LYING MAGA:
THE DISINFORMATION GAME
Views from the Cave – Phase Two
Experimental Video, Humor, and Political Perception
Welcome to Phase Two of Views from the Cave, David Deighton’s ongoing experimental art project exploring perception, misinformation, and contemporary digital culture through video, abstraction, and philosophical inquiry.
While Phase One focused on Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and the instability of reality through abstract moving images, Phase Two shifts toward cognitive bias, humor, and human behavior.
From Plato’s Cave to Cognitive Bias
Exploring Misinformation and Perception
The first phase of the project unfolded across one hundred days of experimental video production, philosophical reflection, and immersion into social media environments.
Through abstract art videos and references to Plato’s cave, the work examined how mediated realities shape perception, belief, and political understanding.
Learning Social Media and Digital Video Art
At the same time, the project became a personal exploration of social media culture itself:
creating an Instagram presence,
learning digital editing techniques,
and observing how online systems influence interaction, attention, and identity.
Humor, Bias, and Quirky Video Characters
The Man with the Unicorn Head
Phase Two begins with an absurd image:
a man wearing a unicorn head who insists it does not exist because he personally cannot see it.
The scene becomes both humorous and unsettling—a reflection on denial, certainty, and distorted self-perception.
Comedy as Philosophical Inquiry
Rather than approaching misinformation solely through seriousness or confrontation, the project introduces irony, humor, and playful visual narratives as tools for reflection.
Cognitive Bias and Contemporary Culture
Confirmation Bias and Selective Belief
The videos explore how individuals often favor information that confirms existing beliefs while dismissing contradictory evidence.
Availability Bias and Immediate Perception
Judgment becomes shaped by what appears most emotionally immediate, visible, or familiar within media environments.
The Dunning–Kruger Effect
The work also reflects on the relationship between confidence and knowledge:
how limited understanding can sometimes produce exaggerated certainty.
Experimental Video as Active Reflection
Quirky Narratives and Social Observation
The project uses eccentric characters, visual absurdity, and experimental editing techniques to encourage viewers to reflect on their own biases and assumptions.
Humor, Awareness, and Critical Thinking
Rather than offering ideological conclusions, the work creates open-ended moments of recognition:
small interruptions within habitual ways of thinking and perceiving.
Instagram, Video Art, and Ongoing Experimentation
Views from the Cave on Social Media
The project evolved directly through Instagram, where experimental short videos such as in Daily Abstracts and Short Films became both artwork and forms of public interaction within the larger Views from the Cave experiment.
Expanding the Dialogue
Phase Two marks a transition from abstract explorations of reality toward a more direct examination of human psychology, online behavior, and cognitive distortion.
Related Projects and Films:
MAGA Memes
Explore political meme-based artworks examining online tribalism, echo chambers, and the emotional dynamics of digital culture.
Cognitive Bias
Examine experimental videos investigating confirmation bias, declinism, and the psychological mechanisms shaping political belief systems.
Views from the Cave
Explore the larger experimental media project examining digital perception, political polarization, and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.
Book Burning
View an experimental projection work examining censorship, truth, symbolic destruction, and illusion through Plato’s Cave.
Active Listening Across Political Division
Explore how face-to-face dialogue and attentive listening emerged as responses to polarization, outrage, and digital fragmentation.