Just recognized something AGAIN after forgetting it for many years.
Fools constantly instruct us that social media is an echo chamber. This is brazenly and grossly false. Social platforms DO NOT give you more of what you like. They explicitly and persistently slam you with more of what you hate. The goal is to maximize blocks and reports, not to maximize likes.
A long time ago I understood this in the context of the fake opposite TV channels and talk radio shows. Each side gave you a small amount of positive echoes and a large amount of TWO MINUTES HATE. A Bad Guy (portrayed by an actor) says atrocious things in an unfashionable dialect, accompanied by scary noises and visuals, so you can screech at him and throw eggs at him.
Rush spent most of his time running nasty parodies of Democrat celebrities, following the Orwell recipe precisely. Fox and CNN did “debates” where a carefully selected Bad Guy was torn apart by the Good Guys.
In two-sided situations like Fox vs CNN the trick is much older than Orwell. Lions vs Christians, My Wonderful Team vs the Other Horrible Team.
But where’s the Machiavelli in a one-sided game? Why does EVERYTHING have to be constantly aversive? Why does software fight every attempt to get shit done? Why do the city, state and federal governments spray an unending blast of torture and nastiness? Who’s the Good Guy? Who’s the Home Team?
(Caveat for fairness…. I think some states and cities may be more sane, more like the Good Guy. In previous decades Washington State tried to protect its citizens from the perpetual corruption and lunacy of Spokane City. Since 2012 it’s all Bad Guys from top to bottom.)
Polistra's Mill 