[Maru]

I was going to post in another thread since that's when the thoughts occurred, but it wasn't appropriate. So I'll post here if it's OK. (Also, sorry for double post)

Trish went in with the willingness to be controversial and to plant a seed. People who will agree with her methods wholeheartedly will say it's a breath of fresh air. As a result, she came out as controversially as she went in. In this way, she's already won. She basically did what she came to do, imv.

There were a couple of times the HMs mentioned politics and it was like sometimes like knowingly "Oh no, some people won't like this!" That's because those conversations are often designed to generate reactions and to compell others in the vicinity to take a position. It's just the way political discourse has evolved. People on average don't argue as much about bridges or taxes anymore. Modern politics is about reactions to things and whether we need to react more or react less, take this position, disrupt, etc...

I've observed that generally people will only bring up politics to try to start a desired debate. They're not looking to try to talk about those views to bring in people who will already agree with them. It's the lowest form of activism in that way, but thanks to the internet, it is accessible.

So I find that by taking a political identity as part of their persona, which Trish obviously did, it will often send the message that that person is searching for controversy. So add it all together, a 5 person eviction with numerous up whose fanbases were not adjacent to her, it's no surprise that not only was she controversial but was met with a mixture of love and hate. There are still many people still adjusting to how things are discussed now, that absolutely don't want to see yet another of their favorite shows "go political"... they miss the non/anti-political aspects of culture being more mainstream.

I kind of wish it was a VTS simply because I think it would've given a clearer signal as to what her support actually was like. Unfortunately, we may never know.