~Unburdened from the stifling editorial constraints and labyrinthine bureaucracy that define mainstream media, one might have imagined, back in the 1980s, that

~Unburdened from the stifling editorial constraints and labyrinthine bureaucracy that define mainstream media, one might have imagined, back in the 1980s, that alternative media would ride into the information landscape like a gallant knight. Free from the stodgy dictates of corporate overlords, unencumbered by the subtle nudges of government regulators, rogue commentators could finally deliver that rarest of commodities: the unvarnished truth. ~But no, alternative media is mostly a hell-hole. ~Accuracy doesn’t go viral. Nuance doesn’t trend. A sober, balanced analysis of the latest economic crisis isn’t going to outperform an inflammatory, conspiratorial takedown of the lizard people who are running the Federal Reserve. The game isn’t about truth; it’s about engagement—the only real filter left. And engagement is a capricious and shallow deity, demanding spectacle over substance and outrage over understanding.