[notahacker]

I think you must inhabit different social media worlds from me. I see an enormous amount of politics on social media, which tends to be even more lowbrow and fear-driven than the mainstream media for reasons which have nothing to do with capital and everything to do with clicks.

[grandalf]

Well, I'd argue that what you're seeing is a second-tier of power/wealth-hungry individuals. The first tier occupies our political leadership.

The behavior is basically identical, but with dramatically different payouts. Both involve finding a tribe and riding that tribe's enthusiasm to greater notoriety and wealth.