And there's also a very long history of fascist propagandists depicting themselves as "brave truth tellers" who "the (((controlled))) media" are trying to silence by not platforming their racist and genocidal ideas. https://twitter.com/sethcotlar/status/1589481876808675328?s=46&t=C2gZzA43ichKcYalBXTUZQ
The way to combat the real problems of confirmation bias and the always limited nature of information we have access to is to be self-aware about how one's subjectivity might distort (or positively inform) one's observations and analysis of the world. And nothing says "I'm self-aware" like surrounding yourself with a team of like-minded yes-men (and maybe a few women?) from exactly the same socio-economic circles as yourself.
@rskurat @sethcotlar do people actually believe that unironically? I thought that was just one of those glib, excusably cheesy social niceties for the professional world, useful in various circumstances like sucking up to the person stealing your idea or smoothing over slight differences in opinion with a round of communal back-patting.
@AmberWavesofFlame @sethcotlar I meant my comment as an ironic joke, but I have known a (very) few people who genuinely thought they were brilliant. It's bizarre.