3 ms·

I am describing the transmission mechanisms of pop culture and what it's rooted in. It's inherently linked to consumerism, advertising, mass media and fashion.

I am describing the transmission mechanisms of pop culture and what it's rooted in. It's inherently linked to consumerism, advertising, mass media and fashion. The currently popular music/movies/books are just a manifestation of that. Important scientific, political or philosophical ideas can also go "viral" among intellectual circles, but you wouldn't hear about them in an entertainment TV show or in an advertisement.

fullshark 4y ago
Idk, I think what you're really talking about is just ideas going hyperviral in tech companies very quickly without adequete time to judge their merits based on historical comparison, or any meaningful debate. Then afterward any attempt to challenge the idea, the fact that the idea is so popular is used to defend it. "How can you think that when X on twitter said they agree! That company X is doing it so we're gonna do it." Kind of ironic for the innovation industry to just be a bunch of followers chasing whatever's popular huh.
entropicdrifter 4y ago
>It's inherently linked to consumerism, advertising, mass media and fashion. Strongly disagree with this statement. It's currently linked to those things, but popular culture from even 300 years ago was not inherently linked to consumerism at all. It was more rooted in songs and stories that were performed and shared in relatively public spaces like taverns, schools and churches. What changed has mostly stemmed from the advent of the printing press and the subsequent creation of copyright laws. Nowadays popular culture is linked to consumerism, but that's because new cultural content is treated strictly as a product first and a common point of reference second. We have created these perverse economic incentives that have wreaked absolute havoc on the creative commons, which for the vast majority of human history included essentially all of "popular culture".

fullshark 4y ago

Idk, I think what you're really talking about is just ideas going hyperviral in tech companies very quickly without adequete time to judge their merits based on historical comparison, or any meaningful debate. Then afterward any attempt to challenge the idea, the fact that the idea is so popular is used to defend it. "How can you think that when X on twitter said they agree! That company X is doing it so we're gonna do it." Kind of ironic for the innovation industry to just be a bunch of followers chasing whatever's popular huh.

entropicdrifter 4y ago

>It's inherently linked to consumerism, advertising, mass media and fashion. Strongly disagree with this statement. It's currently linked to those things, but popular culture from even 300 years ago was not inherently linked to consumerism at all. It was more rooted in songs and stories that were performed and shared in relatively public spaces like taverns, schools and churches. What changed has mostly stemmed from the advent of the printing press and the subsequent creation of copyright laws. Nowadays popular culture is linked to consumerism, but that's because new cultural content is treated strictly as a product first and a common point of reference second. We have created these perverse economic incentives that have wreaked absolute havoc on the creative commons, which for the vast majority of human history included essentially all of "popular culture".