Uh, who wants to tell the nice folks at Texas Monthly?
Minimum weight of a Toyota Tacoma over the past 30 years.
1995 2,560 lbs
2000 2,910 lbs
2005 3,140 lbs
2010 3,430 lbs
2015 3,645 lbs
2020 4,075 lbs
2025 4,145 lbs
Obviously the problems are deeper than social media and reflect how all the power in many countries has shifted toward Christian nationalism and despotic grifters and hate-based populism and selfish oligarchy. So going to Twitter for an hour really underlined how this is a dark period in history.
One common thread I see: Folks who lean conservative are obsessively outraged by theoretical or narrow injustices more than the blatantly massive injustices that threaten our culture and democracy. I think the way that Murdoch, Musk, Bannon et al have succeeded is beyond many peoples' imagination.
I spent 15 years super engaged on Twitter and know a lot of you did too. It's rough to go back and see the richest man in the world posting that white folks must consolidate power by any means necessary or democracy will die...and getting 100 million likes. It'll be one for history books to sort out