How Identity Media works: The NY Times vs. Patriots edition
Let’s first make this clear, this is not about “Fake News”. This not about total lies written by Macedonian teenagers or Russian hackers. This is about something far worse.
I’m a diehard Patriots fan, and I’m fairly liberal — last week, my Facebook feed, email inbox and Whatsapp chat groups blew up with friends sharing this NY Times tweet. It was tribal catharsis-squared, our Patriots were winners and they had (supposedly) taken a stand against evil Trump.
Within a few hours, the official Patriots Twitter account had something to say about it:
The next morning, The NY Times writer who had crafted the tweet apologized:
…and of course, someone else had something to say the next morning:
This is a perfect representation of an Identity Media Cycle. The Left satisfied that craving that drives our political, anger-based, social media sharing. It spread like wildfire, people felt good, and naturally, I didn’t notice any posting or discussion of the correction in my feeds afterwards. The hunger had already been fed.
As you can imagine, the Right went absolutely ballistic as this perfectly fit every narrative they push: The NY Times is biased! The liberal media is out to get them! Trump is basically like any other normal President.
And yet another cycle played itself out. The two sides, given the same event, took away something completely different, satiated their tribal thirst, and quickly moved onto the next battlefield. Institutions like the NY Times, that at least some of us depend on to help construct an objective truth, had gotten dirty and played the identity game again.
This needs to stop. The only people who win are the sites that run ads next to all the articles — in this case, right wing media sites had a field day, and justifiably so. And of course, Facebook. And even the NY Times.
The NYT and the Washington Post are getting better at having it both ways: play the identity game for cheaper clicks. If they don’t make obvious errors, it’s a win-win (their readers feel good and they get more subscribers. Even when they do make errors, like in this case, it probably only helps them. Enemies are enraged, yet viscerally satisfied. Their readers? Same thing.
And another day passes. And we’re screwed. Can we just leave the tribalism to the actual sports?
How about this: I’ll tell you Tom Brady is the GOAT (that’s Greatest of All Time for the uninitiated). You tell me how he’s a cheater, possibly even saying it in a mock Boston accent. I spread my fingers and point to each one individually, saying “Five rings, bro”. You incessantly repeat the phrases SpyGate and DeflateGate. Maybe we yell. Hell, maybe a punch is even thrown. But no one loses their health care. There is no pre-emptive strike on North Korea. People don’t die and wars don’t break out.
The speed of these cycles is increasing. People have mostly forgotten the specifics of this one, yet their existing biases and worldviews have only been hardened. And they hate the other side even more. The businesses that thrive off this realize how effective these cycles are, and double down on them. I can tell you why they shouldn’t, but I can’t tell you why they wouldn’t.
It’s up to us. Don’t share that article no matter how good it feels. No matter how many Likes you might get and how much dopamine is triggered. Not to Facebook, or Twitter, or that WhatsApp group, or by email. If you really want to make a change in this world, go read a policy briefing and call a member of Congress. Go outside and protest. Maybe even try to make a friend from ‘the other side’. Just refrain from engaging in the next Identity Media Cycle, as there will be many, many, many more before this is all said and done.
Please. Stop.
