Hate Sells category archive

At Psychology Today Blogs, psychology professor Azadeh Aalai takes a deep look at how and why conspiracy theories and frauds–what she refers to as “scam cutlture”–thrives on the internet. A snippet (emphasis added):

Extremist groups like cults, conspiracy thinking, which has become rampant in a digital age, and the types of political radicalization that are proliferating in online spaces are all related to the same underlying process, which is that of scam culture. Scam culture is defined as predatory processes that exploit individual vulnerabilities for profit. For instance, conspiracy thinking is often promoted by prominent influencers in online spaces as a way to not only advance their content but specifically monetize and profit off of users’ fears.

SFGate’s Drew Magary tried Elon Musk’s Grokipedia, a would-be competitor for Wikipedia.

He was not impressed.

Mrs. Betty Bowers offers 10 tips on how to be a conservative Christian.

Bigoted AI-slop Super Bowl half-time show frolics.

Michael in Norfolk interprets the intent of the indoctrination.

Methinks Michael in Norfolk has a valid wonder.

. . . has consequences.

When persons are punished for voicing truth in a civilized manner, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that we are a broken polity.

Driftglass hears a rhyme of an Establishmentarian kind.

_____________

*Mark Twain.

Dark Brandon debunks de bunk about the “great replacement theory.”

David makes a strong case that the culture war can–methinks maybe even should–be viewed as a conscious tactic to stoke division and distract the polity from what’s going on behind the scenes. He summarizes the process as follows:

1. You identify a perceived threat to traditional values.
2. You exaggerate the threat.
3. You demonize the “other.”
4. You use that to galvanize the base and distract from everything else.

Watch the video for his explication. (Warning: Short commercial at the end.)