from the week article linked below
In my last post, I wrote about Logan Paul and the Victims of the Culture Industry.
I talked about why Logan Paul's been in the news, including how popular he is with young folks and how unaware older folks are of how any of this works. I also talked a bit about how the Culture Industry has changed-- how you used to have to be famous already before you could hope to get the sort of exposure on TV that the average YouTube celeb gets from the comfort of their living room. And I talked about how hard it is to herd all these cats once they're out of the bag, and how we're involved in all of this, too.
Damn, that's a lot of stuff! But don't worry; it isn't going anywhere. You can find it here, and it's full of links an examples to fill in any blanks for those who are just diving in.
Speaking of diving, in this post, I want to dive a bit deeper into the moment we're in and the direction we're heading, and what I think we can do about it!
Forgive me for a super-brief historical allusion, but I want to make sure we're on the same page about how we got here.
So people have been around for a long time, blah blah blah. A while back, we got really good at making things and selling them for money, and before long, the people who were good at this had organized the people who were into this sort of thing into these big huge industries, and these industries made more stuff and more money for more people than ever before. Industrialization in a nutshell, right?
One of the things that these industries made was media-- think newspapers, TV, music, etc. It's the stuff that culture's made of, and also the way that culture is captured and shared. Take Hollywood, for example, or Fox News-- these are big industries that produce a lot of things that a lot of people see and then feel very strongly about. In other words, they produce culture. And think how good these companies and industries are at what they do! I wonder if there's anyone in the world who hasn't heard of them.
The industrialization of culture, like the industrialization of clothes or cars, took production to new heights, and brought these things into the lives of countless people. But that's not really the direction things are going in anymore.
this isn't the reality for a lot of the world anymore
Why isn't it business like usual anymore? Or more specifically, why is it that someone like Logan Paul can amass the following he has and then dash it all by being a dumbass? I'm glad you asked! Let's look at the structural aspects of the situation.
One thing that's changed from the black-and-white picture above to now is our sense of what the hell is going on with the world. Some people went as far as to say that history was over, others said we were doomed to a deathmatch (although they couldn't agree on who was going to fight who or why there wasn't another option), and the rest of us just kind of shrugged our shoulders and went along with our daily lives as usual, minus the occasional financial panic or systemic state violence. But it's pretty clear now that things ain't what they used to be.
Consider the economic side of things. For starters, industry just isn't quite so good to us anymore. Take telecom, for example-- the fine folks who bring you the internet! They just won historical concessions from the US Government, and even though they claimed this would be great for business and everyone who works for them, two of the biggest players immediately turned around and laid hundreds of people off. Just in time for the holidays, too. Ouch.
Not only are companies shedding jobs, but there are also just less companies. There's been an absurd trend of high-level mergers (think Disney buying Fox) that's been going on for several years now, with no sign of slowing down. And even though the stock market keeps breaking records, wages haven't risen in a generation, and half of us can't scrounge up $400 in the event of an emergency. And yet at the same time everyone seems to have a side-hustle or startup, or know someone like Logan Paul who proves that it's still possible to make a buck in this day and age.
In addition to industry caring less about workers, it also seems to care less about its products. Take industrial design darling Apple, for example, who can't get products to market like they used to, or our friends at Intel, who have fucked up every processor they've designed since 1995 but don't seem to give a shit. And that's not even TOUCHING the decades-old critique of how quickly shit breaks or otherwise gets thrown away these days.
So even if the robots or Amazon don't come for your job tomorrow, chances are you're not making out like gangbusters. And even if we can't agree on what's going on or why (or even what to do about it!), it seems as though the general consensus is that things are a little shaky these days.
But there's one thing that this time of tumult can't take down, and that's culture.
So some asshole like Logan Paul doesn't have to work in the factory anymore, AND he has a fancy camera and a fancy computer that lets him broadcast his stupidity to the world. Awesome! Thanks, industrialization! In addition, billions of people around the world have access to Logan's shit. Also awesome! Way to go, industrialization!
But what's poor Logan to do in order to keep things interesting? Why, go to interesting places and be interested on camera, of course! And what could be more interesting than a suicide forest in Japan?!?!?! Suicide is hella edgy, and Japan is super dope, so it sounds like a recipe for success to me!
Only Logan went and made an ass of himself and now the whole internet is pissed at him (except for the edgelords who live for this shit and don't count anyway).
aw yeah lookit all that culture
Why is Japan dope? For lots of reasons, one of which being its culture. I'd argue that Logan wouldn't have gone there if it weren't commonly recognized as a dope and cultural place (which is why he didn't go to Swaziland, for example, which has a super dope name, but nowhere near as much recognition as Japan).
But the thing that Logan took for granted is that a strong culture breeds fans. You'd think he'd understand this, as he has millions of his own, but maybe he doesn't. Or rather, it's evident that he doesn't, based on the way that he consistently pissed everyone off when visiting Japan, and then had absolutely no idea why everyone was upset at him for his video or why it was a bad idea in the first place.
And even people who aren't necessarily fans of Japanese culture understand that there are differences from one culture to another, and that even if there weren't, one shouldn't be an asshole to strangers in the first place.
And yet that seems to be Logan's whole schtick-- being irreverent and young and cute and almost countercultural in the way that he parades thru the streets talking about independence and buys his way around the world by his outstanding ability to monologue in front of a camera. In that regard, he's the ultimate creation of our post-industrial culture. Everything has led to this point, and we can't stop watching.
But I digress. Logan and his supporters aren't going to read this polemic on steemit dot com, and even if they did, it's unlikely they'd be interested in seeing my point or changing their behavior. So what's this got to do with anyone, anyway?
and the best part is you don't even need a 360p magical ring to use your power!
The beauty of the whole situation is that you've got just as much power to put your opinion out there as Logan Paul does.
Sure, you may not have as many millions of fans as he does, but he wasn't BORN with those fans-- he had to earn them, one after another! And even if you aren't interested in beating him at his own game, you're still more capable of putting yourself and your ideas out to the world than ever before-- even more capable than the culture industries we love and respect, as I argued in my last piece and elaborated on above. And obviously you know the worth of these ideas and this act of creation, or else you wouldn't be here on steemit dot com!
At the end of the day, there's not much stopping the next Logan Paul from being an asshole in a completely new way. And in one manner of speaking, I'm glad about that, because I think some aspects of what Logan does is constructive. At the end of the day, he's constructing a story, and that's something I think everyone should have the right to do, regardless of whether I agree with them or subscribe to them or what.
But what you can do is contribute to a culture that's bigger and better than Logan Paul. A culture that acknowledges that there are different people in the world who care about different things, and a culture that approaches this difference with respect and kindness, rather than self-interest and shamelessness.
The technological and historical forces that are bringing us all together around Logan Paul or whatever the next controversy may be mean that what we care about and how we spend our time matters more than ever.
So riddle me this: would you rather spend your time watching someone like Logan Paul get rich off being an asshole, or would you rather watch someone who isn't a dick, or better yet! Would you rather put something different and better out to the world yourself-- such as your own rambling post about Logan Paul and the world that's created him!
