i know steve bannon, i met him back in the day. we talked theory on community accretion in online spaces. he took some of that theory and applied it to help foment the alt right.

the alt right grew from the online video gaming space.

i know this space bc i helped create it.

when we think of the alt right and what they have become it never was any surprise. everything is pretty well known and out in the open, however it is de-emphasized by commercial media which in so doing effectively squashes relevant data in the public square.

it's why comm media seem to lag behind independent research: this propaganda technique, which i call staggered information release, is the cleaving into bits - into bytes - of complex truths so that every fact can be massaged into any mold desired.

this is why so much time is given to mining your data. your data tell the story of you.

this story is then gradually replaced by a narrative, or perceptual framework, which in media becomes a simulacrum, or avatar, for you.

your avatar is built from bits - from bytes - of data.

that's why i'm a cartoon dog. the silly character i've adopted is much the same as the online persona you've chosen

whether real name or anonymous your avatar is about as real as my being a cartoon dog.

their greatest trick is to convince you that your avatar, or proxy, is you.

steve bannon is a strategist and a thinker. he prides himself on it. he'll rub it in your face. he is a crass man but only crass in pursuit of his goal.

his goal is to prove how stupid you are.

and every day we're proving him right.

bannon's is a hierarchal mode of thought which devalues others based on intellectual capacity.

those for whom he carries water have the same mentality. it doesn't account for humanity in its calculus bc they believe they are immune from the maladjusted behavior of the oppressed.

it truly is a weapon to be oneself.

instead, too many of us adhere to pre-defined roles comprising bits - and bytes - of social functioning.

unfortunately most of our social functioning exists in opposition.

which is purposeful.

as we consume data so too do we build our avatars' dna. in much the same way that media stagger information by cleaving it into bits and bytes so are relevant social data distributed into cultural phenotypes prepackaged for our adoption

it's a mild form of cult induction

cult induction preys on our need to belong to a group. once in the group, love and attention is offered and at times manufactured in order to provide a carrot for behavior - or labor output - beneficial to the group

your avatar phenotype comprises induced stereotypical behaviors

these stereotypical behaviors once engaged in over time reinforce one's adopted phenotype, in effect making a real flesh and blood human into a walking stereotype.

you see, incorporating data is a consumptive activity.

in other words, in the online space, you are what you eat.

ever notice how cartoonish the characters who dance in opposition to one another appear to be? how the worst agitators are those who appear most clownish?

this is bc they've been reduced in worldview to the intellectual equivalent of a half truth.

in us the truth lives, it always has. problem is we've shattered it and split it into divergent pathways.

barriers are then erected and phenotypes crafted and stacked neatly onto sociological shelves.

you are told what to to think and how to be. in doing so you are categorized.

as truth has been effectively segregated among phenotypes which exist in opposition to one another, we neuter communication and limit our full range of discourse.

instead of free expression we fear the stick, that is to say deviation from your prescribed group's dogma.

dogma is a box for your mind.

ideas are not reflective of ownership or worth. ideas belong to everybody and as such it is our moral imperative to share our ideas with the collective of humanity.

in so doing we can solve any problem; obstacles become not curse but opportunity.

not only do we face a data-driven system of classification for identifying citizens by phenotype, we passively consume the very means by which data force each of us into our own perceptual boxes.

maga, resister, berner… tinker tailor soldier spy.

we become living stereotypes.

as you rot in your perceptual box your analytical muscles atrophy. instead of honest discourse you craft messaging, instead of identity you adopt a brand. communication becomes competition. you assail others as a gladiator for your team or group

your perceptual cage

our prison.

hierarchy thrives on categorization. without categorization and assignation of roles hierarchy cannot exist.

a role does not actuate its function absent an operator.

your avatar fills a role, becomes its operator. in doing so absent a full range of data you are brainwashed.

whether scapegoat or champion your avatar will be classed according the viewpoint of your own as well as divergent phenotypes.

in this way your avatar fills the roles of hero and villain, depending on pov.

you are given purpose in fighting against opposing groups, that is data.

this way our data never become complete. for those of us who do venture outside prescribed groups - free agents if you will - it is nearly impossible to communicate the whole truth to those who subscribe to dogma.

the walls are just too great, the bullshit too thick.

bannon infamously said "flood the zone with shit."

in an environment of freely available knowledge it is beneficial to the status quo to overwhelm the opposition - us - not by suppressing data, no, but by opening the floodgates. this way facts can be selected by way of emphasis.

this way the truth never becomes complete. the missing data are housed within phenotypes for whom our learned disgust is just too great.

in the futility of our quest to evangelize our avatar phenotype, we also learn helplessness.

comm media overwhelm us with inactionable data.

twitter is a trap in that it devolves conversation into competition

it preys on our insecurities and gamifies our attention

it's not so divorced from analog experience however in that one begins to mimic the other.

trad'l media is not so divorced from social - they intertwine.

bannon and his ilk think you're stupid. they devalue such things as caring. they don't acknowledge the worth in a smile, in a touch, of kneeling to help a stranger. and that's their weakness: they devalue everything but strength of arm and brain while neglecting that of the heart

the act of caring is such a potent weapon that our enemy numbs us via indoctrination: passive consumption of media: violent and overwhelming imagery alongside pundits clucking their tongues and telling us what to think.

how to be.

there is no room for humanity in a screen.

@zei_squirrel @sarahkendzior @jennycohn1 @benFranklin2018 @jgownder @UNMC_DrKhan @Ad_Inifinitum @JYSexton @SethAbramson @umairh @kaitlin_sb @BeauTFC @ErikLoomis @SimonBalto @jkyles10 cc