The Rage Bait Economy
Article written by absurdpirate
It seems we are in a new industry, the Rage Bait industry. Rage baiting isn't anything new. It's existed even before the internet was in every household, see Paris Hilton's "Stop Being Poor" shirt. Rage baiting online also isn't new, internet trolling has been a thing since the internet's inception. However, I think it's gotten worse over the years, especially with the monetization of the internet and how algorithms are trained to prioritize engagement, regardless of if it's positive or negative. Lemme explain.
Social Media
Social media bad, ha ha, but seriously. When social media as we know it was first getting it's training wheels off, your feeds were comprised of your immediate friends and family. Now it's whatever the almighty algorithm wants you to see. Your feed is now based on what you or people like you engage most with, and wouldn't you know it most people would call out people who do stupid/terrible things.
Then on top of that, with the monetization on social media platforms, people are encouraged to be absolute menaces to society, I'll touch on this in the "influencer" section of this article.
Black-box, algorithmically-driven social media platforms, make BANK off of the rage bait economy. They profit off of YOUR mental suffering.
Companies
American Eagle is the one I think of when it comes to companies trying to profit off of rage bait. You had people rightfully calling out AE for their eugenics ad featuring Sydney Sweeney. A person with the voice of rubber boots squeaking on tile, gained sentience, then moved to Beverly Hills, California. Then they changed the ad! They switched it for a diet version of the ad that's less eugenics-y, and basically tried to gaslight the people who called them out. Filled with comments along the lines of "is THIS what everyone is mad at?" No, Todd, It's not.
Then you had Cracker Barrel, which did the unthinkable of removing both the cracker and the barrel from the logo. Then when hit with backlash, did THE quickest 180, and then THANKED TRUMP! Again, nothing but a publicity stunt to get people talking about their brand.
These are just the two most recent ones, but I'm sure you can think of more instances of companies trying to spark outrage to get people talking.
The Influencers
Now lets look at the individuals who built their entire career off of rage bait. Think of the ones you might have seen who do these massive, overconsumptive, restocking videos. Or the ones who dump an entire gallon of syrup on pancakes. Or make giant glasses of coffee you know bloody well that the caffeine content in it would kill an elephant.
Social media pays people to piss you off. The more people you piss off, the more engagement you receive, the bigger the paycheck. Unfortunately, as we have learned very recently, it's not all fun and games.
Charlie Kirk, the far-right activist and internet personality, was killed brutally in public. I was not a fan of the guy, quite frankly I despised just about everything he stood for. However, I don't think the punishment for being a public nuisance is death. This is the unfortunate reality when you make your career about making people mad at you, someone might just snap. I fear this will only be the beginning. The Pandora's Box.
(Side Note: to those of you celebrating, what did this actually accomplish? Cool, a guy you didn't like got killed, but all you did was just cut the toenail off a Hydra. You didn't kill Bin Laden. You didn't prove anything, you didn't solve anything. A man is dead, a wife lost her husband, and children lost their father and will probably be shown repeatedly their dad's public execution. I know you might try and justify it with all the terrible things Kirk has done, I understand he did terrible things, he advocated and justified horrendous things. However, this eye-for-an-eye shit is what's getting us into deeper and deeper shit, and it's not making things any better. I'm not saying don't have your fun, or post your memes, or post your "isn't this ironic" comments. I AM saying that this isn't going to get us anywhere.)
My Advice to You
Stop engaging, I know easier said than done, but you have to disengage if we are going to see any amounts of change in this sector. If you find yourself engaging with rage bait, or hell even people who piss you off, disconnect. I had to tell my wife this after she fell into an argument with her aunt's husband over the recent events. It's not worth the toll it takes on your mental health.
If you are someone who likes to troll or do performative rage bait, I want you to ask yourself, is your safety worth it for the joy or money you might get pissing people off? People WILL hate you, people will WANT to hurt you. They will do what they can to ruin your life. They can SWAT your house, rob you, harass you, assault you, kill you. It's not 2016 anymore, we live in different times, more disturbing times.
I'm all for a good bit of trolling, when it's in good fun. However, there is a line and we keep trying to canon ourselves over it for the sake of internet clout and money. Is it worth it?