirts collaborated remotely for the first time. They instantly rediscovered the creative chemistry that inspired the four albums they released between 2005 and 2012. The band recently won a grant from SAMRO’s Music Creation Support Fund to partially fund a recording. They decided to release the new work in a series of EPs. The first of which is “Radiant Clouds” due for release in May 2023. 

The themes of the album describe a pivotal time of increased polarisation, social inequity, climate change, AI, and TikTok, from the perspective of our ordinary day to day lives.

The band’s iconic indie rock sound was built on urgent, emotive vocals, searing riff-based guitars, syncopated fuzzy basslines, and a playful combination of electronic and acoustic beats. The Dirty Skirts continue as their original line up – Jeremy de Tolly on vocals and guitar, David Moffatt on guitar, Maurice Paliaga on bass, and Mark De Menezes on drums.

The Dirty Skirt’s career highlights include being nominated for the Best Rock Album (SAMA) for their album ‘Daddy Don’t Disco’ and winning the Best Alternative Album (SAMA) for their album ‘Lost in the Fall’. They were first an independent act, then signed to labels Sony Music and Sheer. The band shared stages with notable international artists including Oasis, Snow Patrol, Evanescence, Three Doors Down, Billy Talent and Staind. They toured the UK and USA, including playing the SXSW festival in Texas. The Dirty Skirts headlined main stages at many South African festivals including Oppikoppi, Rocking the Daisies, Ramfest, Up the Creek, Splashy Fen, The Coca-Cola Festival, Kirstenbosch Summer Concerts and Seeding the Daisies. 

The Dirty Skirts will bring their high-octane live performances to South Africa in 2023.

STREAM ‘RADIANT CLOUDS’ HERE

Press release courtesy of Plug Music Agency

South African Musician and Producer Esjay Jones Joins Forces with Crazy Town and We Are Pigs for New Single ‘Faded’

Jul 7, 2023 | New Release, Music

Esjay Jones a highly talented and versatile artist hailing from South Africa and now based in the United States, is excited to announce the release of her latest single Faded. A captivating collaboration between her alternative trap metal project We Are Pigs and platinum-selling USA band Crazy Town. 

The track is set to captivate audiences around the world with its infectious energy and impeccable production.   With an illustrious career spanning numerous genres and a reputation for pushing creative boundaries, Esjay Jones has established herself as a prominent force in the music industry. 

Drawing from her rich cultural heritage and diverse musical influences, Esjay has consistently delivered groundbreaking music that resonates with listeners on a deep and emotional level.  The collaboration with Shifty Shellshock from Crazy Town represents an exciting milestone in Esjay’s career. Joining forces with the acclaimed band, known for their chart-topping hit “Butterfly” and electrifying performances, has resulted in a unique fusion of styles that seamlessly blends the best of both artists’ musical prowess. The synergy between their distinct talents and shared passion for creating meaningful music is palpable throughout the single.

About Esjay Jones
Esjay Jones is a South African born, Grammy-featured producer, engineer & songwriter now based between Los Angeles and Joshua Tree, California. Esjay had her first major cut in the U.S. alongside co-writer Justin Tranter in 2013 with the single “I choose U” by artist TimeFlies on Def Jam Records. Since then, she has worked with Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Brian “Head” Welch (Korn), Nile Rodgers, Sean Kingston and many other signed artists, as well as gaining success in the sync & licencing world with original compositions for Fabletics, The Hellman’s Mayonnaise Superbowl commercial and more! 

Esjay has had almost two decades of success in the music Industry: during the first part, she cemented herself as one of South Africa’s top rock vocalists fronting Durban-based band, Stealing Love Jones. The band achieved mainstream success with 4 number 1 singles, as well as sharing the stage with major international acts like Fall Out Boy, One Republic, Violent Femmes, Seether, Jimmy Eat World, Groove Armada and many more.   

As a sought-out producer and songwriter, Esjay was hand-picked by the Chester Bennington estate to solely produce the posthumous record from Chester Bennington (Linkin Park) released on Loma Vista this year. As well as her recognisable production and songwriting work, Esjay also has a collaborative trap-metal project called “We Are PIGS” which includes collaborations from some of the biggest names in rock and metal. Esjay is writing, producing, engineering, singing and mixing on this project.

