Episode 23: We have built a system that hides truth!

Description

Every minute, 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube. TikTok users watch over one billion hours of content every single day. We have built the largest information system in human history, yet trust in the news has collapsed to record lows. Complex conflicts are reduced to seven-second headlines, and corporate power hides behind technical jargon. When the story fractures, the system follows. In this episode of Builders of the Broken Bazaar, Dr. Tabish Zaman sits down with Connor, known online as Riverwand—an independent investigative storyteller and digital educator with over 10 million likes on TikTok. Connor doesn’t just create "content"; he builds narrative infrastructure. From tracing the roots of techno-nationalism to dismantling corporate lobbying networks, he explores how slowing down and connecting history to current events can reveal the hidden structures of power that dictate our lives. We explore: • The Context Crisis: Why more information has led to less understanding and how to reclaim the "big picture" from fragmented news clips. • Techno-Nationalism: Unpacking the growing fusion of state power and Big Tech corporations like Meta, Google, and OpenAI. • Digital Literacy as Self-Defense: How to protect yourself against data extraction and the "slaughter" of extractive algorithms. • The "Donation a Day" Model: How Connor turned digital storytelling into a tool for mutual aid and humanitarian response in Gaza and beyond. • The Mainstream Media Myth: Why the narrative is controlled by a handful of owners and how independent storytellers are filling the credibility gap. • Empathy as a Practice: Why truly understanding geopolitics requires the courage to feel what others have gone through. 🎧 "The real start of change is for people to believe that they actually have power." Keywords: investigative storytelling, digital activism, techno-nationalism, corporate lobbying, digital literacy, mutual aid, Gaza humanitarian aid, Big Tech critique, narrative infrastructure, Riverwand, Dr Tabish Zaman, Bu