Some people feel that the left has gotten leftier and other people feel that the right has gotten rightier. It's interesting that they both say their position is still the same, and it's the other guys that have gotten crazier.
I think the real story is that the more extreme people have always been more vocal, and social media gives them a place to be heard. It used to be they'd ramble at you in the office breakroom, and you'd just smile and nod and walk away. Now they can barf memes onto the Internet. More extreme positions get more reactions --positive and negative ones. People will write comments. Positive and negative reactions and comments are all proof that eyeballs are engaged and therefore that post is good for advertisers and therefore algorithms will spread it further. A reasonable, nuanced position is not engaging. It won't get anyone excited or agitated, and therefore it won't spread on the Internet. TV News has a similar issue. The money comes from advertising so there has to be some excitement to keep the eyeballs on it. Cable news has the same incentive, but also no FCC rules to tell them they can't say a bunch of made up BS. ....so, they can and do say made up BS. Social media has the same perverse incentive, a lower barrier to entry, and even fewer consequences. Ultimately, I think it's partly an illusion caused by extreme voices being amplified, and it's partly that all this amplification of crazy is actually making people crazier. It doesn't help that there are multiple sets of facts going around. We really do need to figure out how to reign in the Internet before it destroys us. I have some crazy ideas about that, but I don't think it's a discussion anyone is willing to have because we're getting dopamine hits from pressing the like button on crazy bullshit, and we can't give that up. -Adam ________________________________ From: AF <[email protected]> on behalf of Steve Jones <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2025 2:35 PM To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT: What really happens in Portland sad thing about it is that guy used to be an extreme outlier, but now hes the leftist norm. hell, half the left probably says "OK boomer" to him because hes not woke enough On Tue, Oct 14, 2025 at 12:47 PM <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: https://youtu.be/7dF9QEzun48?si=w7pqeU3rKoQiVXa0 From: AF <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> On Behalf Of Ken Hohhof Sent: Monday, October 13, 2025 8:39 AM To: 'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group' <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT: What really happens in Portland Oops, sorry, I didn’t see it was on Facebook. Looks like Daily Show is on Paramount+ and that does seem to be paywalled. Not like some shows that post clips the next day on Youtube. It’s Jon Stewart commenting on Trump’s conversation with the governor of Oregon that indicates he may be watching 5 year old footage on TV rather than what’s happening now. And Stewart says we don’t know what you’re watching on TV but yes, if you’re watching Game of Thrones, it’s a hellscape. There be dragons. From: AF <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> On Behalf Of Bill Prince Sent: Monday, October 13, 2025 9:08 AM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT: What really happens in Portland paywall bp <part15sbs{at}gmail{dot}com> On 10/12/2025 8:54 PM, Ken Hohhof wrote: There be dragons! https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1371166071310802 -- AF mailing list [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com
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