The Don’t Look Up Rally

At a campaign rally, President Orlean turns refusing to look at the visible comet into a patriotic slogan, and the crowd chants “Don’t Look Up.”

A coordinated influence campaign converts checking evidence into tribal disloyalty. Once risk recognition becomes an identity test, institutions can preserve support by discouraging verification itself.

The manipulation is organized by human political actors; the AI analogy is strongest for scalable disinformation and degraded collective oversight.