Thread by @PnictogenHorses

Chara, at @KrisAtLarge, has been talking about @mtaibbi's #marketing and #branding; I'd like to talk about a *specific* aspect of Western society's obsession with "personal brands".

it's simply this: in marketing, _censorship is the norm_.

censorship is *expected*.

(1/x)

https://twitter.com/KrisAtLarge/status/1619458019565371392

it's fully expected; #capitalism depends upon #marketing to censor the truth.

they've normalized the practice: corporations (and @elonmusk and @mtaibbi) never tell the truth about themselves, nor do they feel the slightest need for it—they need to maintain the *brand*.

(2/x)

the trivial nature of #marketing culture dictates that people like @elonmusk and @mtaibbi (and @pmarca and @ID_AA_Carmack and literally everyone else who has *marinated* in this culture) think of their own crimes and sins as trivial. "bad publicity", at worst.

(3/x)

forgive me for saying it, Mr. @dick_nixon—I know we've been spectacularly brazen with you, and we ARE almost done with that nonsense, but please bear with me if you can—helped normalize the notion that crises could be managed *purely* through skilled public relations.

(4/x)

that attitude has spread and worsened, and now we inhabit a society in which right-wing perverts like @MattWalshBlog and @Sargon_of_Akkad (and @joshduggar) treat their own sexual appetites for children as mere fodder for "damage control" and discreet public-relations work.

(5/x)

in particular...thanks to #capitalism's destroying the integrity of the #Internet, information online is very easy to *polish up*, especially if you've got money and time to burn. try searching for any *old* news articles on @jk_rowling: you'll have a very tough time.

(6/x)

because, like @mtaibbi and @elonmusk, @jk_rowling is herself a mere *brand*, a famous name that @wbpictures and @Scholastic and other corporate entities regard as extremely valuable still even though the #JKRowling fandom has decayed into a rowdy rabble of hardcore bıgots.

(7/x)

bıgots tend to have very definite opinions (about literally *everything*—@MattWalshBlog is probably bıgoted even about rainbows and butterflies, in some petty way or other) and they tend to be free with their money...their easily bruised feelings need frequent soothing.

(8/x)

they wear their hearts on their sleeve, daws peck at them, and in pain they turn to *commercial products* in order to make themselves feel better. #JKRowling and #HarryPotter aren't just brands of entertainment; they're like an anodyne, a drug for soothing emotional pain.

(9/x)

that's basically the art of #marketing: give people open emotional wounds that can be *kicked* repeatedly, with #advertising and #propaganda—then sell the "cure" for the pain, whether it's a #HarryPotter book, one of those ghastly Peter Jackson #LOTR movies, or @mtaibbi.

(10/x)

there are actual human beings who find @mtaibbi *soothing to read*—he's a propagandist, who specializes in telling a locked-in audience exactly what they already expect from him.

his writing is a product he sells that says, "look at me! I'm smarter than everyone else!!"

(11/x)

(doubtful, @mtaibbi.)

~Mona Drafter of Pnictogen

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