7 ms·

Why do the worst companies have the best names.

by iheartbiggpus 7mo ago

dlev_pika 7mo ago
Fascism puts a heavy emphasis on aesthetics
- navane 7mo ago
  They're better at selling ideas than having fleshed out ideas. One could say they sell before they build.
  - octopoc 7mo ago
    How do you square that with Germany’s miraculous economic recovery pre WII? Obviously they were doing something right. It took every other major power on the planet to take them down.
    - navane 7mo ago
      Because there was no off ramp. War economy never has. It looks great while it's going though. Year Military Spending (billions of RM) % of GDP 1933 0.7 1.0% 1934 4.0 5.1% 1935 5.5 7.0% 1936 10.3 12.2% 1937 11.5 12.7% 1938 17.2 17.2% 1939 38.0 23.0% Did they build their military to go to war? Or were they force to go to war as the nature of their economy forced them?
- bilbo0s 7mo ago
  Italian fascists did have fashion forward uniforms. So did the German Nazis back then now I think about it. Maybe there is something with cult-like thinking, fascist or not, where the aesthetics seduces more people into wanting to be a part of it all?
  - hermitcrab 7mo ago
    No doubt the smart uniforms, the rallies, the flags, the songs etc were a factor in many young men joining the SS.
  - deleted 7mo ago
    [deleted]
  - energy123 7mo ago
    They like purity. Purity of the body (fitness and lifestyle) and purity of society (regimentation, conformity, single race, single ideology, single sexuality, standardized architecture). It's neurological. They feel emotional disgust if the regimentation isn't there.
  - rsynnott 7mo ago
    Oh, it was 100% marketing. It's not just fascists, either; totalitarian regimes _in general_ tend to be very keen on this sort of thing.
    - jjgreen 7mo ago
      Not always https://www.indy100.com/politics/rain-epler-haircut-estonia-politician https://www.indy100.com/politics/rain-epler-haircut-estonia-...
      - rsynnott 7mo ago
        They're usually not good at hair, for whatever reason. There's Hitler, of course, but also look at just about any American far-right figure these days for some _truly_ unhinged facial hair. Offhand, the only totalitarian I can think of who seemed to put in a particular effort on hair is Stalin. But in general, stylish clothes, mad hair seems to be the rule.
  - scarecrowbob 7mo ago
    There's a bit of writing in that direction if you're curious. I like Benjamin quite a but and have gotten a lot out of his thinking. Here's the wiki-level entry to it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aestheticization_of_politics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aestheticization_of_politics
A_D_E_P_T 7mo ago
Palantir isn't a good name. It's a disastrously bad one, if you ask me. It's a constant scandal as every five minutes somebody gets the bright idea that "ackshually the Palantir were a tool for evil made by a demon!!" They're never able to live it down. It always comes up. And it makes them seem, in a way, careless.
- gzread 7mo ago
  It's a great name if your target customer base is people who want to be evil by surveilling everything. Behold my next company, "Eye of Sauron LLC"
  - munk-a 7mo ago
    Nah - that customer base would much rather a mean-nothing name like "Salesforce". The real evil people don't revel so much in their evilness they're much more in the "ends justify the means" camp where they can try and hide their evilness from their conscience. Nobody wants to wear a pin saying "I am, in fact, a terrible person that the world would be better without."
    - gzread 7mo ago
      Hmm, that's also true. Maybe it's about different generations of evil, or old and new evil, where new evil wants to adopt all the flashy symbols of evil while old evil understands it's best to keep a low profile
- Cpoll 7mo ago
  Ackshually the Palantir were made by the Elves of Valinor, and weren't made as a tool for evil. In fact, there's a very interesting theme there: The Palantir are only as useful as their users are wise. The power to see is disastrous if you don't know where to look and how to interpret what you see. If they named it with that in mind, I'd say it's a very thoughtful name, and a prescient caution. But I doubt it.
  - 7mo ago
epistasis 7mo ago
At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from the classic sci-fi novel Don't Invent The Torment Nexus.

