Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
@mishmz.bsky.social
Professor of Media Studies
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
Any President who calls for the opposition party to be hanged should be immediately impeached and removed from office.
November 20, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Any President who calls for the opposition party to be hanged should be immediately impeached and removed from office.
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
Capitalism is incredible. Sorry, former teacher, your retirement fund is gone because 5 guys who've collectively never worked a full hour told the banks to put all the money in the country into virtual girlfriend futures
WSJ: “.. If the AI market blows up, the blast radius would be wide, hitting not only Wall Street firms, but also pensions, mutual and exchange-traded funds and individual investors, because of how debt is often sliced and resold across the financial landscape.”
@wsj.com
www.wsj.com/finance/inve...
@wsj.com
www.wsj.com/finance/inve...
November 18, 2025 at 5:11 AM
Capitalism is incredible. Sorry, former teacher, your retirement fund is gone because 5 guys who've collectively never worked a full hour told the banks to put all the money in the country into virtual girlfriend futures
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
Silicon Valley, 1990s: Free and open access to all the world’s knowledge will usher a new utopian age of information!
Silicon Valley, 2025:
Silicon Valley, 2025:
![Enable chats with Satan [enabled]
Premium subscription required](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:xk7r4kbdqfmrrzj3664ig4mt/bafkreielrwmwsrdoobdypob2kgwvma7g2yt56kcmn27mubosfpon7iziim@jpeg)
November 15, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Silicon Valley, 1990s: Free and open access to all the world’s knowledge will usher a new utopian age of information!
Silicon Valley, 2025:
Silicon Valley, 2025:
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
the decision to really just abandon moderation and let it rip suggests that this is what meta wants for its platform. this is the final, idealized form of the product
The most horrifying AI slop of ICE raids you can possibly imagine is wildly viral on Facebook, collectively totaling tens of millions of views from a single account. First spotted by @chadloder.bsky.social
www.404media.co/ai-generated...
www.404media.co/ai-generated...
AI-Generated Videos of ICE Raids Are Wildly Viral on Facebook
An account is spamming horrific, dehumanizing videos of immigration enforcement because the Facebook algorithm is rewarding them for it.
www.404media.co
November 12, 2025 at 5:57 PM
the decision to really just abandon moderation and let it rip suggests that this is what meta wants for its platform. this is the final, idealized form of the product
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
Wrote a little bit about our slide into trolling-as-governance and its connection to the now-bonkers concentration of authority amongst autocratic techlords
www.techpolicy.press/authoritaria...
www.techpolicy.press/authoritaria...
Authoritarian Arrogance and the End of the 'Reality-Based Community' | TechPolicy.Press
As trolling continues to arrogate power and authority, reality’s move from bent to broken accelerates, writes Paul Elliott Johnson.
www.techpolicy.press
November 12, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Wrote a little bit about our slide into trolling-as-governance and its connection to the now-bonkers concentration of authority amongst autocratic techlords
www.techpolicy.press/authoritaria...
www.techpolicy.press/authoritaria...
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
“woke” is when you acknowledge that black people have contributed to the united states
Two panels commemorating the contribution of Black American soldiers towards the liberation of the Netherlands in World War Two have been quietly removed from a cemetery in Limburg. It follows a complaint by right-wing think tank The Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission.
November 8, 2025 at 9:01 PM
“woke” is when you acknowledge that black people have contributed to the united states
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
congrats to everyone for thinking this through before signing very big contracts to put it on every student’s device at the school or university you run
OVER A MILLION USERS
DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT
EVERY *WEEK*
what the fuck are we DOING here
DISCUSS SUICIDE WITH CHATGPT
EVERY *WEEK*
what the fuck are we DOING here
Panera’s moderately caffeinated lemonade was loosely associated with 2 deaths before it was taken off market.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
This article alone has 4 examples of ChatGPT encouraging young people to commit suicide, and OpenAI’s own public stats estimate over a million users discuss suicide with ChatGPT each week.
November 7, 2025 at 11:24 PM
congrats to everyone for thinking this through before signing very big contracts to put it on every student’s device at the school or university you run
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
Me celebrating the verdict
November 6, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Me celebrating the verdict
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
The Washington Post with a story about how remaking an institution to appeal to the pro-Trump right doesn't help the bottom line.
EXCLUSIVE: After Trump took over the Kennedy Center in Feb, he vowed to make it "hot" again. So, how's it doing? @jeremybmerrill.com and I used data from the center's ticketing website to find out. Ticket sales are lowest they've been since the pandemic.
