Your mistake is thinking elections are, or ever were, about what the voters want.
In reality - the establishment decides how best to maintain their control, then create the illusion of choice (since both candidates who reach the point of running for president serve them, in very slightly different ways), then have the media bolster that illusion and get the public to fight with each other to make sure we don’t stop to realise we’re being played and point our justified rage and frustration where they actually belong (with the manipulators, not those they manipulate).
The media keeps reporting things that people engage with because those figures drive advertising. If people didn’t engage with ragebait, then people like Trump wouldn’t have a chance of being elected. The entire media strategy of any politician right now is to say or do the most wild shit possible so that they appear in the news. Come up with a 3 word slogan, and bam, instant support.
I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make in reference to my reply…
Yes, the media want money, but they can’t make money without maintaining a system that has commodified everything, including information, for profit. The rage bait would exist whether trump would have won or not, it’s not like it’s gone anywhere. It doesn’t exist to serve trump, it exists to serve the status quo (hint: having the president/PM change from one party to another, when both serve capitalism and the ruling class, isn’t a change to the status quo).
It wouldn’t exist if people didn’t engage with it. That’s why he’s always in the news. It’s not some super scientific cabal manipulating everyone. It’s a basic algorithm driven by engagement. Political groups just spend a lot of money driving that engagement. If you don’t like Trump, stop engaging with content featuring him.
Your mistake is thinking elections are, or ever were, about what the voters want.
In reality - the establishment decides how best to maintain their control, then create the illusion of choice (since both candidates who reach the point of running for president serve them, in very slightly different ways), then have the media bolster that illusion and get the public to fight with each other to make sure we don’t stop to realise we’re being played and point our justified rage and frustration where they actually belong (with the manipulators, not those they manipulate).
The media keeps reporting things that people engage with because those figures drive advertising. If people didn’t engage with ragebait, then people like Trump wouldn’t have a chance of being elected. The entire media strategy of any politician right now is to say or do the most wild shit possible so that they appear in the news. Come up with a 3 word slogan, and bam, instant support.
I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make in reference to my reply…
Yes, the media want money, but they can’t make money without maintaining a system that has commodified everything, including information, for profit. The rage bait would exist whether trump would have won or not, it’s not like it’s gone anywhere. It doesn’t exist to serve trump, it exists to serve the status quo (hint: having the president/PM change from one party to another, when both serve capitalism and the ruling class, isn’t a change to the status quo).
It wouldn’t exist if people didn’t engage with it. That’s why he’s always in the news. It’s not some super scientific cabal manipulating everyone. It’s a basic algorithm driven by engagement. Political groups just spend a lot of money driving that engagement. If you don’t like Trump, stop engaging with content featuring him.