I would blame it on the fracturing and proliferation of unregulated information sources, starting with unregulated cable TV, and then social media.
Simple stupid, but emotionally appealing messages like memes, spread faster than well reasoned and thought out arguments.
And far right propaganda excels at that.
Every radical movement has come with innovations in media: The printing press, newspapers, state propaganda, radio and television, and now social media.
And yeah, a lot of those waves ended in wars that resulted in regulation of media to keep the peace.
And we can blame Democrats for that as well, before Clinton’s telecom reform act, media was heavily regulated, who could own what, how much they could control, how much market share they could cover. The TRA got rid of all those barriers, that’s how we went from hundreds of media owners and sources to 5 who can tightly control the message.
I would blame it on the fracturing and proliferation of unregulated information sources, starting with unregulated cable TV, and then social media.
Simple stupid, but emotionally appealing messages like memes, spread faster than well reasoned and thought out arguments.
And far right propaganda excels at that.
Every radical movement has come with innovations in media: The printing press, newspapers, state propaganda, radio and television, and now social media.
And yeah, a lot of those waves ended in wars that resulted in regulation of media to keep the peace.
And we can blame Democrats for that as well, before Clinton’s telecom reform act, media was heavily regulated, who could own what, how much they could control, how much market share they could cover. The TRA got rid of all those barriers, that’s how we went from hundreds of media owners and sources to 5 who can tightly control the message.