Trolling is lucrative. Look at the current president. This is how he shot right up to the white house.
Look at this recent shit storm, Doja Cat. And before her, Emoblackthot who I still can’t believe did this shit. Fuck him. And her.
And before them Tyler, the Creator. People forget everything in 48 hours-2months max but I remember how harsh his anti-gay trolling was in 2009. It was brutal and totally not in the zeitgeist. Shocking for shocking value. It didn’t even look true.
Look at his ass today, gayer than a rainbow.
For the past twenty years mainstream culture showed that a lack of authenticity was more and more okay. Everything –reality TV, music careers, fighting the good fight– can be and sadly often is, made up. Go hard on the faux outrageously edgy, get viral, get deals, get money, feel weird and depressed. Get cancelled.
The twist is that individuals, us, still value authenticity a lot. That thing called trust is beautiful and will never not be beautiful. I cherish it like a Hobbit caressing his ring. It is still how we move socially speaking. Trust involved accountability and boring stuff like that. It works, though. It unleashes a needed peace of mind. I crave that and it looks like we all do, in some ways.
But money (and power, those two are the same) wise, especially in creative and artistic fields, we need to perform at various speed and we’re living in the “whatever it takes” paradigm because the world is an increasingly hard place (though it doesn’t have to be). We end up witnessing some wild stuff these days.
The dichotomy between performing (especially at the edge) and actually being, is hurting us so bad. We’re collectively neurotic now. I don’t like it.