Loved this piece. You really captured the fatigue of living inside this constant reaction machine. If it’s okay to add a layer of context, you're right that it's been used for decades. But, as a pop culture historian I can't resist coming in with my own little offering... (because who doesn't love a thoughtful comment!?)
You're right, rage-bait is unique, but it's not recent, or a fluke, it is an effective feature of mass media. Since the earliest days of journalism, there's always been the interest in generating an emotional response to capture attention and drive a narrative in order to generate value (profit, political, or cultural). What I think is so interesting, is that when media evolves, so does affective provocation media. It's so effective, we have to pack it up and bring it with us no matter where we go.
So in the end, when we specifically participate in the system of rage-baiting, we engage in a very specific formula that generates capital: rage bait = affective economy + outrage discourse + algorithmic amplification.
Have you checked out "The Resilient Jenkins" on TikTok? They are textbook this whole rage-bait life cycle. So interesting...
Anyway, thank you for the post! I'm still so new to Substack... but this is great! LOL Gimme more theory and cultural insights!
Thank you for featuring my note! And writing this - I wrote a follow-on myself last week https://nikitawalia.substack.com/p/rage-is-the-machine
will drop this link in asap!! :)
perfectly said! the blatant manipulation to feed the attention maw is blatant and overwhelming
Loved this piece. You really captured the fatigue of living inside this constant reaction machine. If it’s okay to add a layer of context, you're right that it's been used for decades. But, as a pop culture historian I can't resist coming in with my own little offering... (because who doesn't love a thoughtful comment!?)
You're right, rage-bait is unique, but it's not recent, or a fluke, it is an effective feature of mass media. Since the earliest days of journalism, there's always been the interest in generating an emotional response to capture attention and drive a narrative in order to generate value (profit, political, or cultural). What I think is so interesting, is that when media evolves, so does affective provocation media. It's so effective, we have to pack it up and bring it with us no matter where we go.
So in the end, when we specifically participate in the system of rage-baiting, we engage in a very specific formula that generates capital: rage bait = affective economy + outrage discourse + algorithmic amplification.
Have you checked out "The Resilient Jenkins" on TikTok? They are textbook this whole rage-bait life cycle. So interesting...
Anyway, thank you for the post! I'm still so new to Substack... but this is great! LOL Gimme more theory and cultural insights!