This has been a root issue in the photojournalism world since its inception. For decades papers would have a someone in New York parachute in to a foreign country they knew little about for an “exotic” tale to photograph. The pictures were beautiful but often fabricated to suit the story being written, which had a lack of legitimate understanding of the people and their culture. Things have gotten better as discussions around the issue have come up in the last 15 years or so but legacy media continues to have a problem with this in general. The internet makes it easier to connect with the locals but it also makes it easier to sensationalize and warp.
With more creators from within communities telling their own stories now, do you think we’re actually shifting away from extractive storytelling or just replicating it with new faces and platforms?
Yes and no, I would say. The door is now open for people to tell genuine, sincere stories. However, the looming presence of the algorithm makes people debate if a story is even worth telling based on how many views they believe it may garner. The sad fact is we live in an attention economy. I think the individual is certainly better off because they aren’t beholden to shareholders’ nagging for profits like mainstream media. But will that individual storyteller maintain their ideals or give in to produce content to keep the beast fed? 🤷♂️
Some of the best story telling I've seen is recent, due the new tools available. I've seen loads of honest excavation, culture, and stories. People shoot from the hip in raw posts all the time. You just need to train your algo.
I’ve certainly seen some. Mostly some random YouTubers with ~500k subscribers. They never seem to be the YouTubers that blow up. The algorithms push for so hard for junk food content.
I actually turned my algorithm off on YouTube. Well kinda. If you turn off history, it’ll stop recommending you videos on your home page. You can still get recommendations within channels you subscribe to but you won’t get bombarded with just junk content. I don’t think you can do that on any other platform though.
Honestly, kinda surprised I loved it. Don’t know whether it was my dyslexic brain or that it’s the first thing I read today but really actually liked the format.
This made me think about the essay by Adorno about mass culture + art and how he believed art that appeased mass culture was baby food spoon fed to the audience.
The hardest 3 words for a human to say ”I am Wrong”.
When being wrong can be documented forever and used to refer to your incompetence, even if rectified, it causes an even greater fear response to being percieved as wrong or against the grain.
Or maybe I’m wrong, in which case I welcome people to educate me.
We have become a performance culture where we do things to be seen. It makes creativity repetitive and mediocre. No one is watching explorers anymore. We watch brands and circus clowns. It's everywhere and one of the reasons why I stopped watching TV and go for long walks now.
“Just as early industrial capitalism moved the focus of existence from being to having, post-industrial culture has moved that focus from having to appearing.” - Guy Debord
I hate the ____-porn lingo. Like it usually implies something is good, like the crème-de-la-creme. Oof 😥 our society is so deluded. Our brutally cavalier attitude towards sex and the role good old “porn” (modern internet version) played in demoralizing society is the deep cause of our cultural nihilism. The gaslighting about how meaningless and uninfluential it is has driven people insane. I’ve been mocked and scoffed at for 20 years on this. But look! Look at the culture!
I completely disagree with the claim that "competent storytelling tells you what to feel." Competent storytelling makes you feel sufficient engagement and interest that you finish reading/watching whatever it is. This is the minimum standard and anything less than this is deficient. Only truly horrible storytelling tells you what to feel in blatant disregard of the 'show don't tell' rule, but there is a lot of this these days. Great storytelling elevates engagement and interest to the level of offering an emotional catharsis or a meaningful insight into some aspect of the human condition.
The system endorsed the validity of your pain to elevate its social relevance so it could in turn commoditize that relevance and sell it.
The gains and reversions of the last 30 years are fake. All of them. Nothing has changed except the topology of the social society has been gradually increased and made rougher so there is greater surface area for extraction, like the relief of built-up gasses from compacted soil as the prelude to deep drilling and quarrying.
"Now we storyboard culture before we enter it.
We don’t go to understand, we go to extract.”
This has been a root issue in the photojournalism world since its inception. For decades papers would have a someone in New York parachute in to a foreign country they knew little about for an “exotic” tale to photograph. The pictures were beautiful but often fabricated to suit the story being written, which had a lack of legitimate understanding of the people and their culture. Things have gotten better as discussions around the issue have come up in the last 15 years or so but legacy media continues to have a problem with this in general. The internet makes it easier to connect with the locals but it also makes it easier to sensationalize and warp.
