Discussion about this post

User's avatar
M W's avatar

It’s the reason for the “Like” button. It’s known that if you have friends who wear a certain brand, you’re more likely to wear it. The “Like” button works similarly. And we learned that many of the accounts on social media were fake.

This “follow the masses” is hard wired in people and animals. The best example that I’ve heard for it comes from (I think) Robert Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion - good book regardless. If you’re an antelope grazing in a field with a bunch of other antelopes, and all of a sudden the others start running; you run too. To wait and try to see why they’re running before you start to, could mean you become the leopard’s lunch.

Modern convenience has made most of our survival instincts easily used against us to manipulate us. Even stress. The body is preparing to physically counter a foe. Today, you’re sitting at a desk having to deal with a “foe” - your manager - criticizing you because you didn’t use the new version of the cover sheet for your TPS report. (from the movie Office Space).

Expand full comment
Tereza Coraggio's avatar

I've been thinking about this phenomenon too, Franklin. It's like we've become profit farms where we take on all the risk, expense, maintenance, work and all the online conglomerate skim the profits with no downside. I turned my Appalachian childhood home into an AirBnB but as a labor of love, to turn around a place that was in decline--the house, the neighborhood, the town. It likely will never make back the money I've put into it, and that's okay. But I want the town--and a network of other towns--to be making money on the fees, not milking renters for state, county and city taxes while the algorithms extract the cream.

And to your other point, my handyman's uncle there in impoverished WVa, took his life when the price of diesel went up. As a self-employed trucker, he could no longer make a living. So YES, what you're saying is real.

On a side note, you may have noticed that I recently canceled the paid sub you had so kindly gifted me. I've been doing the same with other gifted subs. I thought that I wanted to be the same as everyone else and have my list of paid subs be only those I actually paid (female Middle East reporters seems to be the common theme!) But I almost immediately regretted it, when you posted something I wanted to read further. So I just wanted to let you know that it was a policy shift of mine, not personal. I love your work!

Expand full comment
3 more comments...

No posts