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Kennedy Center ticket sales have plummeted since Trump takeover
Nearly nine months into Trump’s oversight, sales for the three largest performance venues are the worst they’ve been since the pandemic, according to a Washington Post analysis.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 31, 2025 at 1:09 PM
The Washington Post with a story about how remaking an institution to appeal to the pro-Trump right doesn't help the bottom line.
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
AI sitcom accidentally a Lynchian fever dream. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and insane lament.
October 29, 2025 at 9:47 PM
AI sitcom accidentally a Lynchian fever dream. The sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and insane lament.
Institutions of higher ed have a lot of work to do (affordability, especially), but it stings for the public to think we're not preparing students to think critically or solve problems.
I mean, we're not, generally, but not for lack of fucking trying!
I mean, we're not, generally, but not for lack of fucking trying!
Growing share of Americans say the U.S. higher education system is headed in the wrong direction
In both parties, the share that say the higher education system is going in the wrong direction has gone up by at least 10 percentage points since 2020.
www.pewresearch.org
October 29, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Institutions of higher ed have a lot of work to do (affordability, especially), but it stings for the public to think we're not preparing students to think critically or solve problems.
I mean, we're not, generally, but not for lack of fucking trying!
I mean, we're not, generally, but not for lack of fucking trying!
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
Consider how few anecdotes it took for the media to declare a Free Speech on Campus crisis.
Every day we get more evidence that the Republican Party is teeming with white supremacists yet elite institutions refuse to frame this as a crisis that needs the nation’s attention.
Every day we get more evidence that the Republican Party is teeming with white supremacists yet elite institutions refuse to frame this as a crisis that needs the nation’s attention.
DHS posted a disturbing video today featuring a song that’s popular with Nazi creators
DHS Posts Video Featuring Song Popular With Nazi Creators
The agency denied making
gizmodo.com
October 24, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Consider how few anecdotes it took for the media to declare a Free Speech on Campus crisis.
Every day we get more evidence that the Republican Party is teeming with white supremacists yet elite institutions refuse to frame this as a crisis that needs the nation’s attention.
Every day we get more evidence that the Republican Party is teeming with white supremacists yet elite institutions refuse to frame this as a crisis that needs the nation’s attention.
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
BREAKING: economist discovers “second shift,” a concept coined by sociologists almost 50 years ago; gives it new, stupider, and less explicitly labor-oriented name
October 26, 2025 at 1:58 PM
BREAKING: economist discovers “second shift,” a concept coined by sociologists almost 50 years ago; gives it new, stupider, and less explicitly labor-oriented name
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
the president has destroyed the east wing of the white house without so much as a word of input from anyone else to build a royal ballroom paid for with bribes
NEW: After The Washington Post reported Monday on the demolition of the "East Wing facade," a new picture obtained by Law Dork that was taken on Tuesday shows that a substantial portion of the entirety of the East Wing has been demolished.
October 21, 2025 at 8:27 PM
the president has destroyed the east wing of the white house without so much as a word of input from anyone else to build a royal ballroom paid for with bribes
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
Hi. I wrote an essay about AI slop: How it feels like an invasive species for the internet. How its boosters describe building a future that’s devoid of craft. How frictionlessness can be nihilistic & how this stuff seems to leach part of our shared humanity out of the world. I hope you'll read it.
AI’s Invasive Species
The slop is winning.
www.theatlantic.com
October 20, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Hi. I wrote an essay about AI slop: How it feels like an invasive species for the internet. How its boosters describe building a future that’s devoid of craft. How frictionlessness can be nihilistic & how this stuff seems to leach part of our shared humanity out of the world. I hope you'll read it.
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
Swearing in isn’t some ceremony. You aren’t a member of Congress until it happens. He knows that.
No phones, no staff, nothing.
I had to escort her into the Capitol on Wed bc Capitol police must treat her as a public visitor until she’s sworn in. And solo visitors aren’t allowed during shutdown!
No phones, no staff, nothing.
I had to escort her into the Capitol on Wed bc Capitol police must treat her as a public visitor until she’s sworn in. And solo visitors aren’t allowed during shutdown!
Johnson: "Grijalva should be working for her constituents right now. I don't know what she's doing. I keep seeing their political stunt videos. She should be in her office. She should be working or in the district for her constituents" (Grijalva is not in fact a Rep. b/c Johnson refuses to seat her)
October 17, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Swearing in isn’t some ceremony. You aren’t a member of Congress until it happens. He knows that.
No phones, no staff, nothing.
I had to escort her into the Capitol on Wed bc Capitol police must treat her as a public visitor until she’s sworn in. And solo visitors aren’t allowed during shutdown!
No phones, no staff, nothing.
