Be angry, outraged even. Stay loyal. Don’t look at that man behind the curtain! Forget about asking those important questions, especially this one:
Who benefits from my outrage?
Let’s meet two Americans:
Outraged Joe and Fat Cat Musk.
Outraged Joe is a farmer in Wyoming. He’s up before sunrise, a patriot, a churchgoer, and a believer in working hard and standing tall. He sees headlines that make his blood boil. He hears talk of traitors, invaders, and schemes to take away everything he’s earned. So he clicks “share.” He posts a meme that reads: “Drain the Swamp. Save Our Country.”
But Fat Cat Musk? He’s no neighbor. He’s a billionaire with a media empire and friends in high places. He didn’t create that meme, but he paid for the system that did. He owns shares in the outrage economy. And while Joe is outraged, Musk is cashing in.
The outrage keeps Joe distracted, while the rules are being rewritten right under his nose.
Take the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, currently debated in Congress:
Tax breaks for the top 1%, including extended estate tax exemptions, expanded deductions for wealthy households, and bonuses for high-income earners.
Funding increases for defense contractors, border enforcement, and surveillance tech.
Cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and ACA subsidies, programs used by millions of working families, seniors, and children.
The result?
Fat Cat Musk pays less in taxes and gains more influence.
Outraged Joe gets fewer services and watches the national debt explode.
Fat Cats want public Land Joe watches feeling somewhat miffed.
And through it all, the outrage machine keeps humming.
Joe isn’t dumb. He’s overwhelmed. The system has taught him to mistrust fact-checkers, dismiss experts, and embrace whatever confirms his tribe’s view. And when the system keeps feeding him enemies to fear, he doesn’t see that the real threat is behind the curtain.
Who profits from Joe’s rage?
Not his kids. Not his community. Not the future.
The architects of manipulation know exactly how to exploit our wiring:
They use dopamine to keep us scrolling.
They trigger fear to grab attention.
They stoke anger to increase engagement.
They reward tribal loyalty over independent thought.
Every click, every share, every repost adds fuel to their fire. And while we argue online, the real deals happen in silence. The rich get richer. The powerful get more powerful. And the rest of us get divided.
This isn’t about left or right. It’s about up and down.
We are being pulled down. By systems designed to inflame, distract, and divide. By leaders who campaign on fear and legislate for wealth. By platforms that measure truth in likes and reward manipulation with reach.
So the next time that meme pops up, the one that feels good, the one that says exactly what outrage wants us to believe, pause.
Ask: Who wrote this? Who paid for it? Who gains when I share it?
Truth isn’t always comfortable. But it is always liberating.
This is us.
And it’s time we look behind the curtain.
Together.
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