"First the piece of content, then everyone hops on, makes it about them and puts their own meaning on it, and then all the players double down into another culture war, more content, clippable, meme-able, performative. Every now and then people remember that a tragedy has happened, and there's a bit of performative decorum. And then more content arrives in, and dopamine zings."
"How quickly did you see the murder of Charlie Kirk? Did you find it hard not to look? Did it feel uncomfortably like a jump scare in a horror film? An almost cartoonish ultraviolence?"
MAGA culture warriors quickly seize on a single piece of content, amplify it, personalize it, and escalate it into a renewed culture-war flashpoint. Players attach their own meanings, clip and meme the material, and double down into performative displays that generate more clickable content. Moments of genuine tragedy prompt brief performative decorum before the cycle resumes as new content arrives and attention-seeking dopamine rewards drive further engagement. High-profile violent imagery, framed as martyrdom, intensifies collective victimhood and fuels continual online spectacle and political posturing. The pattern produces endless consumable moments that prioritize virality over reflection or substantive response.
Read at Independent
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