Coinage Capitalism

Hottakes galore, call it coinage capitalism
Reification of the zeitgeist, the books proliferated
Bearing weighty tomes laden with keen, academic discourse
Along came the bright observers and the futurists

Cassandras calling, heady charges were duly leveled
Observe well the rhetoric of these social synthesizers
But scratch the gleaming surface of their mooted frameworks
And behold a fundamental misdiagnosis of the economics of networks

Such edifices they erected
   as they bemoaned the newfangled platforms
Perverse incentives touted by the lawyers among them,
   stern demands for reform
Bullet points on their charge sheets,
   not your garden variety contrarianism
A veritable rush to be the first to pinpoint the original sin

They extolled the perils of the day,
   but it was a new age of puffery
Their research probed the fatted calf
   or, at least, its dark underbelly
These pundits, badged with brows of concern and alacrity
Were minting think pieces full of shrink-wrapped profundity

Talking to themselves,
   the commentariat selling policy prescriptions
Data is the new oil, and other slogans that belied their fictions
But to take them at their word would be a crying shame
For, at the end of it all, they were merely playing a shell game

Tell us something new, there's no such thing as a free lunch
Captain Obvious, if you aren't paying, you are the product
Dark patterns applied as you skipped over the fine print
Taken hostage, the convenience of the Faustian pact in one click

Blinders on, the profit imperative,
   next they'll be fleecing you
Slouching wide awake, you customer,
   as they extract surplus value
Still, was there really anything novel
   in this dark empire of fear?
Methinks their sole invention
   was a new way of saying buyer beware

Cheap Talk, a playlist

A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)

• Cheap Talk by Loose Ends
• Talkin' Loud and Saying Nothing by James Brown
• Talkin' all that Jazz by Stetsasonic
• Talkin' out the Side of your Neck by Cameo
• Sound and Fury by John Brown's Body
• Talkin' Loud and Saying Nothing by James Brown and the J.B.s

...

Timing is everything
Observers are worried

File under: hatchet job, culture, observation, perception, technology, Buyer's Remorse, shell game, Observers are worried, poetry, language, rhetoric, toli

Writing log. Concept: January 29 2019. November 21 2021

Threat to Reality

"There is also the threat that Trump poses to reality."

Hyperbole much? Some turns of phrase that aim for the poetic
Instead land in the valley of the absurd as merely splenetic

"There is also the threat that Trump poses to reality."

Even within the context, and knowing what was likely meant,
I don't think reality was ever worried about Trump. They'd never met.

"There is also the threat that Trump poses to reality."

Reality has never been, nor will ever likely be
Threatened by a human being. Absurdity.

"There is also the threat that Trump poses to reality."

As I read old magazines written on the cusp of the last U.S. election
I found many Cassandras calling, and far too much inartful hand wringing

"There is also the threat that Trump poses to reality."

Hatchet jobs by their intention and nature should be precise
With biting satire, the target should feel the sting of a sharp bite

"There is also the threat that Trump poses to reality."

And even if the intent is not satirical but merely that a savaging is due
Your entire argument, by this kind of rhetorical overreach, can incur a fatal wound

"There is also the threat that Trump poses to reality."

A threat to reality is a bridge too far, one should be mindful of such
Lest entire essays be easily dismissed with just two words: Hyperbole much?

...

Timing is everything
Observers are worried

File under: language, rhetoric, politics, hyperbole, strategy, culture, observation, perception, USA, hatchet job, humour, satire, Observers are worried, poetry, toli

Writing log: May 6, 2021