Seated In Action

We’re talking about Russia today—but first, your hosts talk about a webcomic from The Oatmeal about the Backfire Effect, a psychological phenomenon that tracks the ways in which our brains respond to ideas that challenge our most fundamental ideological suppositions. Studies conducted at the University of Southern California suggest that, when we are faced with such ideas and challenges, our amygdalae fire up and put us in a state of fight or flight—such a phenomenon presents obvious, real world problems. Your hosts use this discussion as a segue into a discussion about memetic theory and the emotional and psychological state of the social media landscape.In the second half of the episode, Ryan and Andrew talk about a tumblr memo that catalogued the expulsion of numerous Russian bot infiltrators on their platform. Ryan points out some of the patterns in the Russian bot names and, in doing so, shows how said pattern functions as a mean to spread discord within the American political factions. This serves as a