I wish this were a click-bait title. Sadly not. It is also not trying to push you into a political party or a religion or a business interest. It is an invitation to look at what is being done with our modern media.

Anything I probably want to say in this post is well covered by a documentary called The Social Dilemma. Most of the interviews are with people who made the tech we all use. From management to the developers themselves.

I guess I won't rehearse all the things they presented there. But I will say this about the perceived dividedness that we face today. Media makes the most money by selling you the weapons and motivation to fight your neighbor. Social media does it at scale.

Please watch the documentary so you understand how it is happening. Insert borrowed Netflix password meme here. And as software developers consider how your company is using your creations. And I do not mean ICE using github... I mean something much bigger. Is the business model -- the engine that drives the company -- humane? Or does it data-mine and sell its users to advertisers? That is the fastest way to make money, but it also brings out the worst in humanity. Because what sells best are the things that appeal to our basest instincts.

I heard a song once... went something like this: "Is this the world you want? You're making it." Especially true for developers these days.