How to identify #manufacturedauthenticity?
— Bhuman Satraiwat (@BhumanSatraiwat) April 28, 2020
(I'm no expert on this subject but since nobody else is screaming into the void about it, I thought I should put out what I know)
first of all, why manufactured authenticity is needed in the first place?
It is needed by corporations, PR firms and influencers because the abundance of information in itself has become a clutter and to grab the attention of the audience you need something that the audience will be subconsciously gravitate towards.
— Bhuman Satraiwat (@BhumanSatraiwat) April 28, 2020
Most commonly known example of this is the found footage genre of horror films. In the early days (The blair witch era), the realistic-ness of a found footage movie used to be improved by creating an online forum where (fake) eyewitness accounts would narrate stories to
— Bhuman Satraiwat (@BhumanSatraiwat) April 28, 2020
corroborate the narrative of the film. This formula was used somewhat later in the creepypasta genre (eg: scp vaults) which was not very different than how #Cthulhu universe was created. The roots of this can be found in misdirection oriented propaganda and ...
— Bhuman Satraiwat (@BhumanSatraiwat) April 28, 2020
... Karl Marx's discussion about cultural hegemony. (funny how Karl Marx's work has benefited populist politicians and not the proletariat but that's a subject for another discussion). And now manufactured authenticity has become a common buzzword for anyone selling anything...
— Bhuman Satraiwat (@BhumanSatraiwat) April 28, 2020
There are various ways to manufacture authenticity. The most favorite is to appeal to the sense of identity. Another common way is to focus on an (apparently) powerful minority population (just look at the media (social media included) in any country) or to provoke
— Bhuman Satraiwat (@BhumanSatraiwat) April 28, 2020
the audience by imitating their hopes and dreams (eg: "self made" financial freedom gurus). Any method that gets the audience's blood racing is welcome and (nowadays) nothing is sacred. So the question becomes, How do we distinguish genuine authenticity from a "manufactured" one?
— Bhuman Satraiwat (@BhumanSatraiwat) April 28, 2020
There is one common element amongst all the experiments in manufacturing authenticity and that is the element of fear. Fear creates a sense of urgency unlike anything else. Punishment motivates people (sadly) way more than reward does. So the manufactured narrative always has
— Bhuman Satraiwat (@BhumanSatraiwat) April 28, 2020
a tone of "if you don't do as we say, you might suffer" that suffering might be in the form of the enemies of the audience taking over or the audience missing out on an opportunity (FOMO; remember clickbaits?). There is a constant sense of urgency against an impending doom...
— Bhuman Satraiwat (@BhumanSatraiwat) April 28, 2020
... in the narrative. Common sense is considered naivety and paranoia is considered common sense. "Manufactured" authenticity doesn't discount for human lapses, everything is black vs white, good vs evil, us vs them, normals vs others etc. Heritage is used in order to stoke the..
— Bhuman Satraiwat (@BhumanSatraiwat) April 28, 2020
...fire of "our old ways of life are in danger, if we don't act now, everything will be lost" paranoia. A genuine narrative has no such sense of urgency, the world is not constantly on fire and it's never 'my way or highway'. You get a vibe of inclusiveness from a genuinely
— Bhuman Satraiwat (@BhumanSatraiwat) April 28, 2020
authentic narrative be it an influencer, news channel or a corporate marketing drive. The idea of 'each individual is different and it's okay' is commonly seen in genuine narratives. People are not a number in a statistic and nothing a human being does is stigmatized. Problems...
— Bhuman Satraiwat (@BhumanSatraiwat) April 28, 2020
Problems are looked at from solution oriented perspective. Social issues are discussed from a justice oriented perspective rather than a revenge oriented perspective. Anger (if at all present) is targeted specifically at an individual and not the whole group...
— Bhuman Satraiwat (@BhumanSatraiwat) April 28, 2020
... most importantly, a genuine narrative understands the principle of cause and effect. a genuine narrative abhors the idea of being a cause of mass hysteria. a "manufactured" narrative on the other hand desires critical mass, it welcomes mass hysteria because ...
— Bhuman Satraiwat (@BhumanSatraiwat) April 28, 2020
because that mass hysteria helps to gain more followers, to gain more ratings, more profit, more votes. A genuine narrative, even if biased, puts the well being of fellow human beings above philosophical fantasies and thought experiments.
— Bhuman Satraiwat (@BhumanSatraiwat) April 28, 2020
Essay over, thanks for reading!