Stream ‘Faded’ HERE

Press release courtesy of Plug Music Agency

Introducing ‘And.’- a production company articulating South Africa’s supremacy in filmmaking

Jul 6, 2023 | Creatives

And’ is the third most commonly used word in the English language. For founder Rob dos Santos, the startling simplicity of the word ‘and’ suggested the continuation of a narrative, landing perfectly as the namesake of his production company, ‘And.’

A principle of simplicity underlies all of their endeavours. Something may appear simple or uninteresting, but with the right perspective, it can be transformed into something distinctive; hence, And. selecting milk bottles as their symbol and Helvetica as their logo font. One represents a common household item, while the other is the most widely used font globally; together, these elements are combined and viewed from a different angle and something entirely novel emerges. This forms the foundation of their entire approach; simple, deliberate, distinctive.

The word ‘bespoke’ can sometimes be oversaturated but for And. it’s duly relevant and speaks to their personal and focused ability for visual storytelling. And. represents three directors with an exceptional service offering that features direct involvement from conception to broadcast. Rob dos Santos is a defining voice in film with around 40+ awards and nominations to his name – an exceptional feat for a director who just a few years ago was fighting cases in a court of law. Now, his focus as a director tends to be a strong balance between cinematic finesse and profound narratives. Christopher-Lee dos Santos joins And. not only as a highly accomplished features director whose work has been broadcast across streaming giants such as Netflix and Amazon, but as a director who specialises in car commercials, counting Porsche and Audi among his clients. Ryan Hing developed his visual eye as a creative director in fashion, and is now focused on full-scale directorial work, with his elevated storytelling encompassing every aspect of his output.

Directors: Rob dos Santos, Christopher-Lee dos Santos & Ryan Hing.

As individually, accomplished aesthetes, And. offers a selection of directors with exceptional vantage points for filmmaking and production. To converge the distinctive storytelling styles of three respectively decorated filmmakers has garnered ‘And.’ a serious seat at the table. Local, international – commercial and independent – this is a space on the frontlines of South Africa’s burgeoning recognition in global filmmaking. Based out of Bree St in Cape Town, Linden in Johannesburg and with a satellite office in Soho, London – And. is uniquely suited to translate uniquely-South African sensibilities beyond borders, and into a defined realm that matches (we’d say, exceeds) international filmmaking standards. 

And. works at the intersection of film and commercial storytelling and is dynamically suited to both realms of commercial and feature filmmaking. For them, the art of adverts cannot be overstated; it is the most accessible and digestible format for most viewers around the world, in which localised storytelling is prized for relevancy. Some of South Africa’s most strengthened depictions of storytelling have been through iconic advertising campaigns.

And. has one goal burning at its core: creating incredible visual stories through the art of the moving image. For And. there is no realm untouched by the process of filmmaking that cannot manifest as the highest reaches of artistic expression. Whether it’s product focused or narratively driven; visual portrayals, technical expertise and production chops worthy of every award – we’d say, watch this space…and, and, And.

Visit And’s website at www.thatand.com to view their work and to get in touch.

‘And.’
Website
IG 

Ryan Hing
IG 
Vimeo 

Christopher-Lee dos Santos 
IG
Vimeo 

Robert do Santos
IG 
Vimeo

All Images Courtesy of And.

Written by:  Holly Beaton

For more news, visit the Connect Everything Collective homepage www.ceconline.co.za

South Africa’s RAMFEST Announce 2023 Headliners

Jul 5, 2023 | News, Music

South Africa’s most eagerly awaited alternative, rock, and metal festival RAMFEST is gearing up for an explosive return, and fans are in for a treat with the announcement of not one but two exceptional international headline acts. 

This year’s festival promises an unforgettable experience as it welcomes ENTER:SHIKARI and The Ocean to grace its prestigious stage.

In addition to the international headliners, the festival proudly presents an incredible lineup of South Africa’s finest alternative, rock, and metal bands. Representing the local talent and reflecting the rich musical landscape of the country, these bands are poised to deliver unforgettable performances that will leave audiences craving for more. Among the local acts gracing the festival stage are Facing The Gallows, Jack Parow, Peasant, We Kill Cowboys, Sunken State, Fallen Prophets, Acid Magus, Straatligkinders and many more. From emerging artists to established favourites, these bands represent the diverse range of styles and influences within the South African music community.

