It is fascinating to watch the forms of media that ‘remora’ on the mainstream ‘crisis machine’ that some sizable portion of the population apparently takes very seriously. There is some event of possible import, there is the reportage surrounding it, then there is an immediate rush to capitalize upon it; to acquire attention that has been catalyzed by exposure to the concept, report, model, accusation, etc.

It is a feeding frenzy, and it’s easy to see it as a metaphor relating to hyperparasites (parasites that catalyze their own parasitism by other parasites). I find it instructive to watch the functioning of the invisible intelligence behind the social and algorithmic manipulation of event reports, their propagation and promotion, and all the ephemeral pseudo-parasitic phenomenon which awaken briefly in their wake, seed the minds of those receptive, and fade back into insignificance — until the next event or similar event.

There is so much to explore in these phenomenon, but I sense that peculiar forms of mindwrecking are here at play; forms that take advantage of slow, repetitive conditioning that is layered over time and necessarily involve constellations of related topics and subjects. The remoras often appear as heroic broadcasts of pithy reply, or revolutionary response, but, in reality, they are just more babble, glomming onto the momentum generated by crisis and the spin that the media outlets (and even ordinary people qualify here) so effortlessly contribute to the process.