Snippet: Rage Baiting "Works"
Snip·pet | ˈsnipit | noun a small piece or brief extract.
This one is Esau McCaulley on the Esau McCaulley Podcast.
He’s talking about how stoking anger sells and offers an example from a little experiment he tried online. (The following is lightly edited.)
“A couple of months ago I put out this kid's book called Andy Johnson and the March for Justice. And I posted, hey everyone, I have this kid's book… three or four people liked it….
“And then, after the book came out, someone had put a comment that was mean about the book, you know, how can you talk about raising kids and blah, blah, blah, blah.
“…So [as a social experiment], I took the quote that someone had said about my book, and I posted it on my Instagram page. …It got like a thousand likes…and people started sharing it. And then they said, we're going to buy your book. And then the book starts going up the Amazon charts.
“And now my social media experiment has become an ethical experiment because it actually worked. I'm actually selling these books. But I took it down…because I didn't want to sell my stuff that way.”
It became an ethical experiment because it was getting his book into more hands. A good thing, right?
There’s a fine line here. Given the number of messages bombarding us, defining the stakes in a way that gets someone’s attention is about the only way to get read/heard and get action. The clearest way to define the stakes is to show contrast.
I think the difference is when we define the stakes in a way that repels those we should be trying to compel and persuade. It doesn’t even try to build a bridge. Also, while it speaks to the tribe, and they love it, it does so in a way that feeds disdain and anger toward people they disagree with.
I’m not saying we need to engage trolls. I’m talking about those who might lean in the troll’s ideological direction but still be open to dialogue.
I recently heard an interview with a Christian author who wrote a book with what I feel is a horrendous title. It whips up his tribe but makes everyone else a bit crazy.
A friendly interviewer gently challenged him on the title, saying its assertion isn’t always true.
The author explained that he used the title to get people’s attention.
And it’s “working.”
We need to pay serious attention to our information hygiene, exercise discernment, and help each other discern. We also need to tone down our rhetoric and take the longer, more difficult road in communication and being heard.
Photo by David Knox on Unsplash
