Trump, Blockchains, And a Merry Dose of Lunar New Year

This year is a rather different Lunar New Year for me. Myred packet conquest is still going strong as I remained single in my community lol. It's just a cultural thing here for married couples to give out (fiat) money-filled envelopes for the unmarried ones! More and more friends are getting married this year.. so that's to my benefit!

But jokes aside, that's not really what's different about this year's festivity.

To my surprise, Donald Trump and blockchains dominated the roundtable chit-chat this year. It seems that a couple of my uncles have recently received Cryptocurrency Enlightenment, and even gave some capital for their children to study, learn, and invest in the game themselves.

Being professionals in the AI and animation industries, my uncles (all brothers) said that it's like being in a different state of mind once they've understood the power of blockchains. They've even remarked about taking a small hit in their professional lives for sounding "crazy" around their colleagues. I'll take credit for that - thanks to my year-long yapping about cryptos on Facebook lol.

Some feedback about STEEM - they'd generally have better confidence on this blockchain once enough good contents are amassed and search functionalities made usable and advanced. Other than that, generally they're into ETH, BURST, BTC, and ZCASH.

I was making a joke about TRUMPCOIN at one point of the group conversation, only to find out that it's a real thing (silly me). Then we went on talking about fake news, Donald Trump, memes, and the post-truth era. My journalist cousin who has worked with various mainstream news outlets managed to give some insights, sparking another motherload of debates. Here's the gist of it:-

• CNN's Asian regional office in Hong Kong is experiencing a really turbulent year with Trump causing headaches for executives and reporters. Plus, 2016 experienced an increase of "fake news" flooding in just about all kinds of media on the Internet.

• Trump seems to be delivering on his "promises".

• Journalists on the ground are also opinionated folks and highly likely to have some bias. In any case, even if journalists just report the facts, the end of the funnel before publication is always a lead editor (this is where corporate agenda gets injected, for better or worse).

• He also has worked with alternative news media, and remarked that it's the same thing as well. Anything that doesn't fit the narrative of alternative media doesn't get out of the door. Personally, I can vouch for this claim, after having attempted to correct a friend who's reporting for alternative media. Have you seen any news platforms publishing stuff that doesn't seem to fit their theme? It's quite miraculous not to have any of their own blemishes published. Neutrality?

• Nobody really gives a damn about the truth. Most people only want to hear what they want to hear, and news media outlets, mainstream or not, are made only to fit the preferred narratives of their respective consumers. My cousin went to on defend that most professional journalists (that he knows) always do their best at their job (like anyone else). Even if actual facts are presented, there are bound to be naysayers, sometimes even overriding fact-driven neutral pieces, especially if there's a swing in public sentiment (and it always happens).

• It's not so much that news media outlets and journalism are the only ones tainting the information pool. Consumers also play a role in shaping news as it is today. If the game needs any reinvention, it would be to use an entirely new platform in which media outlets, journalists, or just about anyone with an audience, have some kind of community-driven reputation system that tries to keep individuals accountable. As for sources, unless if one is capable of getting their hands dirty obtaining information on-site by their own, one still needs to rely on what are considered dependable sources.

• For those who really want neutrality and facts, forget about narratives and finger-pointing - it's just going to sway or reinforce certain ideas and stories. The world is too messy for any sustained control. Alternative media, mainstream media - they are pretty much the same, and both need to keep satisfying their own audiences to keep the bills paid. He goes on to say that if the people have started to realise that left and right wings come from the same bird, why not see the same for mainstream and alt media? If an individual or group has been spreading false accusations, unknowingly or not, should take a dip in reputation.

• Neutral media is one that should also allow contrarian views (as opposed to filtering information that doesn't fit some certain theme / agenda). "Journalists" would also need to be responsible by clearly stating and separating facts / opinions. It would also work better if there are no customers / viewers to please.

So yup, that's pretty much it on the first day of Lunar New Year 2017, other than lots of drinks and food! (I'm a little tipsy right now)

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_{Images taken in a friend's basement bar when I had the chance!}

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