Many Ways Into the House [Meta Politics Idea Summary]

Breaking and Entering the Overton Window

The most simplistic model of information exchange is as follows:
1. An idea is shared
2. Those who find the idea credible share the idea further.
3. Those who oppose the idea provide evidence against it.
4. All evidence is considered and trust values are updated accordingly.

This method historically results in true ideas rising to the top. Let’s call this the “front door” approach.

Unfortunately, other methods of spread exist as well. They generally fall into three categories:

Sneaking Down the Chimney

Or disinformation/infiltration.
This tactic either feeds false information to media institutions or has paid imposters spread false ideas within networks. It can consist of individual bad actors or entire front organizations. It is most well known to be used for Cold War propaganda.

Jumping the Fence

Or Network Manipulation consists of utilizing alternative attention structures to gain access to a larger audience. The most common types of this tactic are paid advertising blitzes, search engine/recommendation engine manipulation and political grifting.

Breaking the Window

Or aggression consists of wielding political or violent threats to force the promotion of an argument or the censorship of another. The most common analog is a mafia racketeering scheme - pay up or your windows are smashed … literally.

Media defenestration typically consists of using political statements, or the other methods above to defame an individual or organization that refuses to play the game. Organized political campaigns often use this tactic to affect the “Overton Window”, or the range of mainstream political discussion.

The next column will cover some of the first-derivative downstream effects of these tactics.