Quote:
Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan
They may remain insane, but they persist.
Part of the problem with COVID is the impact varies on different people. I know long haulers who will never have full use of their lungs again. I know others who barely flinched when they got it. I had a two day headache in early January that I attributed to third trimester of pregnancy, but in retrospect may or may not have been Omicron. I'll never know because I'm triple vaxxed and didn't test at the time.
But the major problem with messaging is the click bait world we live in, which means every utterance, study, debate, speculation, and anecdote about COVID will be breathlessly reported on no matter how benign, batshit or in between it is. And is all given equal weight no matter what the source.
I'm a Star Wars dork. I have acquaintances who work for Lucasfilm. One mildly changed his bio on Twitter last week, and there were no less than four Youtube videos speculating on What Does This Mean. They monetize the shit out of those videos. I know Star Wars dorks who have been able to quit their jobs and full time focus on putting out podcasts, videos, print media, and in some cases appearances at cons and shit. Hell, even I sometimes am on a podcast about legal shit and Star Wars (I get zero out of it other than the ability to spout off on cloning law...)
Anyhow, that's a tiny, teeny part of the clickbait universe. COVID is in the big pool with every single person out there in media and "media" wanting to breathlessly report, tear apart, pander, etc on everything. Like the Star Wars dorks, there are plenty that will fill the time with whatever they have on hand, even it it's wild ass speculation based off the thinnest, most distorted piece of information. And they can see via the clicks and the analytics and the money YouTube gives them what sort of stories sell and what doesn't. Measured, methodical reasonable stories do not dazzle and sell. The histrionic do. And our former President, as god awful as he was at every other thing he did/does, knew this instinctively, fostered it, and encouraged those who want to emulate and/or suck up to him to do the same. He's a fucking master at it and he set the tone for how the messaging was going to be. We're still paying for it and we may never come out of this sort of approach to anything and everything.
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I agree. The concept of consensus is lost. That was coined by either Lippmann or Galbraith. It was built on the flawed notion there existed an enlightened crowd who could formulate a best case scenario for all and sell it to everyone.
The internet eliminated the instruments by which these narratives, later noble lies, and finally, now, neoliberal propaganda, could be imposed on the broader public.
The lying and spinning predated Trump. He’s not a cause. Certainly an accelerant. But just a PT Barnum in a system we - me as much or more than many - helped to create.
We lied and lied and lied and papered it all over with debt. And it worked. And then along came the internet, and no one could lie anymore.
And no one trusted anything anymore after 2008. It looked and smelled rigged (because it is, no matter how much we all claim it’s a meritocracy).
The internet made it impossible for anyone to say anything and Make It Stick. Lies, truth, a mix of both… That’s all done.
And I don’t think it’s coming back in our lives. I think the fight we’ll see for the rest of our lives re: information is a battle over whether the state and media corps should be able to peddle lies and push narratives to create stability.
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