Good Faith Media attended the South by Southwest (SXSW) Conference in Austin, Texas this week. The conference brings together innovators, creatives, and change-makers for networking and collaboration.
SXSW began in 1986 and has continued to grow each year. In conjunction with the primary gatherings in Austin, other SXSW conferences run simultaneously in places as far away as Sydney, Australia.
GFM attended various interviews and panel discussions on topics ranging from politics to artificial intelligence. Former vice presidential candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz discussed the 2024 elections and the current state of politics in the United States.
Walz warned the audience about the rising tide of authoritarianism, stating, “The road to authoritarianism is littered with people saying ‘you’re overreacting.’” Emphasizing the need for community activism, he said, “There’s not going to be a charismatic leader riding in and coming up with this perfectly delivered message that will get us out of this.”
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren addressed President Donald Trump’s chaos strategy: “If you can create enough sand (in a storm), then maybe one of two things will happen. People will just get focused on one little part, or people will just shut down and curl into a little ball and (let them) execute the handover of our nation to just a few billionaires, and we could lose the whole thing.”
Warren encouraged the crowd to fight like hell for democracy, “We are fighting for America, and we do not hand (it) over to Elon Musk and a few billionaires.” The audience erupted in applause.
As authoritarianism rises in the United States, three young activists spoke about confronting it in their home countries of China, Guatemala, and Zimbabwe. Young adults worldwide are working together to ensure freedom and equal rights for their fellow citizens. Listening to these young leaders gives hope that future generations will reject authoritarianism and embrace democratic values.
While politicians and activists discussed the threat to democracy, other speakers expressed their excitement and concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) and the rapid spread of misinformation.
Sally Lehman from The Trust Project pointed out, “Only 26% of people looked into the news (traditional outlets), and 12% were using social media.” She talked about how traditional news outlets work hard to fact-check their stories, while social media can be the Wild West for misinformation.
Sarah Brandt from News Guard, referencing a recent report her organization released, said, “Massive amounts of Russian propaganda–3.6 million articles in 2024–are now incorporated in the outputs of Western AI systems, infecting their responses with false claims and propaganda.”
Social media platforms can be a positive arena for sharing information, but users must be aware of outside forces attempting to mislead them. Users and social media companies must work together to weed out bad players.
Emma Lembke, co-founder of Digital Wellness Warriors and member of Gen Z Board of the Sustainable Media Center, summed it up best: “This isn’t a fight against social media. It’s a fight for a better digital future, and that future will only exist if we work together. The crisis of social media wasn’t created overnight, and it won’t be solved by a single action or a silver bullet. It requires something bigger, a coalition that spans age, expertise, and industry.”
Finally, Lembke emphasized, “This isn’t about nostalgia for a pre-digital age. It’s about building a world where technology serves humanity, not the other way, and that world will only exist if we build it together.”
The most moving part of the week for me was a documentary screening titled “Remaining Native.” Director Paige Bethmann tells the story of “Ku Stevens, a 17-year-old Native American runner struggling to navigate his dream of becoming a collegiate athlete as the memory of his great-grandfather’s escape from an Indian boarding school begins to connect past, present, and future.”
The story of Ku and his grandfather reminded me of my great-grandmother and her sister, who were taken to a boarding school (Chilocco) in 1919 when they were eleven and nine years old. At Chilocco and other schools, Native children were forced to deny their culture and identities.
Their hair was cut. They were made to wear military-style uniforms.
They could not speak their native language and were forced to worship the Christian God. If they fell out of line, they were whipped and beaten.
The documentary brought tears to my eyes as I thought about Ku’s grandfather and my great-grandmother. The boarding school system for Native American children will go down as one of the darkest eras in American history.
As GFM leaves SXSW this year, I am reminded that no matter how dark the current days seem, good people are fighting for freedom, equality and justice. This has given us a renewed sense of hope.
Authoritarians, bad actors and injustice will not win in the end. People of good faith will continue to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice, and that is all I need to help me continue the journey.
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