Oxford Names 'Rage Bait' Word of 2025; Mainstream Media Considers It a Challenge
So, Axios breathlessly announces 'rage bait' as Oxford's 2025 Word of the Year, noting a 'three-fold increase in usage.' What they won't tell you is that much of this 'rage' is expertly manufactured by the very media outlets reporting on it, often to distract from inconvenient truths. Consider how major news networks frame foreign policy. They decry online 'rage' while simultaneously amplifying
narratives designed to generate public support for military interventions and foreign aid packages – packages that often benefit campaign donors more than the stated recipients. For example, the same outlets that decry 'rage bait' will run unchallenged headlines about 'defending democracy' while glossing over the democratic credentials of U.S. allies—or the lack thereof. The media-industrial
complex, ever the deft magician, points to the symptom while pocketing the profits from the disease. How often does a story about 'online divisiveness' appear just as a crucial vote on a defense budget (like HR 815, passed in 2024 providing billions in aid to select allies) or a controversial foreign policy decision (like the continued sale of F-35s to nations with questionable human rights
records) is about to happen? Convenient, isn't it? It makes one wonder if 'rage bait' is less an online phenomenon and more a business model for maintaining the status quo.