In our ever more polarized conservative/liberal culture the media Semiotics Initiative is in high gear. Our "flash populous" ripens in the shallow soil of bias memes offered by both sides. Most promoted memes are simple and forthright, so as to spread rapidly. Few audiences are unclear as to which tribe "MAGA" or "me too", belong.
Increasingly, however, my sense is that we"re getting hit with more subtle and covert offerings delivered not just to advance identity causes, but to bolster tribe defenses against persuasion strategies from the opposition. A case in point is "trigger the libs", a phrase gaining some recent traction. Who is promoting this complicated signifier? Is it the Conservatives seeking to taunt the Liberals or the Liberals seeking to manage their tribal reactions to Conservative taunts, or both?
Regardless of the "base" with which we identify, we can all be certain that we are daily being played by a bunch of semiotican geeks dreaming up new "psycho-shots" to keep our culture at 51/49 polarization. You see, they have to do it to "grow the economy" thereby availing "freedom for all".
Screw "free will".... we genuinely want to dedicate our lives to the further aggrandizement of the privileged elite....not!