I like the sound of "Loyalist". It's a great word for the blue checkmark crew. Great catch on their courting of sponsorship. They're looking for patrons with deep pockets, preferably. Consultancy is less restrictive, I'd imagine; for both sponsor and talent. Maybe we should ask Brennan?

About 10 year ago I realized everything is just high school. Bibi Netanyahu is governing as the cool kid, using and reinforcing pop culture and his personal experience to socially bully others in class. Hillary is the creepy wannabe teacher's pet, who while kinda smart, is always on the grift to get more privileges and hopefully a say in how class is run.

When Lynn Cheney made fun of John Kerry's tan and they all laughed then the media covered it, I caught the connection. A few months later, I was pretty depressed. Since then I've noticed the kool kid's crew smashing anything that was not sponsor approved and splintering their governing coalition quite purposefully. They kicked the working class out; notice the lack of a color moniker... They kicked the working class and class minded out of the Party here in the US in 2008. Reality set in by 2010. Kool kids don't get votes without some of the speds, the nerds, the jocks, artists, and shop kids siding with them. If the kool kids get too cool, Napoleon Dynamite happens, and we Vote for Pedro. Sounds about like 2016...

As far as manufacturing consent, when the internet smashed the corporate press, back about 2005, the corporate press decided to stop trying to control the narrative. It wasn't working any longer. The deftness of the internet, a lack of a filtration system for approved content, and the large organic reach of digital word of mouth overwhelmed them.

It was at this time that the corporate press decided to sow confusion; he said she said became more than an argumentative style, it became the nature of reality. The data coming in, the "facts" themselves, became he said she said, and the corporate press fanned those flames of confusion rather than dousing water on false reality.

How could they be surprised about losing the narrative over the last 5 years or so, they've abandoned it. It's just a tiny part of the kaleidoscope of modern reality, and it rings nearly as hollow as the loopiest of the conspiracies.

Great piece, Caitlin. Thanks for sharing.