The Foxlandia filter bubble is escaping its containment.

We do not have competing filter bubbles in the US. We have a mainstream media and we have a conservative filter bubble. There is nothing that illustrates this better than this Pew Research polling from 2019.

While there is a noticeable gap between Dem-leaning and all Americans there is a giant nearly impassable chasm between all Americans and Foxlandia. That’s what a filter bubble looks like. And this containment field was built by conservatives fo conservatives. Every single mainstream media source has conservative voices. They weren’t driven into exile by the mainstream, they built themselves an alternative reality. My working theory is that conservative ideas can not compete on merits. They require state action, tax payer subsidies and generous quota system to survive. And thus, Foxlandia was needed as wildlife refuge to keep those ideas alive.

And now its is escaping into the wild

In January, DeSantis replaced six of the 13 members on the college’s board of trustees with conservative allies, including Christopher Rufo, who has fueled the fight against critical race theory and pushed to end diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, known as DEI. The new board forced out the college’s president and appointed DeSantis ally Richard Corcoran as interim president.

Rufo, who owes his existence to wing-nut welfare, has convinced the right that Foxlandia can fight a war to invade, conquer and hold public institutions. I think they can. But they will not be happy with the results. They may think they can turn public institutions into conservative filter bubble equivalents. But since everything on the right is a grift they will never be able to staff these institutions. Do you really think they can find enough 3rd tier right wing influencers to teach at public universities? No, that is not going to happen.

Let’s look at the Pew data again.

Making public institutions safe spaces for people who are fearful of diversity might be popular in the right wing filter bubble, but the demographics suggest its a losing move in the long run. Boomers are not going to FSU. And the children of boomers have long graduated from college. Gen Z is smart. They know damn well these attacks on education are the desperate acts of the losing side. The right has lost the argument decades ago.

The math is very clear on this.

Large majorities — more than 8 in 10 — don’t think books should be banned from schools for discussing race and criticizing U.S. history, for depicting slavery in the past or more broadly for political ideas they disagree with. 

However popular this may be in the Foxlandia filter bubble, it is horribly unpopular in reality. This is why they need to be forced on people by the state.