Since forming in 2003 at school in their hometown of St Albans, UK, Enter Shikari have, thus far, released seven full-length studio albums; TAKE TO THE SKIES (2007), COMMON DREADS (2009), A FLASH FLOOD OF COLOUR (2012), THE MINDSWEEP (2015), THE SPARK (2017). NOTHING IS TRUE & EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE (2020), and the latest, A KISS FOR THE WHOLE WORLD which was released Friday 21st April 2023.

ENTER:SHIKARI

Since forming in 2003 at school in their hometown of St Albans, UK, Enter Shikari have, thus far, released seven full-length studio albums; TAKE TO THE SKIES (2007), COMMON DREADS (2009), A FLASH FLOOD OF COLOUR (2012), THE MINDSWEEP (2015), THE SPARK (2017). NOTHING IS TRUE & EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE (2020), and the latest, A KISS FOR THE WHOLE WORLD which was released Friday 21st April 2023.

THE OCEAN 

Coalescing around a shared vision of limitless sonic exploration and heaviness, The Ocean is a group of artists that has released 10 studio albums in different constellations since 2001.   Right off the back of North American & European tours with Karnivool and Katatonia, the band released a brand-new studio album in May 2023: ‘Holocene’ sees The Ocean add a closing chapter to their palaeontology-inspired album series, presenting a gear shift towards the electronic world while redefining heaviness at the same time. The album entered the official German album charts at #15 and was the 2ndbest selling album of all genres on Bandcamp in the week of release.   The Berlin-based post metal juggernaut toured the world extensively over the course of the past 20years, from Europe to North & South America to Australia, Russia & Asia, and performed at open airfestivals like Wacken, Roskilde, Oya, Hellfest, Summer Breeze, Resurrection, Pukkelpop, Dour as well as at boutique festivals like Roadburn or Arctangen.

FOR STELLENBOSCH: 
VENUE: VAN DER STEL SPORTS CLUB, STELLENBOSCH 
STRICTLY NO UNDER 18s 

WILL BE ALLOWED PAYMENT PROCESS BAR: CREDIT/DEBIT CARD ONLY PAYMENT PROCESS FOOD: CREDIT/DEBIT CARD ONLY PAYMENT PROCESS MERCH: CREDIT/DEBIT CARD ONLY   

RAM STAGE: ENTER SHIKARI (UK) | FACING THE GALLOWS | SET FOR THE SKY ILL SYSTEM | WE KILL COWBOYS   
METAL4AFRICA STAGE: THE OCEAN COLLECTIVE (GER) | THE FALLEN PROPHETS | BULLETSCRIPT OHGOD | DOOM TRIGGER | PEASANT | DA BEACH BOYZ  

Purchase tickets for Ramfest 2023 Cape Town HERE 

FOR PRETORIA:
VENUE: LOFTUS D-FIELD, PRETORIA 
STRICTLY NO UNDER 18s WILL BE ALLOWED 

RAM STAGE: ENTER SHIKARI (UK) | JACK PAROW | SHADOWCLUB THE TAZERS | STRAATLIGKINDERS | ACID MAGUS | MAN AS MACHINE   
EMALYTH STAGE: THE OCEAN COLLECTIVE (GER) | THE FALLEN PROPHETS | SUNKEN STATE FACING THE GALLOWS | MIDDLE GROUNDS | HUMAN NEBULA | WORSIE VAN WYK   

Purchase tickets for Ramfest 2023 Pretoria HERE 

R.O.A.R 
PROHIBITED ITEMS:   ✘ Illegal substances ✘ Weapons/Firearms ✘ Cooler boxes ✘ Pets/Animals (Excluding guide dogs) ✘ Alcohol (Will be on sale at the venue) ✘ Food/snacks (Will be on sale at the venue) ✘ Beverages (Will be on sale at the venue) ✘ No seating gear/folding chairs/folding tables ✘ Any items deemed by security or management to be dangerous or disruptive

ART BY elio_illustration   

This event is proudly sponsored by FLYING FISH | BLACK LABEL | LIFT

Press release courtesy of Plug Music Agency

For more news, visit the Connect Everything Collective homepage www.ceconline.co.za

