THE JOHN ADAMS SOCIETY
David W. Downing Derek Suszko Christopher T. Wolff Marina Wolff
Chairman Secretary Chief Whip Chancellor
Wednesday, September 17, 2025
Location: Burger Moe’s
Technology is anything that wasn’t around when you were born. - Alan Kay
IN THE WAKE OF THE MURDER OF CHARLIE KIRK, IT IS TIME TO CONFRONT THE DANGERS OF SOCIAL MEDIA. Since the founding of Facebook in 2004, social media has revolutionized the world. All through the craze, platforms have struggled with how to balance free expression with censorship. Today, almost everyone uses social media in some form, and among many in the young generations, social media use makes up a huge part of their lives. Many disturbing trends have emerged in the social media age, such as the rise in mental illness, the rise of radical politics and the emergence of online “echo chambers.” It is abundantly clear that social media is responsible for the terrible state of our political discourse. How many tragedies must we witness before we accept that unregulated social media is making the world a dangerous place? Social media is more like a social cancer, isolating and radicalizing more and more people until the country collapses into chaos.
In the past, perverse and unstable individuals were isolated from polite and productive society. But with social media, dangerously disturbed individuals can spend their time in echo chambers of like-minded outcasts. This is a breeding ground for violence and political dysfunction. Social media has fueled a mental health crisis among the young, many of whom have no real community or social life outside of online “communities.” The murderer of Charlie Kirk was one of many recent terrorists radicalized online. It is well past time we recognize the dangers of unregulated social media use and the perils of online radicalization for civil society. Social media has not “connected the world” but rather sown division and despair, fractured the communal bonds that hold nations together and vindicated all manner of violence and hatred.
ON THE OTHER HAND, blaming social media for the state of our politics is an easy “cop out” from confronting far more difficult truths. The grand promises of the American dream are unraveling for the younger “tech-savvy” generations. The rise of “extremist” politics on both the Left and Right has more to do with the fact that the younger generations are rejecting the geriatric model of “retiree and dependent subsidized welfare democracy” as a future political system. Much of the angst of the youth derives from social “downward mobility” and the glaring recognition that they will never own homes, never bear children, and remain debt-saddled well into middle age. While social media has no doubt contributed to the easy spread of radical politics on Left and Right, it is not the cause. Acting like it is is dangerously stupid, because it distracts us from confronting the real problems in our decaying culture. The longer we ignore the looming economic contractions, demographic crises and financial disasters of the upcoming decades, the more difficult it will be to preserve the American constitutional system for the 21st century. Going after social media represents a last, desperate attempt by the older generations to deny the disastrous legacy they’ve left the country.
The CHAIRMAN, high off the dopamine hit of his viral tweet on X, and hoping to solidify his reputation as an “influencer” with photos on the balcony of a Dubai penthouse, calls the “texperts” of the JAS to a debate.
RESOLVED: Social Media Is to Blame
The Debate will be held on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, at Burger Moe’s(back room), 242 7th St. W., St. Paul, MN 55102. The Chancellor will preside over drinks beginning at seven o’clock p.m. The debate will begin at half past seven. There is no dress code, however gentlemen who wish to speak must wear a tie; ladies are encouraged to adhere to a similar sartorial standard. For those gentlemen arriving sans tie yet wishing to discourse on the resolution, the Purveyor of Ties will keep on hand several remarkable selections. In addition, the Chairman encourages all to join him as early as 6:30 pm for a bite to eat. Let us thank our host location for the use of their room in the most sincere way possible – by spending our money. God Bless Free Enterprise! Questions regarding debate caucus procedures or about the John Adams Society itself may be directed to the Chairman at (651) 485-1699 or the Secretary at (651) 263-6224.