2026.06.08
Let's define terms, first.
Clearnet - The default internet, an open system where any computer can talk to any other computer and such systems (e.g. websites)
Darknet - A closed system for computers to access information and talk to each other
Darknet is the most useful here. I hate TOR, however -- as in its darknet, the .onion sites and its private internet. It's filled to the brim to ads and a lot of it is marketplaces which are likely exit scams. The non-market web here like social parts, are fairly boring. There are good things like archiving information but I wouldn't recommend it. i2p is another darknet, it's more user friendly -- in the sense of being blogs and full of interaction instead of being about ads and everyone trying to scam others and get money. Although, i2p has many limitations: It's much smaller, eepsites (as the websites are called) often go offline; the main way to use an eepsite is to find a b32 link and if it fails to connect, you can use a (network recommended) service like notbob or stats to, essentiall, proxy the website. However, they have full control over what they allow and don't. Meaning, there can be eepsites which you want to see but these "proxies" refuse to show you. I've only seen this for political content.
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2026.06.17
Quote from Crystallizing Public Opinion by Edward Bernays, 1928. My added commentary in brackets.
When the United States [target demographic] was made up of small social units with common traditions and a small geographic and social area [now this is the use of sameplforms. e.g. social media websites], it was comparatively simple for the proponent of a point of view to address his public directly. If he represented a social or a political idea, he could, at no very great expense and with no very great difficulty in the early Eighteenth Century, cover New England with his pamphlets. He could arouse the thirteen colonies with his journals and brochures. That was because the heritage of these groups made them sensitive to the same stimuli. One man, remarks Mr. Lippmann, then was able single-handed to crystallize the common will of his country in his day and generation. To-day the greatest superman as yet developed by humanity could not accomplish the same result with the United States [e.g. people are dispersed so sending information for them to absorb is difficult; (here we'll take this as an allusion to the internet)]
[...]
Now it must be understood that the proponent of a point of view, whether acting alone or under the guidance of a public relations counsel, must utilize existing avenues of approach [social media, video platforms]. Modern conditions are such that it is not feasible to build up independent organs [websites]. Innovators and innovations cannot create their own channels of communication. They must for a great part work through the existing daily press [news outlets], the existing magazine [headlines], the existing lecture circuit [youtube], existing advertising mediums, the existing motion picture channels [youtube and memes*] and other means for the communication of ideas. The public relations counsel, on behalf of the groups he represents, must reach majorities and minorities through their respective approaches.
* Definition of a meme: A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.
Online humor in various formats are referred to as memes. These should be seen as what they are: mediums for the transmition of ideas and practices, usually subtly and non-overtly. This topic is seen commonly discussed in leftist circles about the 'far right' using memes or the process of a conversion of one's point of view through the use of memes. Their discussions are, of course, politically focused and lack the overall picture but such information is nevertheless useful.
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