News in the Age of Abundance - David Perell

“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion but allow very lively debate within that spectrum….”

Both cereal and the daily news began as well-intentioned efforts to improve American lives. But just as cereal turned into sugar for the body, news turned into sugar for the mind.

Corruption tends to increase when a local newspaper goes out of business.

Advertising-supported mass media enables people to unite in support of a common cause and rebel against tyranny. Rebellion is a coordination problem. Even if all the citizens despise their leadership, they cannot coordinate without common knowledge.

By unbundling the newspaper, the Internet atomized news. The fundamental unit of news transitioned from an entire newspaper to a single article.

To his surprise, the emotional hue of a word can invert the meaning of a sentence. People often care less about the truth of their beliefs than the consequences of believing something for fear of being ostracized from their social group.