Mr. Pratt Will See Himself Now
Hey, have you heard about this new movie Guardians of the Galaxy and its breakout (human) star, Chris Pratt? Who’s getting a lot of press because he’s charming and funny and quite good in the film?
Someone out there wants you to know he’s a douche. Specifically, Tracy Clark-Flory over at Salon.com in this stunningly awful piece (do me a favor and don’t click on that link). In it, Tracy admonishes our praise for Pratt because he’s been “acting douchier than ever before.”
Now, I’m all for deflating Hollywood egos and frankly I don’t give a shit if anyone likes Chris Pratt or not, but this is a prime example of the new Age of Antagonism that our click-baiting culture has immersed us in. The way it works is simple: Take something simple and generally agreed upon in the sane world (e.g., Chris Pratt is charming and entertaining) and write something that walks up to that generally-accepted idea and shits all over it. For no other reason than to sop up the traffic that such ‘controversy’ will generate.
If you read Tracy’s piece on Salon, you’ll note her examples of “douchier” behavior are all based on the fact that he lost some weight, started working out, and seems proud and excited about his new physique and the acting opportunities it gives him. There’s also a vague and poorly-worded glance at sexism and how women are treated differently when they lose weight, but mainly her argument is that Chris Pratt posted a shirtless selfie and thus sucks.
Does Tracy really believe this? Who knows, or cares. I doubt Tracy knows, or cares. The point is simply to get a lot of Chris Pratt’s fans to share that article far and wide with disgusted and outraged commentary, and keep those sweet, sweet clicks coming in.
That Thing You Like Actually Sucks CLICK HERE TO SLAP ME IN THE FACE
This shit is becoming more and more common. How many times have you seen a headline that is so obviously wrong and stupid you couldn’t wait to give the author a piece of your mind? You just got used, friendo.
It’s all about the clicks, and if you can’t get those clicks by writing something interesting, why not get them by trolling everyone, because that’s what this shit is. If this was 1977 someone would be writing the STAR WARS IS SHIT AND YOU ARE FOOLS FOR LIKING IT post right now, dreaming of the explosion in their Google Analytics. It’s trolling, pure and simple, except on a slightly more sophisticated scale than simply posting something profane on a message board and running away. And instead of feeding the trolls with attention, we are literally feeding them with advertising money earned from the ad impressions they’re getting off the traffic.
Sigh. Nothing illegal about this of course. I guess what offends me really is the insincerity. Which – me complaining about insincerity – is ironic in many, many ways. I’d like to starve this particular breed of troll, though, because, frankly, it wastes my time.
Couldn’t agree more. Salon has been doing this for quite some time now. I try to steer clear of them completely. I’ve noticed some tech sites dropping click bait titles now and then, though they usually get called on it. For instance the site TechCrunch is nothing but click bait these days. I would say they probably lost more readers now due to click baiting than they ever hoped to gain. If you share a TechCrunch article on G+, you will get called out for directing traffic to their low brow articles.
In the last year or so, the internet has gone mad. Sites cater to clicks versus information and whoever scoops a real story is copied by 20 other sites 60 seconds after publication. And then Social Sites…. I don’t know what is happening there but people seem to be getting really angry and posting click bait posts just to get a rise out of others and start something. Human nature under a tech dynamic I suppose but still, very odd to witness.
As far as Guardians of the Galaxy though…. It may be the most fun movie this summer!!! If GotG2 came out on the same day as the next Star Wars… I’d probably see GotG2 first because you know STAR WARS IS SHIT AND YOU ARE FOOLS FOR LIKING IT… I jest… Because I will be seeing the next Star Wars just like the rest of the sheep in line on opening weekend. Baaaaaaaaa…..
I never click on those things. If I see a link to something that sounds offensively stupid I just assume it was written by a moron. Life’s too short to traffic with morons.
I’ve also stopped clicking on the more harmless clickbait links, just because they’re annoying. If you want me to read your article, don’t title it “This puppy brought home something amazing! You’ll never believe what it was!” Just go with a straight forward, “Dog Finds Severed Head”. Yeesh!
I find myself sometimes clicking on those fluff pieces when I’m in tired limbo (maybe that’s why I’m here??), but rather than posting my own righteous indignation, I look amongst the comments for a kindred spirit, and give them a thumbs up. Yes, I’ve been baited into being another traffic statistic that they will relish, but my small measure of revenge is exacted at the end of the Ad-block sword.
This brand of contrarianism hardly matters; what worries me more is the brand that allows relativistic nonsense like “anthropogenic climate change is a hoax” and “MH17 was a false flag” to gain traction to the detriment of us non-douches.