I put forth this theory in a Fogbow virtual meetup a month or two ago, when I was exploring the implications of using the terminology of viral evolution and the symbiotic relationship of cognitive beings like humans have with information, that the information bits that get optimized for spreading (infecting belief systems) follow motif based rules.
Inherent in the analysis was that the Twitterverse is the most useful model to consider this.
Knowing that the right wing disinformation machine on Twitter (and other similar platforms) seems to be consciously manipulated and that the apparent end result is that, in the opinion of many studies, seem to have “
jumped the shark”, that it is possible that the GOP (in general somewhat) has mistakenly adopted the position that what happens on Twitter (and similar, even more biased sites) is reflective of the general sentiment of the people.
They don’t seem to grasp the concept of selection bias and information bubbles.
This has led to unprecedented political performance theater wherein they confuse getting approval( in the form of Twitter likes and shares) on these platforms with what is the real zeitgeist of the times. So, the rabid nonsense of “own the libs” etc has fragmented like a grenade into other outlandish performances.
I also will add, that the Newt Gingrich Rule, that every time one refers to a Democrat, it must be prefaced with a negative connotation adjective, has had some impact. Just not as much as they(the GOP) believe.
In short, the midterms could well (hopefully) elect many Democrats because they are misplaying their hands because of false perceptions.
x4
memories are poor.
