Social Media Amplifying and Fueling Violence
Social Media Amplifying and Fueling Violence
Good morning!
With the Israel-Hamas ceasefire now officially in effect and the hostages apparently coming home early next week, calls for Donald Trump to receive the Nobel Peace Prize are increasing. But this morning, this year’s recipient of the prize was announced, and the winner is … Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado. Trump will have to wait.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee’s decision highlights just how much of a corrupt basket case Venezuela has become. In 2023, Machado won the primary to be the opposition candidate in the 2024 presidential election, but incumbent President Nicolás Maduro “won” the election amid overwhelming allegations of fraud. The committee praised Machado “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.” The failure of Maduro’s socialist regime provides an important lesson in human corruptibility, one the Trumpet has highlighted for years.
Social media amplifying and fueling violence: Violence has been part of human experience since Cain killed Abel, but technology has made it more visible and ubiquitous than ever. However, unlike movies and video games, which depict fictional violence, social media is amplifying actual violence, with virtually no age restrictions.
Platforms like X and TikTok flood users with graphic content—fights, riots and worse. The constant exposure desensitizes users, especially younger ones, to real-world harm, an Epoch Times report shows.
- Algorithms prioritize sensational clips, creating a feedback loop that warps perceptions and fuels outrage or apathy.
- Since 2020, engagement with violent posts is up 40 percent, driven by algorithmic boosts.
- Seven in 10 teens report seeing real-world violence on social media, a 2024 Youth Endowment Fund study shows.
Studies show that frequent viewing of violent content can reduce empathy and increase aggression.
We don’t experience violence every day, multiple times a day, in the real world; but on social media, especially because people are spending hours each day [on those platforms], you can be exposed to it for hours each day repeatedly. Outside of people engaged in war, there’s never been an equivalent to this in human history.
—Andrew Selepak, University of Florida social media research specialist
This isn’t just a digital problem—it is seeping into real-world behaviors.
- Minor conflicts that begin on social media can escalate into serious in-person encounters and physical altercations.
- Some people mimic what they see online.
- Social media platforms tend to dehumanize people with opposing views, making violence against them seem more acceptable.
Social media’s unfiltered lens is numbing society to violence and priming it to escalate conflicts. It is a potent tool the devil uses to drive society toward civil war, which biblical prophecy warns is coming.
Trump suggests excluding Spain from NATO: Earlier this year, Trump demanded that nato members spend 5 percent of their gdp on defense. Most have since committed to doing so—but not all. “We had one laggard. It was Spain,” Trump said on Thursday in an Oval Office meeting with Finnish President Alexander Stubb. He added:
You know the funny thing? Because of a lot of the things we’ve done, they’re going fine. They have no excuse not to do this, but that’s all right. Maybe you should throw them out of nato, frankly.
It is true that European nations have relied on the U.S. security umbrella for decades to build up their own economies. However, Trump is naive not to be concerned about an armed European military conglomerate that has been hostile to him. Spain has a history of opposing the English-speaking peoples.
- In 1588, the Spanish Armada was rising against Britain; divine intervention was required to defeat it.
- The Spanish-American War took place in 1898.
- Spain was home to the infamous Spanish Inquisition, which starkly contrasts with the values America represents.
- During World War ii, Spain provided covert support for Nazi Germany.
- Earlier this year, the Spanish prime minister expressed regret at not having nuclear weapons to stop Israel.
Spain joined nato as late as 1982. Its membership in the alliance was meant to ensure unity among the West. But there is no guarantee that a militarized Europe will not instead threaten that unity. In fact, Bible prophecy assures us it will.
Given Spain’s history, it is almost certain that the country will play a part in the final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire, as prophesied in Revelation 17. This rising empire will be militaristic at its core. And tragically, Trump is encouraging its rise.
IN OTHER NEWS
China and India sidelining America? China asked India for assurances on Thursday that any heavy rare earth magnets it sells New Delhi will be used strictly for India’s domestic needs and not reexported to America. The request comes as relations between China and India are warming and trade frictions between China and the United States are intensifying. Those frictions have prompted China, which controls 90 percent of global heavy rare earth magnet production, to limit the export of these vital materials to many nations worldwide. If China receives the assurances it seeks, it will be able to continue inflicting pain on U.S. industry while empowering India’s electronics, aerospace, defense and other sectors. This development would advance the improvement in China-India relations and help set the two Asian giants on track for an alliance the Trumpet has long been expecting.
Lawfare counterattack: A federal grand jury in Virginia indicted New York Attorney General Letitia James yesterday on charges of bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. Allegedly she misrepresented a three-bedroom home she purchased as her secondary residence to secure favorable mortgage terms while actually using it as a rental investment property. James dismissed the indictment as a “baseless” weaponization of the justice system by the president. The evidence prosecutors have has not been released, so it is unclear how solid the case is. But it could not possibly be more baseless than the civil fraud lawsuit James successfully brought against Donald Trump in 2023 that resulted in a nearly $500 million judgment. Whatever truth there may be to accusations that the president is unjustly using the Justice Department, what happened under his predecessor was far worse.
