1/This is excellent. Don’t agree with all of it esp. the parts that lump adv-driven tv/radio in with now subsc driven print. But this is perfect: “On all sides, we now lean into inflammatory caricatures, because the financial incentives encourage it.” taibbi.substack.com/p/we-need-a-ne…
2/There are many things that need rethinking in the way politics and life work in the US. One of them is our obsession with celebrity and our willingness to pay millions to people who can command an audience.
3/It’s hollowing out the nation. It encourages extremism and worse, it encourages fake extremism. It feels complex because there are so many actors -naive social media companies, their ambitious influencers, anxious mainstream media, angry voters filled with hate.
4/But isn’t it much more straightforward: Celebrity not only gets us money - and big money. We get the power that comes from commanding an audience - from being listened to. No wonder everyone wants to be a social media influencer. It beats working.
5/I get it. I remember the thrill of my first newspaper byline. Now everyone has access to that thrill. So how to get noticed above that din? Be provocative. Say stuff no one else will say. Even better, build a brand as someone who says stuff no one else will say.Monetize.Repeat.
We need to short circuit this - not because we must control what people can say, but to change the way people make money/get power from it. Listen to talk radio/ podcasts or hard left or right media. Do you think those hosts believe everything that comes out of their mouths?
7/The big reason to do this, of course, is that it creates the wrong incentives for the people we elect. Some of this has always existed in politics. But it’s out of hand now and it’s self reinforcing. It needs to stop, and the way to stop it is to stop making it profitable.
6/We need to short circuit this - not because we must control what people can say, but to change the way people make money/get power from it. Listen to talk radio/ podcasts or hard left or right media. Do you think those hosts believe everything that comes out of their mouths?
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