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Notes -
But the "illness" is spread through information. So when people of the media class are afflicted with it, their vast reach spreads it to others. As their words reach more people and start to dominate on social media, more people will assume that this is now the default, socially acceptable outlook.
So politicians start using these opinions to formulate policy, and ordinary people start to adopt them as a way to fit in. Initially this only happens to terminally online folks and activists, but over time a feedback loop is created, as the more people believe in it, the more it actually becomes the dominant idea. Thus, even ordinary people will adopt theses beliefs as a way to fit in, which is when they really start to affect the world.
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