The unique perspective and provocative opinions of Joe O’Neill
Media Matters
“With all due respect, it’s time to start asking what your country can do for you.” That was Sen.Ed Markey, 74, the Massachusetts Democrat who successfully fought off a primary challenge from 39-year-old Rep. Joe Kennedy—a rising star of scion fame. This was how Markey’s ultimate campaign ad ended: A working-class hero playing–not without obvious risk–to a new generation’s political expectations in the land of Kennedy lore.
“Mark (Zuckerberg’s) influence is staggering, far beyond that of anyone else in the private sector or in government. … Mark alone can decide how to configure Facebook’s algorithms to determine what people see in their News Feeds, what privacy settings they can use and even which messages get delivered. He sets the rules for how to distinguish violent and incendiary speech from the merely offensive.”—No, that wasn’t a pundit or a politician, but a better-informed insider. That was Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, who at a gut level likely knows that Facebook, no democratic bulwark, is more of a monetized Faustian deal than America’s zeitgeist.