The Business Model: Anger, Tribalism, and Conspiracy Theory

Philosopher, neuroscientist, and author, Sam Harris defined the discourse of our time like this:

"Misinformation spreads more effectively than facts. The more lurid the story is, the more clickable it is than the more nuanced one, and you add to that the emotional component, that outrage increases people’s time on any social media site and this leads to an amplification of tribalism.
And partisanship and conspiracy theory and all of these things are more profitable than a healthy conversation about facts. They simply are more profitable given the business model."

I'm regularly reminded of the accuracy of this quote. Maybe the one thing not addressed is the media's ongoing peddling of "fear."