Why do the worst companies have the best names.

dlev_pika 7mo ago

Fascism puts a heavy emphasis on aesthetics

navane 7mo ago
They're better at selling ideas than having fleshed out ideas. One could say they sell before they build.
- octopoc 7mo ago
  How do you square that with Germany’s miraculous economic recovery pre WII? Obviously they were doing something right. It took every other major power on the planet to take them down.
  - navane 7mo ago
    Because there was no off ramp. War economy never has. It looks great while it's going though. Year Military Spending (billions of RM) % of GDP 1933 0.7 1.0% 1934 4.0 5.1% 1935 5.5 7.0% 1936 10.3 12.2% 1937 11.5 12.7% 1938 17.2 17.2% 1939 38.0 23.0% Did they build their military to go to war? Or were they force to go to war as the nature of their economy forced them?
bilbo0s 7mo ago
Italian fascists did have fashion forward uniforms. So did the German Nazis back then now I think about it. Maybe there is something with cult-like thinking, fascist or not, where the aesthetics seduces more people into wanting to be a part of it all?
- hermitcrab 7mo ago
  No doubt the smart uniforms, the rallies, the flags, the songs etc were a factor in many young men joining the SS.
- deleted 7mo ago
  [deleted]
- energy123 7mo ago
  They like purity. Purity of the body (fitness and lifestyle) and purity of society (regimentation, conformity, single race, single ideology, single sexuality, standardized architecture). It's neurological. They feel emotional disgust if the regimentation isn't there.
- rsynnott 7mo ago
  Oh, it was 100% marketing. It's not just fascists, either; totalitarian regimes _in general_ tend to be very keen on this sort of thing.
  - jjgreen 7mo ago
    Not always https://www.indy100.com/politics/rain-epler-haircut-estonia-politician https://www.indy100.com/politics/rain-epler-haircut-estonia-...
    - rsynnott 7mo ago
      They're usually not good at hair, for whatever reason. There's Hitler, of course, but also look at just about any American far-right figure these days for some _truly_ unhinged facial hair. Offhand, the only totalitarian I can think of who seemed to put in a particular effort on hair is Stalin. But in general, stylish clothes, mad hair seems to be the rule.
- scarecrowbob 7mo ago
  There's a bit of writing in that direction if you're curious. I like Benjamin quite a but and have gotten a lot out of his thinking. Here's the wiki-level entry to it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aestheticization_of_politics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aestheticization_of_politics

A_D_E_P_T 7mo ago

Palantir isn't a good name. It's a disastrously bad one, if you ask me. It's a constant scandal as every five minutes somebody gets the bright idea that "ackshually the Palantir were a tool for evil made by a demon!!" They're never able to live it down. It always comes up. And it makes them seem, in a way, careless.

gzread 7mo ago
It's a great name if your target customer base is people who want to be evil by surveilling everything. Behold my next company, "Eye of Sauron LLC"
- munk-a 7mo ago
  Nah - that customer base would much rather a mean-nothing name like "Salesforce". The real evil people don't revel so much in their evilness they're much more in the "ends justify the means" camp where they can try and hide their evilness from their conscience. Nobody wants to wear a pin saying "I am, in fact, a terrible person that the world would be better without."
  - gzread 7mo ago
    Hmm, that's also true. Maybe it's about different generations of evil, or old and new evil, where new evil wants to adopt all the flashy symbols of evil while old evil understands it's best to keep a low profile
Cpoll 7mo ago
Ackshually the Palantir were made by the Elves of Valinor, and weren't made as a tool for evil. In fact, there's a very interesting theme there: The Palantir are only as useful as their users are wise. The power to see is disastrous if you don't know where to look and how to interpret what you see. If they named it with that in mind, I'd say it's a very thoughtful name, and a prescient caution. But I doubt it.
- 7mo ago

epistasis 7mo ago

At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from the classic sci-fi novel Don't Invent The Torment Nexus.