I had to escort her into the Capitol on Wed bc Capitol police must treat her as a public visitor until she’s sworn in. And solo visitors aren’t allowed during shutdown!
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
October 17, 2025 at 12:16 PM
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
watching the government's social media accounts spit out groyper stuff on main this whole last year, this is how i imagined the behind the scenes chats were going
EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of leaked messages show leaders of Young Republican groups joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape in a private Telegram chat.
Inside rising GOP leaders’ racist chats — obtained by POLITICO and spanning more than 7 months👇
Inside rising GOP leaders’ racist chats — obtained by POLITICO and spanning more than 7 months👇
‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat
Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.
www.politico.com
October 14, 2025 at 7:00 PM
watching the government's social media accounts spit out groyper stuff on main this whole last year, this is how i imagined the behind the scenes chats were going
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
wow. bezos has destroyed this paper.
Lmao WaPo has fewer than 100K circulation now. It turns out “alienate your liberal subscriber base” is not a good strategy when the Republicans also hate you. www.forbes.com/sites/andyme...
The Washington Post Is Running Out Of Readers Willing To Pay
Once a titan of American journalism, The Washington Post now struggles to reach even 100,000 print subscribers most days.
www.forbes.com
October 14, 2025 at 1:51 PM
wow. bezos has destroyed this paper.
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
every single tech idea is like “soon our robots will be capable of playing catch with your kid, freeing you up to spend more time working on your employers’ spreadsheets”
October 11, 2025 at 2:07 PM
every single tech idea is like “soon our robots will be capable of playing catch with your kid, freeing you up to spend more time working on your employers’ spreadsheets”
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment
www.nytimes.com
October 10, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
crazy that one of the most storied institutions in american journalism is going to be run by two people with basically no experience to do it
Exclusive | CBS News taps Adam Rubenstein — once ostracized at NY Times for liking Chick-fil-A — as new deputy editor
Sources expect Rubenstein will effectively run the Free Press now that Weiss will be busy steering the editorial direction of shows like “60 Minutes,” “Face The Nation” and …
nypost.com
October 7, 2025 at 2:32 AM
crazy that one of the most storied institutions in american journalism is going to be run by two people with basically no experience to do it
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
Claim: 10 cars rammed ICE
Truth: No cars rammed ICE
Claim: She boxed ICE in
Truth: ICE boxed her in
Claim: She shot a rifle at ICE
Truth: She did not have a rifle
Claim: ICE returned fire
Truth: Only ICE fired
Claim: She drove herself to the hospital
Truth: Paramedics found her
Truth: No cars rammed ICE
Claim: She boxed ICE in
Truth: ICE boxed her in
Claim: She shot a rifle at ICE
Truth: She did not have a rifle
Claim: ICE returned fire
Truth: Only ICE fired
Claim: She drove herself to the hospital
Truth: Paramedics found her
Body-camera video appears to contradict the government’s claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed.
trib.al/9Sxu9IN
trib.al/9Sxu9IN
Attorney for woman shot by Border Patrol claims officer said 'Do something b-----' before shooting
Body-camera video appears to contradict the government's claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed. A judge ordered Martinez and a co-defendant released pending trial.
trib.al
October 6, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Claim: 10 cars rammed ICE
Truth: No cars rammed ICE
Claim: She boxed ICE in
Truth: ICE boxed her in
Claim: She shot a rifle at ICE
Truth: She did not have a rifle
Claim: ICE returned fire
Truth: Only ICE fired
Claim: She drove herself to the hospital
Truth: Paramedics found her
Truth: No cars rammed ICE
Claim: She boxed ICE in
Truth: ICE boxed her in
Claim: She shot a rifle at ICE
Truth: She did not have a rifle
Claim: ICE returned fire
Truth: Only ICE fired
Claim: She drove herself to the hospital
Truth: Paramedics found her
Reposted by Melissa "Mish" Zimdars
The Trump administration has cancelled 4,304 deliveries to food banks so far this year, refusing to deliver 94 million pounds of contracted-for food. Food banks simply can’t feed people enough anymore. Millions of Americans are going hungry as a result.
Trump Canceled 94 Million Pounds of Food Aid. Here’s What Never Arrived.
ProPublica obtained records from the Department of Agriculture that detail the millions of pounds of food, down to the number of eggs, that never reached food banks because of the administration’s cut...
projects.propublica.org
October 5, 2025 at 1:43 PM
The Trump administration has cancelled 4,304 deliveries to food banks so far this year, refusing to deliver 94 million pounds of contracted-for food. Food banks simply can’t feed people enough anymore. Millions of Americans are going hungry as a result.