I agree with everything else that you’re saying, but I wouldn’t be so sure about this. Have you ever noticed how it’s much easier to start online flame wars when you actually believe in the batshit stance that you’re arguing as opposed to pretending to believe it for the sake of trolling? I think it’s a similar thing here. I don’t think humans are that good at compartmentalising, so in order to do something performatively so often and so well you have to trick your mind into actually believing it in a sort of corrupt way. I know this makes me sound like a middleschooler, but I think George Orwell’s concept of doublethink is very much real in cases like these.
I agree with everything else that you’re saying, but I wouldn’t be so sure about this. Have you ever noticed how it’s much easier to start online flame wars when you actually believe in the batshit stance that you’re arguing as opposed to pretending to believe it for the sake of trolling? I think it’s a similar thing here. I don’t think humans are that good at compartmentalising, so in order to do something performatively so often and so well you have to trick your mind into actually believing it in a sort of corrupt way. I know this makes me sound like a middleschooler, but I think George Orwell’s concept of doublethink is very much real in cases like these.