Sei Siren’s Latest Sonic Project ‘orca’ Self-Actualises Her Artistic Vision

Jul 5, 2023 | Interviews, Music

I have the immense privilege of conversing with many of South Africa’s most creative beings. The honour of this is not lost on me and sometimes I wonder if there is a ‘cap’ or limit on how I will feel or come to understand the work of the artists that we feature. Just as these undue queries are enveloping my mind, an artist like Sei Siren comes along – and I am left enriched, astounded and such silly ideas of ‘creative limitations’ are relegated back to the far reaches of my developing consciousness. While you are reading this interview, I would like to suggest that you head here and play Sei’s latest sonic project ‘Orca’, as I did before our interview, after our interview – while I wrote this story – and in many other ways, on many other days. Comparison is the thief of joy, but in order to arrange how I might place Sei’s expression and work in my mind – I was taken back to a very specific moment in my life. It was 2014, and I had stumbled across Princess Nokia’s Metallic Butterfly – a self-produced album only existing then in the annals of SoundCloud. Princess Nokia was creating herself outside of any refined genre. All the heartbreak, self-discovery and meaning-making that my younger 19 year old self was attempting to actualise is bound up in that entire album; my formative experiences as a cyber-age, nature-devoted young woman are found between the verses of tracks like ‘Young Girls’, ‘Dragons’ and ‘Biohazard Butterfly’. I am utilising the experimental, raw expression of Princess Nokia to elucidate how Sei Siren’s ‘Orca’ has made me feel. Sei Siren is what Nokia and Grimes did for us in their earliest years – that pronouncement of the experience of girlhood to womanhood, wrapped up in all the chaos magic of being a creative, planetary being on earth.

Sei’s tracks like ‘Joy’s Bypass’ and ‘Knives and Blades’ are soft but searing electric waves and vocal invocations and it’s hard to place her as ‘emerging’ – although she is. I ask how music has been involved in her growth, to which Sei says, “I was always involved with music. From preschool onwards I did plays, choirs and my parents always put me in drama classes so that I could be busy. I started making music in matric, but I didn’t use my own productions until I was in university. I grew up around jazz and R&B, which was very much my parents’ music. The way I write and make music is improvisational, and informed by being around jazz – which has always felt so organic and instinctive from those musicians. I really got obsessed with that fluid way of working.” This would lead to Sei forging her own idea of being an artist, “I became Sei Siren out of that. I actually did an R&B album at first, which I think is kind of a trope or suggested pathway for Black girls to follow because it’s such a safe space to exist in. Eventually it dawned on me that I could approach music from an electronic space.”

The synth-siren layers of Sei’s expression is aptly described by her namesake, ‘Sei Siren’. In mythology, a Siren is a seductive and enchanting aquatic creature, known for their mesmerising voices that lured sailors to their doom with their irresistible songs. Sei says on this, “I was always captured by the ethereal nature of sirens but it’s not necessarily based on conventional beauty. They have terrifying faces and they are meant to scare you when you get close enough. I loved the idea of ‘luring’ and I use that sentiment in the hopes that I can lure my listeners to add to their repertoire of what music they can engage with. People are very loyal listeners to people who are true to themselves.” For Sei, the complexity of the mythological siren speaks to the nuance of being a woman and embodying the feminine. In a society filled with caricatural ideas of the feminine – Sei is more interested in how that can be understood deeper and the tensions between the dark and the light. 

‘Orca’ is a sonic project and comes from a space very rarely afforded to artists; the possibility of unconstrained time. As Sei explains, “it’s a tape or a project, or a collection of work. It came about from all these productions that I had sitting with me and I finally found the time to develop them. I was able to take some time off work, so I had the space to translate a lot of my experiences into the project. The project comes from me being able to be instinctive about my time and how I spend my energy. If I’m not bound to anything, then this is what I would want to say or how I would like my work to sound – that’s how Orca came about.” Sei’s first love is producing and it’s the part that she usually does first. On this, Sei explains that, “I have this practice that a friend introduced me to last year, which is to do it everyday. That task then becomes a habit, it becomes a part of you, so I produce every day. I would be in a certain mood during the time I was making Orca, which I think is why even though it’s not necessarily a cohesive album, it does feel connected and all the tracks can live together and have a good unification of the sound. I have found that producing sporadically doesn’t work in the way that being committed to doing it everyday.”

