How Internet Culture Poisoned Politics, with Whitney Phillips

<p>Is it inevitable that the internet and social media drive us to the extremes? Or do they just hold up a mirror to an already divided culture? And we explore the dark side of the internet – trolls, racist memes, hate-filled comment sections and increasingly virulent culture wars – and ask whether it hijacked the White House.</p> <p><strong>Guest</strong></p> <ul> <li>Whitney Phillips, Assistant Professor of Communication, Culture, and Digital Technologies at Syracuse University, and author of ‘<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/This-Cant-Have-Nice-Things-ebook/dp/B00VY1P3Q0/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=">This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture</a>’</li> </ul> <p><strong>Links</strong></p> <ul> <li><a href="https://twitter.com/wphillips49?lang=en">Whitney Phillips on Twitter</a></li> <li>Whitney's May 2018 report for Data &amp; Society: <a href="https://datasociety.net/output/oxygen-of-amplification/">The Oxygen of Amplification: Better Practices for Reporting on Extremists, Antagonists, and Manipulators Online</a></li> <li>Whitney's 2016 article for Slate: '<a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2016/06/the_problems_with_calling_donald_trump_a_troll.html?via=gdpr-consent&amp;via=gdpr-consent">Donald Trump Is Not a Troll</a>'</li> <li><a href="http://twitter.com/mrianleslie">Ian Leslie on Twitter</a></li> <li><a href="http://twitter.com/rsamatthew">Matthew Taylor on Twitter</a></li> </ul> <hr /> <p>Produced by <a href="http://twitter.com/jshield">James Shield</a>.</p> <p>Brought to you by the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce).</p> <p><a href="http://www.theRSA.org">www.theRSA.org</a></p>