You have also basically described the CTH podcast at this point. I still listen occasionally, and they do have some good takes once in a while, but it's basically edgier SNL now. They read the news or talk about current events, and make pithy comments that can border on sexism, ableism etc all cloaked in "irony". It's basically one huge shit post of a pod, and I know a lot of old school users here cut their teeth on CTH in 2016ish like I did, and it shaped our movement whether you like it or not. We all owe the so called "dirtbag left" a debt for making leftism mainstream online, and bringing in a while generation. Every 20 something I know complains about capitalism. That's progress!

As for the original thoughts point you made, I also agree. There have been a lot of times where someone made a post about something fake, and everyone here gobbled it up because it fit the vibe we are trying to cultivate. It usually gets called out and corrected, but that just brings us back to "nobody is immune to propaganda".

I'm torn on the CW stuff. On the one hand, how do these people handle living if there's cheese everywhere? When we're driving, there's billboards with cheeseburgers everywhere. Shopping as a vegetarian is great, cause I get to walk past butchered animal carcasses to get my yogurt or whatever. I just ignore it. On the other hand, I know how what it feels like when there's nowhere you can go for a little respite from those things, and it's not that hard to just be polite and follow the rules for people you claim to be allies with. It's what a friend would do. You can think it's dumb or whatever, but it's just the way it is.