We’re holding a monthly tableside chat to practice political analysis together with organizers, workers, and community members. Whether you’re already active or just trying to make sense of what’s happening, you’re welcome.

April topic: Why your content creator daddy won't save you

Online political life now does some of the work that sectarian organizations once did. A sect, here, means a small political group organized around a doctrine that treats loyalty to that doctrine as a test of political seriousness.

That habit has not disappeared. It has changed form. Instead of taking shape through political education, shared experience, and work inside organizations, it now often takes shape through social media feeds, content creators, group chats, and recurring rounds of online argument. People sort themselves into disconnected camps, form allegiances, and end up fighting with people they barely know.

The point is not to say that politics online is unreal, or that nothing serious can begin there. The question is what kinds of political groups these feeds encourage. Do they help people build durable organizations? Or do they more often produce audiences and habits that sort people by what they consume rather than by shared political commitments?