“Talking in the Dark”: Part 4

Editorial Note

This is the fourth of thirteen unpublished audio recordings Jon made during the Hurricane Helene outage.

Still largely cut off from outside information, Jon begins with rumors circulating around Asheville and the difficulty of knowing what is true. From there, his attention returns to the approaching 2024 presidential election.

But the election soon becomes a doorway into something broader. Jon turns his attention to advertising, political imagery, and the ways a carefully constructed image can shape what an audience believes.

As in the earlier recordings, Jon is thinking aloud in real time, following the connections as he sees them.

—Tom Kudla
Editorial Steward