culture

Politico
Gun policies, I argue, are downstream from culture, so it’s not surprising that the regions with the worst gun problems are the least supportive of restricting access to firearms. A 2011 Pew Research Center survey asked Americans what was more important, protecting gun ownership or controlling it. The Yankee states of New England went for gun control by a margin of 61 to 36, while those in the poll’s “southeast central” region — the Deep South states of Alabama and Mississippi and the Appalachian states of Tennessee and Kentucky — supported gun rights by exactly the same margin.
Interesting look at the roots of regional attitudes about guns from the author of American Nations about the different groups that settled America and their differing beliefs.
Science
"The U.S. Constitution protects free speech; however, it does not necessarily protect deceptive speech coupled with harmful action. This distinction potentially removes barriers to accountability for social media platforms that fail to address misinformation. Laws could require procedural safeguards and reporting about misinformation without censoring speech or treating Facebook or Google like a publisher."
More questions than answers here but this article has some useful distinctions to think about including this idea that harmful action that includes speech is not protected.
CNN
"A similar emoji, called 'Rolling on the Floor Laughing', is also no longer in vogue. When asked about that emoji over a video call, Thiru visibly grimaced. 'I don't like that one,' she said. 'My mom doesn't even use it.'"
this CNN Business generational conflict article about emoji style. They missed the real story that Gen X only uses one emoji that isn't even an emoji: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
neh.gov
This is a fascinating story about the rise of radio.
In the early days of broadcast development and regulation, Crosley and WLW sparked debate about what radio should and could be. Could a few clear-channel stations adequately serve—and acculturate—entire regions of listeners? Or would a national network system with local affiliates better target listener needs and interests?
As we reinvent everything with software I feel like there's a lesson for how we might think about public interest. Centralized social media websites consider themselves The World's Network but there might be better options.
The Atlantic The Atlantic
I'm not sure how to link to this because it's not a newsletter or a podcast. But if you're interested in Internet culture you should read everything Taylor Lorenz writes for The Atlantic. If you use a newsreader you can subscribe to her author page RSS feed (while they still offer it) or use IFTTT and the feed to email new articles to you—then it would be a newsletter. You could also make a friend read them out loud to you—then it would be a podcast. It's worth the extra effort to make sure these work their way into your media diet.