When people identified that certain internet users didn’t mince words to describe their feelings towards people in privileged positions, they needed to act. The Offspring made an entire song called Come To Brazil — a reaction that was so widespread among music profiles that the band decided to address it, mocking us all. But you’d think that people would’ve learned something about the country, right? Caipirinha, thongs, barbecue… and universal health care? I mean, the lyrics are actually about us begging with no end. It could as well be about how our food sucks and we’re a bunch of drunken whores, but they didn’t say that, did they?

It’s in the nuances. The thought of the United States of American looking up to the South, when in fact there have been plans to stop the free trade of Mercosul because it posed a risk to US sovereignty (that pretty word that gets thrown around whenever someone feels patriotic) and, with Trump, although judges have ruled that the tariffs are illegal (noting that the case is transiting in SCOTUS, with an expectation of a ruling until the end of this year), it has always been the case for “America First”.

But there’s more to it than meets the eye. Whose eye, it begs the question. The supposed outrage that Americans feel about what’s happening to them doesn’t seem to be channeled into any kind of support for other countries who are struggling — or at least, it’s pretty limited. They’re the ones who have the power to determine what happens in Gaza, and they’ve failed to map out the situation in Ukraine and Sudan (the latter rarely even being mentioned), and while you’ve had people condemning the weapons deals with Israel since Joe Biden was president, you’ve also found a large support for the continued escalation of conflicts between Ukraine and Russia; but when these talks were had, in the G20, Trump wasn’t even present, after his unforgettable bro Elon Musk raised awareness about an alledged “anti-white” movement in South Africa and he took it to his heart.

So apparently, Americans can’t even get on the same page, in case anyone remembers the dismantling of DEI, on racism and xenophobia, but some people have hope because the mayor of New York City is “different”. I wonder if they’re even listening to the countless voices, on social media, saying that it needs to be regulated — not to avoid political criticism, but instead, internet crime. Cybersecurity firm Deepstrike has projected a $10.5 trillion in losses from these practices, which must come with a clear counter measure: safeguarding the web to ensure it is still a place we can enjoy.

Instead, they try to make everything about one of the most profitable industries of all: sex work. There are academic books written about the industry and there are more popular accounts on the pervasiveness of the culture, but very little is ever said about the nature of conversations and the whole question of free speech and individual liberties.

It seems that while the media ignores that we need to talk about the quality of our conversations, it won’t fix anything for this and the other generations. You’d think that the business model would recommend us something in the algorithm for us to interact with, and everything would be seamless. But hang on: Open AI now allows for sexting, and it might almost seem like everything is under control. Except it’s absolutely not. Instead of an open internet, people struggle to find real users and anyone who has a minimal level of respect toward strangers, or at least knows that certain things are okay to say and do online, while others are still bad — for example, living a sex life online is healthy, but slutshaming isn’t.

Can we find common sense? It sure seems like certain groups of society want to avoid this debate because they want to keep thing as they are, or rather, getting worse. If we claim to be “progressives”, it should follow that we defend personal agency is something that we should fight for, not against. With more people willing to take a stand for what’s good in a technological society and make things worthwhile for us, we could easily shape the world we want to live in and enjoy it with our loved ones. Who’s stopping us?