The Attention Economy Navigator, February 2026

This month on the Attention Economy Navigator, our guide to what you should be paying more attention to, and what you can probably pay less attention to. And why those stories might not be what you’d assume.

You can also listen to the podcast episode featuring Chris Melody Fields Figueredo and Steven Renderos, or watch the panel plot these stories in real time on YouTube.

High Reality, High Signal

• Benito Bowl is a rich text.
  • Chris comes with receipts about Bad Bunny’s influence beyond the show itself.
  • Steven connects Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 halftime show ode to Los Angeles to Bad Bunny’s ode to Puerto Rico, Latin America, and the diaspora.
  • Chris and Steven share their personal connections to Bad Bunny’s music and performance, from Black-brown solidarity to the profound experience of connecting the Latine diaspora with a genuine sense of pride, especially in the context of our political moment.
  • The panel discusses how few truly shared, simulcast cultural experiences we have these days and how we can’t underestimate the importance of having experiences like this in a reality that is structured by narrowcast, micro-audience streaming media.
• “Judge declares mistrial in Texas ‘antifa’ protest case over attorney’s T-shirt” by Sam Levine in The Guardian.
  • The case at the core of this story is the first real test case in bringing federal charges under the new NPSM-7 “domestic terror” designation; we need to be paying attention to prosecutions like this, because they often linger after an electoral shift.
  • Chris wonders how cases like this can create cognitive dissonance among white Americans who assume that their Constitutional rights are unassailable.
  • Steven relates this to the legacy of the post-9/11 mosque infiltrations and the “Black Identity Extremist” designation; Bondi’s strategy here is to “flood the zone” on the federal docket.
  • There are opportunities here to build a bigger tent: state overreach is a moment to invite new folks in.

High Reality, High Noise

• “Leaked Email Suggests Ring Plans to Expand ‘Search Party’ Surveillance Beyond Dogs” by Jason Koebler in 404 Media.
  • People did not love this Super Bowl ad; leaked emails from Ring executives indicate that plans go beyond finding missing puppies.
  • Cayden only has good things to say about MediaJustice’s organizing and 404 Media’s reporting on Ring, Flock and similar distributed surveillance companies.
  • As dog lovers, we resent having our heartstrings pulled by this copaganda.

High Conspiracy, High Noise

• “Something Big Is Happening” by Matt Shumer, on his own blog.
  • This is a sales pitch cloaked in scaremongering, and Steven points out that this kind of scaremongering prevents us from being able to ask if this is the kind of future we actually want.
  • There’s a way that the fear in this essay is based in a kind of truth, not just in a hypey scam; Steven shouts out DAIR’s research as an example of people using the technology in ways that are thoughtful.
  • Cayden sees cult psychology at work in the arc of this essay: isolate, break the target down psychologically, and claim that you have the only answer to the problem.
• “Kid Rock and RFK Jr. Post Shirtless ‘Rock Out Workout’ Video Promoting MAHA Agenda” by Gil Kaufman in Billboard.
  • MAHA is, of course, a house of conspiracy cards; this is also coming on the tail of the Turning Point USA alternative halftime show, featuring Kid Rock.
  • Steven admits that he was absolutely into “Bawitdaba” and that whole nu-metal thing back when it came out in 1999.

High Conspiracy, High Signal

• Chris draws our attention to the emergence of “competitive authoritarianism,” meaning we’ll have elections, but it’ll be dubious how free and fair they actually are:
  • The SAVE America Act, which is trying to “Make Elections Great Again” by making federal rules about election administration;
  • FBI raids Fulton County, GA, election office, which is based almost exclusively on debunked Big Lie conspiracy theories;
  • The arrest of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, signaling a new evolution in the administration’s war on the truth;
  • Steve Bannon wants ICE at polling places, because of course he does.
  • These stories together both speak to the conspiracism underlying our political reality and do a lot to undermine public faith in elections, the press, and the various levers of government.
  • Steven points out that the way that elections are stolen isn’t about what happens on election day: it’s done through the courts, through policing, and through the press in the runup.
  • Chris calls on us to connect the dots for everyday people on what we lose when we lose democracy as a central part of our organizing in the months to come.
  • The panel talks about the long history of using violence for election interference in the history of the United States, from Reconstruction to the present.
• “Stephen Colbert Says CBS Blocked James Talarico Interview Over FCC ‘Equal Time’ Fears” by Naman Ramachandran in Variety.
  • Cayden tries to untangle the relationship between Talarico as a candidate, the FCC’s uneven application of its own rules, and conspiracy theories
  • The video was released to YouTube, and it’s now Colbert’s most-viewed YouTube video…does Brendan Carr understand internet!?
  • Steven points out the longer history of Colbert tangling with the Trump on equal time rules and self-censorship has a lot to do with the consolidation of the media ecosystem and how that makes our media environment very authoritarian-friendly.