Still surprised when Godzilla ravages Tokyo

We are illiterate and indifferent to the impact that has on our lives. Witness…

A group of shady billionaires put a racist fascist in charge of their data science firm. The firm went out and built some dumb personality quiz. (Pause here to think about every time you’ve ever let a random app on the web figure out if you’re a Slytherin or a Hufflepuff.)

The firm then ran that app on Facebook, a website built in a culture famous for its lack of empathy and moral reflection. (Pause here to remember that Facebook is run by another billionaire known for his rabid condescension toward normal human beings, a guy who somehow still manages to act surprised every time the Godzilla he built accidentally ravages Tokyo.)

Facebook provided the firm with user data on every person connected to anyone who took the dumb personality quiz. (Pause here to consider the number of friends and vague acquaintances you have who are out there taking Facebook quizzes.)

The firm used those 50 million or so profiles to identify ways to influence people who “respond well to thinly veiled forms of racism toward African Americans” and who “really like this idea of a really strong authoritarian leader.” (Pause here to lament the state of the world.)

The firm then sold those insights and tools to the Trump campaign. (Pause here to vomit, for the thousandth time, over the fact that anyone would see a group of people who respond to thinly veiled racism and authoritarianism and think to himself: “I can use that to become president as a means of making more money.”)