In healthy democracies, discourse is shaped by Verification, Deliberation, and Accountability (VDA). These guardrails help societies sort truth from falsehood and keep power in check.
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Emphasis on healthy
aug 29, 2025, 11:58 am • 0 0 • view
But in disordered counterpublics, those same functions are simulated. Members “fact-check,” “debate,” and “hold institutions accountable”, but only within a closed circuit of inverted trust.
aug 28, 2025, 9:25 pm • 83 16 • view
Verification: “Research” becomes endless collection of blogs, studies, and YouTube clips, not to test claims, but to prove what’s already believed. Contradictions are dismissed as fake or corrupt. It feels like rigour, but functions as a ritual of loyalty.
aug 28, 2025, 9:26 pm • 85 16 • view
Deliberation: Debate looks lively, but it’s performative. Talking points are exchanged to reinforce belonging, not to test ideas. Dissent is punished. What matters is signalling loyalty, not discovering truth.
aug 28, 2025, 9:26 pm • 89 19 • view
This is interesting because it's a Cummings point levelled at 'the establishment' too. Not sure what to take away from this, but an interesting parallel.
aug 28, 2025, 9:29 pm • 0 0 • view
Accountability: Outsiders, “Big Pharma,” government, shadowy elites, are blamed for everything. Inside the group, mistakes and lies are ignored as long as members stay loyal. Loyalty replaces truth.
aug 28, 2025, 9:26 pm • 87 17 • view
Together, these simulations give members the feeling of democratic participation, while in reality deepening group loyalty and hostility to outsiders. Counterpublics turn inward, creating closed worlds increasingly detached from truth.
aug 28, 2025, 9:27 pm • 68 10 • view
To understand this process as simulation is to recognize that to publicly label the thesis as "factually inaccurate", "falsehood", or "lie" (or even to provide facts and reason in response) may amount to involuntary participation.
aug 28, 2025, 9:56 pm • 0 0 • view
RFK Jr. doesn’t just benefit from this, he legitimises it. His name and political platform strengthen the illusion that these counterpublics are engaging in real democratic discourse.
aug 28, 2025, 9:27 pm • 71 12 • view
The danger isn’t only the spread of false claims, but the corrosion of democratic reasoning itself. When simulated VDA replaces real VDA, counterpublics harden into closed worlds where no correction is possible.
aug 28, 2025, 9:27 pm • 72 13 • view
And when disordered counterpublics capture institutional power, as they did under Trump, those same simulated VDA functions enter governance. Verification means loyalty-based “fact-finding.” Deliberation means performative echo chambers. Accountability means purges.
aug 28, 2025, 9:28 pm • 67 11 • view
You can see exactly the same behaviour with Tulsi Gabbard's attempt to distract the public from the Epstein story with her attempts to prove Obama interfered with the 2016 election. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
aug 28, 2025, 9:29 pm • 81 12 • view
Long before these troubled times, on my visits to the US, I often marvelled over the abundant adherence to strict bureaucratic routines in all aspects of life. On this surface level, I was reminded of the old Soviet Russia. And now they are indeed becoming the same. Lies and empty institutions
aug 29, 2025, 11:17 am • 0 0 • view
That is the true threat: disordered counterpublics are no longer fringe. They are reshaping institutions themselves. Figures like RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard act as bridges, pulling epistemic closure into the democratic system, corroding it from within.
aug 28, 2025, 9:30 pm • 137 15 • view