And clearly we are already in a world of collusion between politics and the media that is blurring the line (if there ever was a real one) between drama and democracy.

Yes, they are all acting. There, I've written it out loud. And it has ever been. Power must be displayed. In parliament, in courts, on national occasions, and in the media. It is, and always has been, a carefully scripted drama of manners rather than ideas, aka managed media opportunity, that aims to preempt questions on the legitimacy of the elite. <it says here>

Political "it's all about presentation" is an incestuous cousin to theatre. The media connects the family. Advertising and marketing are from the gauche US branch of the family.

Mixed up together (revolving door phenomenon) the different practitioners are creating a Potemkin facade of a functioning society that hide the poor and other hindrances to indoor and outdoor decoration.

The only thing, imho, that will stop the charade of power from becoming the default is this Intertubez thing - even with all its monumental crap.

Huge functioning societies in history have collapsed, slowly or abruptly.  In fact they all do, eventually, unless they adapt and change (diversify).

The question is: how can we be sure that the cooperative tools that we have in all our different devices, are in themselves 'reliable'.

In drama, reliability doesn't matter: only believability.