If the stakes are high and personal, we’ll applaud anyone who rallies to our side, and we won’t be fastidious about the tactics they use. When the blood is up we’re not bothered if our gladiator doesn’t hue to the facts or rules. As Tufekci says, “Belonging is stronger than facts.” Or, as the political scientist Brendan Nyhan says, “partisanship is a hell of a drug.”80