With more creators from within communities telling their own stories now, do you think we’re actually shifting away from extractive storytelling or just replicating it with new faces and platforms?
Yes and no, I would say. The door is now open for people to tell genuine, sincere stories. However, the looming presence of the algorithm makes people debate if a story is even worth telling based on how many views they believe it may garner. The sad fact is we live in an attention economy. I think the individual is certainly better off because they aren’t beholden to shareholders’ nagging for profits like mainstream media. But will that individual storyteller maintain their ideals or give in to produce content to keep the beast fed? 🤷♂️
Some of the best story telling I've seen is recent, due the new tools available. I've seen loads of honest excavation, culture, and stories. People shoot from the hip in raw posts all the time. You just need to train your algo.
I’ve certainly seen some. Mostly some random YouTubers with ~500k subscribers. They never seem to be the YouTubers that blow up. The algorithms push for so hard for junk food content.
I actually turned my algorithm off on YouTube. Well kinda. If you turn off history, it’ll stop recommending you videos on your home page. You can still get recommendations within channels you subscribe to but you won’t get bombarded with just junk content. I don’t think you can do that on any other platform though.
please recommend some !!
I feel that your decision to write this piece with the exact cadence of a LinkedIn post has robbed it of gravitas, rather than added any.
The guts to write an 'essay' criticizing shallowness without a single freaking paragraph tying two ideas together is BOLD.
This style of writing.
Is the most irritating thing.
I have ever encountered.
And.
I would like to die as a result.
👋🏾
It’s also 100% AI
I came here to write this.
But you beat me to it.
Thank you.
And here’s another point.
Are we witnessing the death of the paragraph?
Probably.
And the m-dash.
I used to like the m-dash.
Honestly, kinda surprised I loved it. Don’t know whether it was my dyslexic brain or that it’s the first thing I read today but really actually liked the format.
The drama
This made me think about the essay by Adorno about mass culture + art and how he believed art that appeased mass culture was baby food spoon fed to the audience.
This was so refreshing to read, I absolutely loved it! ♥️
The hardest 3 words for a human to say ”I am Wrong”.
When being wrong can be documented forever and used to refer to your incompetence, even if rectified, it causes an even greater fear response to being percieved as wrong or against the grain.
Or maybe I’m wrong, in which case I welcome people to educate me.
We have become a performance culture where we do things to be seen. It makes creativity repetitive and mediocre. No one is watching explorers anymore. We watch brands and circus clowns. It's everywhere and one of the reasons why I stopped watching TV and go for long walks now.
“Just as early industrial capitalism moved the focus of existence from being to having, post-industrial culture has moved that focus from having to appearing.” - Guy Debord
I hate the ____-porn lingo. Like it usually implies something is good, like the crème-de-la-creme. Oof 😥 our society is so deluded. Our brutally cavalier attitude towards sex and the role good old “porn” (modern internet version) played in demoralizing society is the deep cause of our cultural nihilism. The gaslighting about how meaningless and uninfluential it is has driven people insane. I’ve been mocked and scoffed at for 20 years on this. But look! Look at the culture!
I completely disagree with the claim that "competent storytelling tells you what to feel." Competent storytelling makes you feel sufficient engagement and interest that you finish reading/watching whatever it is. This is the minimum standard and anything less than this is deficient. Only truly horrible storytelling tells you what to feel in blatant disregard of the 'show don't tell' rule, but there is a lot of this these days. Great storytelling elevates engagement and interest to the level of offering an emotional catharsis or a meaningful insight into some aspect of the human condition.
‘The new intellectual is a marketer’: YES! Really good read.
I did this report called ‘smart flex’ on how showing intellect is a thing now on social (content): https://open.substack.com/pub/gaelpineirobeiraselmedia/p/smart-flex-why-brains-equal-clout?r=2m0mci&utm_medium=ios
Checking this out !!!
The system endorsed the validity of your pain to elevate its social relevance so it could in turn commoditize that relevance and sell it.
The gains and reversions of the last 30 years are fake. All of them. Nothing has changed except the topology of the social society has been gradually increased and made rougher so there is greater surface area for extraction, like the relief of built-up gasses from compacted soil as the prelude to deep drilling and quarrying.
This piece is fantastic. Bravo, sir.
For the love of God and readability, use paragraphs.