As if ‘Orca’ or Sei Siren didn’t resonate enough for me, I ask her who the project is for – to which she says that it’s for women, and more specifically it arose from when she found a book. The book in question is one that I think should be an initiatory rite for every young girl stepping into womanhood should read; Women Who Run With Wolves by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés. It’s a book that delves into the realms of mythology, folklore, and psychology to explore the wild and instinctual nature of women, emphasising the importance of reclaiming their authentic selves. Through captivating storytelling and analysis, the book encourages women to reconnect with their intuitive wisdom, embrace their passions, and find healing and wholeness in a world that often suppresses their primal instincts.

This particular paragraph contextualises the chapter on ‘the animal groom’, the ways and means in which women are taught to forsake their psyches, their wild inner creative life:

“When women open the doors of their own lives and survey the carnage there in those out-of-the-way places, they most often find they have been allowing summary assassinations of their most crucial dreams, goals, and hopes. They find lifeless thoughts and feelings and desires; ones which were once graceful and promising but now are drained of blood. Whether these hopes and dreams be about desire for relationship, desire for an accomplishment, a success, or a work of art, when such a gruesome discovery is made in one’s psyche, we can be sure the natural predator, also often symbolised in dreams as the animal groom, has been at work methodically destroying a woman’s most cherished desires, concerns, and aspirations.” – page 49, Women Who Run With Wolves by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Sei Siren says, “that book changed my life. She was saying so many things that I resonated with so strongly; she was talking about animals, my intuitive nature and how if I feel disconnected from it, how do I connect with myself again? The book affirmed to me that sex was meant to be this intuitive experience, that the body and the mind is this intuitive and provocative power. We are taught to be docile as women. I translated the awakening I had reading that book into my work, and that I didn’t want to be docile, or for it to be a passive listening experience in my music. I was able to start reclaiming how and why I do the things I do, and how I can enter a space doing things precisely the way I want to do them.” Women Who Run With Wolves is a seminal work for womanhood – I truly believe it. Sei and I understand in our conversation that we both received the message in our own ways – that simply, as young women reading this book, we did not have to bend or diminish the raw-giving, life-creating nature of being a woman. For women, this is a battle we will surely always have to confront. Orca is the manifestation of this process within Sei. As she says, “you know that monologue in the series Fleabag? It described that women understand pain in a way that men don’t, in a way that other people cannot. I think all of these women who are trying to speak to each other through each other, and that this happens primarily through creativity and art, but also in the day to day way we live our lives.”

Lastly, I ask Sei why the title ‘Orca’? As we know, orcas are having a moment and dozens of reports continue to come out about them attacking boats. Many suspect they are avenging our tireless dominion over the natural world. Sei says, “honestly, it’s such a perfect time because the title of the project is relevant to what the orca’s are doing! I was thinking about how orcas are so intelligent and fascinating, and that we keep trying to have dominion over them and yet they seem totally conscious of our faults in the world. I also wanted orcas to represent my own experience of being soft in the beginning of my career, and then finding this strength and leaning into being feral, or chaotic.” In the spirit of animals as talisman or spirits within the creative life of women, Sei explains that “it comes back to putting something primal and instinctive in my work, which orcas are. Also, I kept reading about Port and Starboard, two orcas here in South Africa who keep killing sharks but just taking their livers. It’s this wild new feeding technique that they have – it’s just for the liver. It’s so specific and such a powerful demonstration of intelligence and destruction. We always want nature to be this soft, wonderful place; but nature is violent, it’s intense. I want to honour that.”  

SEI SIREN is effervescent, honest and hyper-talented. Hers is a story that will rise and rise – I wait with bated breath with ‘Orca’ stirring the dreams of my inner-world.

All Images Courtesy of Sei Siren.

