Digital Gif Editorial Illustration by Brie Bailey, using Adobe Photoshop, Animate, & After Effects.
Todays Contrarian- A Click Bait Hell Scape.
3/18/25
Articles like Forbes', ‘The White Lotus’ Season 3 Has Turned Out To Be Bad' by Paul Tassi is an example of todays contrarian, where by claiming the opposite is true, you can stir up in the reader a RAGE that makes them continue to read because of how vehemently they disagree with you. This landscape of news and entertainment media is the deceptive money machine that continues to digest our social intelligence. The added noise and distraction is so tiresome.
This article is a very small example of a much bigger problem. This article is not a very good read. It is full of spoilers; the page is littered with pop up ads; its premise that the show is no longer a comedy as its major downfall is weak; and as of today the author has printed "a retraction" due to the amount of people disagreeing. He even acknowledged the shows popularity in the original article saying "...I would classify as inexplicable critic and audience scores that are higher than the last two seasons. Are we watching the same show?" But I, like many others, was suckered into reading this article in defense of Mike White's great series that brings alive so many relevant themes about money and work and exploitation. I have taken the bait, hook, line and sinker.
I think this one is extra frustrating because it is just so obvious. The "fake news" landscape, where up is down, left is right and everything that is true is opinion has dominated our society to the point of breaking. We see it in real time, with real players, like with the current US president. Shock and awe and argument. Challenges and deception and gaslighting. Fact no longer exists. Writing an article trashing a very popular show because you know people will click on it, isn't writing criticism, its farming.
I find myself writing this as a plea to content creators, journalists, artists even politicians to find a way to add value to the collective consciousness. No it is not about Tassi's article about Mike White's show- it is bigger than that. You can have the opposite opinion, but let us go back to debate with facts. We are in a swirling downward whirlpool where divisions are being carved so deep the wounds may never heal. I am tired of the discourse being so divisive. I am tired of money being the motivator. Let's try harder.
-Brie
I think this one is extra frustrating because it is just so obvious. The "fake news" landscape, where up is down, left is right and everything that is true is opinion has dominated our society to the point of breaking. We see it in real time, with real players, like with the current US president. Shock and awe and argument. Challenges and deception and gaslighting. Fact no longer exists. Writing an article trashing a very popular show because you know people will click on it, isn't writing criticism, its farming.
I find myself writing this as a plea to content creators, journalists, artists even politicians to find a way to add value to the collective consciousness. No it is not about Tassi's article about Mike White's show- it is bigger than that. You can have the opposite opinion, but let us go back to debate with facts. We are in a swirling downward whirlpool where divisions are being carved so deep the wounds may never heal. I am tired of the discourse being so divisive. I am tired of money being the motivator. Let's try harder.
-Brie