It’s not that it’s especially effective. It’s that the wealthy have been consistently pumping money into blaring division and individualism into every corner of society they thought relevant for decades upon decades. They’ve had plenty of time by now to figure out enough of what does and doesn’t work for them (including types of journalistic reporting to promote and suppress) in terms of manipulating the news, and promoting division in many ways (including not just stirring up controversy about social issues, but other forms of division as well).

We were never going to outspend them, so I think our best bet was always to out-human them. (And probably to set up parallel economies if things get really bad.) For now, we can still start at the bottom of Maslow’s Hierarchy and meet people we want to reach where they’re at. If they aren’t surviving well, they’re not going to be as focused on other issues. Wherever they’re at, we should focus on listening and empathizing first, then poke holes in the lies they’ve been told once they feel heard and respected. People who have been where they’ve been are the most likely to reach them. To me, all the MAGA regret we’re seeing now in the US, and all the chemical spills and natural disasters that don’t get major media attention and which local governments are too underfunded to help with are an opportunity for somebody to reach some of these people (ideally with monetary aid from an organized movement), so they can get their heads right and get to work on waking up those to whom they’re adjacent.