I’m not much for introspection, but when you put it like that … yes actually.
I will tell you that I grew up a bit conservative and one of the things that “The American media apparatus and conservative think tanks and their unholy amounts of billionaire funding Koch et al.” did was build up the idea of politics as a sleazeball game to disenfranchise people. I still believe it a bit. Biff had by and large built up a cult following based in no small part that he was at one point an outsider and “tells it like it is”, unapologetically petty, stupid, but also affable and a joker, racist and greedy.
He (was?), genuinely bonafide stupid and watches TV all day and enough people thought that that was their best reflection. “Authentic” but also… really bleak.
Cambridge Analytica etc was incredibly sophisticated and right-wing think tanks have done far more to shape people’s habits and opinions than you seem to realize.
I’m not much for introspection, but when you put it like that … yes actually.
I will tell you that I grew up a bit conservative and one of the things that “The American media apparatus and conservative think tanks and their unholy amounts of billionaire funding Koch et al.” did was build up the idea of politics as a sleazeball game to disenfranchise people. I still believe it a bit. Biff had by and large built up a cult following based in no small part that he was at one point an outsider and “tells it like it is”, unapologetically petty, stupid, but also affable and a joker, racist and greedy.
He (was?), genuinely bonafide stupid and watches TV all day and enough people thought that that was their best reflection. “Authentic” but also… really bleak.
Cambridge Analytica etc was incredibly sophisticated and right-wing think tanks have done far more to shape people’s habits and opinions than you seem to realize.