"AMAZING VIDEO!" and Purple Cows — Opportunism and the Attention Economy

It was another typical Monday morning (except it was Tuesday!)... and — as per usual — my email in-box was flooded with spam and nonsense. No, I'm not talking about amazing proposals from Nigerian Princes, I'm talking about the relentless flow of commerce, clamoring for my attention.

As the whole pandemic shitshow moves gradually into the rear view mirror, I guess the thing that makes me feel sad is that no matter who you might believe "started it" and who you might think is "responsible," this sort of crap seems to bring out a large number of humanity's bottom feeding scum suckers who use their penchant for sensationalism not to further any cause, nor to help public health, nor to offer solutions or solace, but purely as an opportunity to profit.

Or if not exactly "profit," at least as an opportunity to gain fame/notoriety.

Don't get me wrong, I have no issue with ambitious people who want to get ahead, I just have an issue with the idea that "getting ahead" is placed above and beyond such things as decent behavior, common sense, public safety... and instead causes actual damage, in service of a few more cents.

And if not damage in the direct sense of the word, then damage in the form of distracting people endless into bottomless pits of unprovable sensationalism.

In the end, the "amazing video" referred to in the title of this post was mostly an amazing conglomeration of fear mongering designed to run up lots of views while offering pretty much nothing of value.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's pretty cool and awesome that Tucker Carlson interviewed Russell Brand and Vladimir Putin within the same two-week span, but what I find a little more distasteful is the flock of vultures trying to profit from the fact that Tucker Carlson interviewed Brand and Putin. Why don't you go out and find your own gig?

To use the term web marketer Seth Godin coined, we live in an era of marketing "Purple Cows." Of course, authentic purple cows are great, but hanging up a sign that offers purple cows when what you actually have is ordinary potatoes is just massively disingenuous, as far as I'm concerned.

Of course, we do live in an increasingly jaded world. Nobody wants to know about the actual facts, unless they are wrapped up in "packaging" that declares we'll all be dead within 48 hours.

But frankly?

I'm a little tired of reading about Mrs. Jones' cat that ran away under the headline "New Heavy Metal Isotope May Cause Blindness in 50% of the Population!"

I suppose I take issue with the whole circus because it feels like we are approaching a point where it's impossible to "present" anything without grossly exaggerating and lying about what it is... purely to get people's attention.

It smells more and more like the movie "Idiocracy," to which I often refer...

Maybe trends have a way of imploding on themselves. The more people are screaming, and the louder they scream... the more we might find that a whisper is the thing that stands out from the crowd!

We're not there, yet... far from it.

But it could happen! Couldn't it?

Thanks for visiting, and have a great rest of your week!

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Created at 2024-02-21 00:25 PST
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