Written by:  Holly Beaton

For more news, visit the Connect Everything Collective homepage www.ceconline.co.za

Twitter Initiates A Limit On How Many Tweets Users Can View Per Day

Jul 4, 2023 | News, Community

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has been at the centre of controversy due to his actions, statements, and management style (or lack thereof). His provocative tweets have resulted in criticism and legal repercussions, notably his tweet in 2018 about taking Tesla private at $420 per share, which led to SEC charges and a subsequent settlement. His leadership approach, characterised by bold statements, public criticism of analysts and journalists, and bloated production targets, has generated debates and divided opinions; least not because of his refusal to allow workers to unionise. Tesla is currently the only auto-manufacturing company in the United States not represented by a union, rendering its employees unsafe regarding benefits, wage-security and legal protection. Musk’s views and comments on the COVID-19 pandemic have caused further controversy and by downplaying the severity of the virus and promoting unproven treatments, he has been accused of spreading misinformation and undermining public health efforts. So, when Musk decided he wanted to purchase Twitter (his personal favourite app) – his reasons were to ‘help humanity’ and ‘save free speech’ seemed a little off.
@sainthoax shares the news on Instagram.
The acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk is a whole debacle on its own; you can read about it in chronological detail here. Basically, he and the Twitter execs had a drawn-out battle, resulting in Elon purchasing the app for $44 billion.  As is common in the acquisition playbook, Musk utilised his wealth and assets, including stocks, to acquire Twitter. The fall-out of this decision for Musk, to provide some context as to why Twitter is where it is today, is best described here, “The initially proposed $13 billion in money borrowed by Twitter is equivalent to seven times the company’s 2022 projected operating cash flow; some banks found that multiple too risky and opted to participate only in the $12.5 billion margin loan to Musk. The debt is estimated to cost Twitter approximately $1 billion in annual interest and fees. Two days after announcing his bid, Musk registered three holding companies under the name “X Holdings” in preparation for his takeover. Tesla shares fell 12 percent on the day after the acquisition was announced, amid smaller declines in the broader markets. Musk incurred a $21 billion paper loss that day. Within three days after Twitter agreed to be acquired, Musk had sold $8.5 billion of his Tesla shares.” Basically, Elon Musk bought Twitter on an impulsive whim, cornering himself with a profit-draining app. 

In a bizarre attempt to create some kind of income stream for the free-to-use app, Musk instituted a subscription for the platform; taking away ‘blue tick verifications’ so that anyone purchases for a tick at $8 a pop. Musk denounced the existing hierarchical structure of Twitter, describing it as an elitist system dividing users into “lords” and “peasants.” Instead, he proposed a change, stating that anyone could obtain a verification checkmark by subscribing to Twitter Blue, a monthly paid subscription. This subscription would offer additional features such as tweet editing, an expanded character limit, and prioritised visibility in search results and reply rankings. Musk’s aim was to democratise access to enhanced Twitter functionalities, making them available to a broader range of users rather than solely benefiting the select few. This is no Robin Hood act, though and it’s seen Twitter lose credibility, loyal followers and generally marked Elon Musk as someone with little to no vision on how to run a social media app. Let’s not forget that he also fired about 80% of the company, too.

Image by WIREIMAGE, Theo Wargo.
In the latest chapter of this strange story, Musk’s Twitter has now set a temporary restriction on the number of tweets users can view per day. For verified users, this means 6,000 tweets per day – and for the unverified (who refused to pay the $8 to get a blue tick) are allowed a meagre 600 tweets per day. So much for freedom of speech and democratic access! The reason stated by Musk is his concern with ‘data scraping’ and ‘system manipulation’ although it’s unclear what precisely he means by this. Data scraping, also known as web scraping, is the process of automatically extracting data from websites. It involves using software or scripts to crawl web pages, retrieve specific information, and store it for use. This is the primary way in which companies are building AI machine-learning models such as ChatGPT. As reported by News24, “Musk had earlier expressed displeasure with artificial intelligence firms like OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, for using Twitter’s data to train their large language models.” Concern for AI’s rapid acceleration is a fair one, but this divisive scheme appears to be another impulsive choice for Elon Musk. Why would Twitter users, some of the most loyal communities in the social media landscape, continue to have their user-experience dictated and now controlled by a man purporting ‘freedom of speech’ like its some dog-whistle, rather than a substantiated cause? 

It seems the controversy was too much even for Elon, who subtweeted himself to state that soon verified users would increase from 6,000 to 8,000 and then to 10,000, and unverified users would climb to 800 and 1,000 respectively, and new unverified accounts would reach 300 to 400 and finally, a generous 500 for their brand-spanking-new Twitter experience. Another lesson in the futility of the ruling class, we suppose.

Featured image courtesy of  NewsWire.
Written by: Holly Beaton
For more news, visit the Connect Everything Collective homepage www.ceconline.co.za