Social media, by allowing people to post ideas that are unmediated by any editorial planning process, brings forth whole modes of engagement with political ideas that I think simply could not exist in a world of rigorous journalistic feedback.
People in the media or PR understand this. Getting on tv, or being quoted, gives an opinion validity.
But go to public meeting, see these opinions IRL and it’s clear a lot of people good at getting attention are absolute crackpots you wouldn’t allow in your life. Like the psycho on the train level crackpot.
Crackpots need to be able to share their ideas, too – but in an environment optimized for engagement, their ideal get more weight than they deserve.
I’m not sure how to fix this, other than doing what this guy is doing, and building a media ecosystem optimized for reflection, not rage bait.
Basement Whatever 
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