... fan death persists in being a thing in Korea. There are ideas that rocket around that are stupid, that are based on nothing, and that people believe deeply. We've traditionally been able to make fun of these ideas because we have Science and we are Smart and they have Superstition and they are Stupid. But I mean, look. There were people who bitched about corn syrup before it was cool. Any number of arguments have been made against artificial sweeteners. Johnson & Johnson just said they'd stop selling baby powder with talc in it. And most of Europe regulates GMOs substantially more strictly than the US. I'll whip out some "amazong asbestos" cartoons if I have to. Us Smart, Science people love to lean on our Science and Smartness as the One True God, not as the more-true, more-easily-defendable perspective and it's not fucking helpful. Tying it into deepfakes is not helpful. There's a core crew that believes this shit and every time you pick a fight over their Stupidness you create a conflict into which a million bots that don't believe shit can jump into and before long we're throwing memes at each other as if it'll convince someone. The real problem is we've monetized "engagement" such that something that pisses you off is lucrative for Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey. It's not that we're dealing with an "information apocalypse" it's that we're dealing with a medium that prioritizes conflict. Even phrases like "our shared reality" imply that there is absolutely no justification and no middle ground to find with a bunch of scared people who are distrustful enough that they'll latch onto anything convincing. Until the "reality" side can come up with a more compelling argument than "I'm right because my sources say I'm right the "skeptical" side will continue to believe in chemtrails. Which is the subject of an Anne Heche movie you can watch on Amazon, by the way. And here we are, with Buzzfeed claiming the moral high ground, arguing that because they hosted Jordan Peele doing an Obama impression they somehow "warned" the entire fucking universe two years ago and meanwhile Facebook is somehow worth $300 per user.