It is a self-reinforcing spiral of "negative attention"--the tendency to substitute association for differentiation and substitute identification of different things for merely associating them in some way. This slide into the abyss of over-identifying things darkens the doorways of perception and gives primacy to the jungle-patterns of reflex reaction and emotional prejudice in place of discrimination. Once you're in that loop you seek out the kind of sound bites, gossip and exaggerations that are easy to deal with because they are closer to unconsciousness. So you tune in to Fox, once you have outgrown Sesame Street.

A