Yeah, I don't think it's about us being helpless to defend ourselves from misinformation. It's the legions of people that desperately want to believe terrible t

Yeah, I don't think it's about us being helpless to defend ourselves from misinformation. It's the legions of people that desperately want to believe terrible things, or are just stupid, and unsophisticated with no ability to assess the credibility of the source. It's never been about you, me or 90%+ of users (who are also dumb/shitty people), that have the ability to recognize that some sources of information aren't reliable. That's a gross oversimplification, and there's other issues at play. For instance the lack of trust in traditional media. I don't think the issue is that most people are susceptible to "viral radicalization", and can't tell the difference. Some small minority of people are vulnerable to these things, and can fall victim to it if exposed. In a large population that winds up being many people, and is a huge issue. See the cult movement of the 60-80s. Most people knew it was a bad idea to go live in the woods with a bunch of free spirits. It's people who are absolutely fed up with reality and so anything that seems to bring back "community" looks attractive. On the commune people dance, sing, and share everything. In cases like Johnstown, it was often racial minorities that were just glad to find somewhere that seemed to treat them as real people (even though they were really props and pawns in a narcissists sick reality). It's so sad.