It started with the video (well, audio, conveniently video-dubbed and posted on YouTube for maximum exposure) of the actual rant. Then, all possible angles of the event were explored by the thousands of tireless minds over at Digg, Reddit, and other social media sites. We learned about an "objective" view of the incident, we were introduced to the other party involved, director of photography Shane Hurlbut, and so on.
Wanna bet what we'll start to see next on social media sites, at an increased pace? Terminator 4 hype, and lots of it.
Consider this. Christian Bale is a cool guy. That rant sounds a bit too embarrassing. Is it impossible that Christian Bale was hired, by spin doctors, to act out the rant? We know he can act, and once he dismisses the stunt as fake, he'll get his coolness back instantly (and perhaps even earn some more.) Is it impossible that the entire thing was staged to create a huge amount of hype for the upcoming movie?
We've seen attempts at corporate viral marketing before, but they were relatively easy to spot. However, perhaps Hollywood has gotten smarter. Perhaps they have a social media spin doctor division now. Perhaps these spin doctors are really good.