[refulgentis]

Yeahhh I unfortunately see this semi-regularly on Twitter now, and it's always an image of $OPPOSITION where the bit that is faked is $EXTREME_CARICATURE. There was a chilling one last night, so while it's fresh on my mind, I'm going to riff on it

Confirmation bias and...love for the outgroup...is so strong, that it's rare people admit they didn't know it was fake and remove it. Frequently, someone else hops in, to explain it feels true and represents how they understand $OPPOSITION's viewpoint anyway.

Once multiple people get involved, semi-frequently, it turns into an indictment of the person who pointed out the fake. Why? Even if it is a fake, the real ignorance exposed is that of the person pointing out the fake, as it's clearly representative of $OPPOSITION anyway, so they're at best naive, and at worst supportive of, $OPPOSITION.