Naw, I'm not blaming the yewts, or anyone for that matter. I'm observing the acceleration of information over the centuries and how that information is used or employed.

Since humans first started to make marks in clay information has been used for propaganda. But it was slow. With the continual growth of information technology we have reached another printing press moment, including the unpredictable results.

I'm also observing the feedback between the providers of information (their motives and techniques) and the recipients (their attention and response.) What is different from previous historical examples is that the recipients are also the creators. That's new, which complicates the feedback process. It's become more fractal.

Propagandists, or those wanting to influence opinions, are also a hell of a lot smarter than they have ever been. Persuasion is a science now, not just an art. Decades of serious advertising studies have instructed how to convince people. Things like NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programing) can be quite powerful. Brainwashing, basically. And the new cults of our age know this quite well. So do con men.

Indeed Fearmongers exist, selling fear, and people pay attention to them. That's the problem. We are susceptible to skillfully deployed information. Sometimes one needs to get burned to get woke.

I'm more optimistic than I come across. But more skeptical the older I get. It's the burn scars, I suppose.