It doesn't mean anything unless it goes viral. So the question for the creator is whether to do what they want to or try and game the system.
Actually, last night we finally watched "American Fiction," which is all about this. But this screed is about a new book by Andrew Boryga, which has gotten rave reviews but most people won't read because it's a book, and if they do bother to read they want self-help, or romance, or Dan Brown... Stray from the formula and the odds of you having a hit are extremely low, close to nil.
Now one of the advantages of TikTok is the company boosts that which has not had success previously. This is an impossibility in other worlds, if you don't have a base, it's nearly impossible to compete against those who do. And those who don't... They're just trying to go viral. Hell, look at the clickbait headlines even in Apple News+, makes me hate writers, it's a come-on, oftentimes there's no there there, which is not the case with Andrew Boryga's book.
Thank god Mr. Boryga is a person of color himself, otherwise there would be a national outcry, but he asks the question how downtrodden people truly are, and to what degree hoity-toity theorists, especially those on college campuses, are placing their paradigm upon those who don't recognize it and don't need it.
That's the crazy world we now live in, where even if you're a dyed-in-the-wool lefty, you've got to admit that sometimes the right has it right. Many protesters see the Gaza conflict as one between the white oppressor and the brown oppressed. That's what they teach on many college campuses these days, that's the lens everything is seen through, oppressor and oppressed. But what if the oppressed don't see it that way?
Javi grows up in the Bronx. He lives alone with his mother, who has a full time job. But he's not starving, he doesn't think he's poor and underprivileged until people keep telling him he is. And then he decides to trade on it. Yes, he's got the right skin color, the right name, the right heritage and the right domicile. The upper classes are flagellating themselves over their historic oppression of the underclass and now they want to make up for it, under the dreaded "D"-word, i.e. diversity. And they're bending over backwards to let the oppressed through the door. But, once again, are they truly oppressed?
You can play the race card to get into college, to get a job. You can see everything through the lens of race. Which is what bleeding heart liberals do, whilst many on the right feel that it's they who are being punished, when the immigrants are not coming for their jobs. Where is the truth? Well, in a world where it has to be divined, where you've got to dig deeper, no one wants to. Kristi Noem doubled-down on killing her dog today on TV, even said Biden's dog should have been put down. Talk about tone-deaf, can't she realize that public sentiment is vastly against her and apologize? Can't she learn something instead of holding to her opinion? That's what's wrong with not only politics, but society today, no one can change their opinion, no one can learn a lesson, no one can admit they're wrong. They believe they're playing a giant game where weakness is death, whether it be in career or life.
Now after all the above, "Victim" sounds like an absolute bore, you're burned out on these topics. But "Victim" is an easy read, only 281 pages, I finished it in twenty four hours. It's a book right out of the sixties, because it's a SATIRE! No one has a sense of humor anymore, everyone is dead serious, sticking to their guns in a war... That's another point in this book, are you really at risk? Is what is going on online real? The people who excoriate you on the internet, are they going to come to your house and beat you up? No, they just don't care about you that much.
Javi lives for clicks. The more notifications he gets on his phone, the better he feels. But he doesn't know any of these people, and online people switch on a dime, you're God and if you say or do something they don't like, you're immediately the devil.
We used to have satire in music. That ship sailed with the last century, there's not enough money in it, and most people don't get the joke. What people want is train-wreck, something so odd and innovative or different that not only do they have to clue in and partake, they have to tell all their friends about it. Which results in virality.
Everybody plays. Boasting that you're not on social media is akin to saying you didn't go to the movies in the sixties and seventies. Or didn't listen to rock music. Sure, that was your choice, but you were completely out of touch with the mainstream, what was really going on. The Business section of today's "New York Times" is all about TikTok, and I'd tell you to check it out, but that's another characteristic of modern society, you can't change anybody's mind, they just dig in deeper, they don't even want to be exposed to a contrary opinion. There are authorized news sources and if you get your information elsewhere, you're not a team player.
Now Javi says right up front he's going to pay for playing the victim card, it's going to come back and bite him in the ass. But you'd be stunned how long you can get away with it.
Yes, there is one false note in the book, the average person would have backed away sooner, but other than that, "Victim" rings completely true, asking all the questions of modern society, skewering the stereotypes. You're down with the oppressed. but really you want to live in Brooklyn and have a fabulous lifestyle.
Now most people don't read books, period. And women are voracious readers, but "Victim" is not the kind of book my female friends recommend. As for males... All they do is read nonfiction. Of course there are exceptions, but I'd posit I hear from more people than you do.
So where does this leave "Victim"?
Well, in the old days, the really old days, of Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle," books would percolate in the marketplace, and to be hip, to be in the know, you had to read them. After all, the Grateful Dead named their publishing company Ice Nine.
And then there was Tom Wolfe's "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test." Which was referenced in Peggy Mellon Hitchcock's obituary this past week:
"Peggy Mellon Hitchcock, Who Helped Timothy Leary Turn On, Dies at 90 - She was an enthusiastic supporter of the counterculture. And when she suggested that her brothers rent Mr. Leary a mansion, she made psychedelic history."
Free link: t.ly/4sDAR
It talks about the meeting between Kesey and Leary that didn't happen because... Because in truth Leary had a cold, even though the Pranksters were told he was on a three day acid trip.
"Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" was a cultural signpost, it has paid dividends for decades, whenever I see the Pranksters' bus's name spelled "Further," I know the writer has no clue. No, they were going FURTHUR!
But today it's all about winners and losers. Either you're viral or you're not, either you're satisfied with your status and playing to the limited audience you've got, or you're constantly lighting the match on moonshots, trying to get lucky, get not only those clicks, but cash, even a record deal.
But just because it goes viral does not mean it's worth paying attention to.
Now if you read "Victim" we could have a lengthy discussion about the themes contained therein. This is not a Hollywood movie, wherein you walk out into the sunshine and immediately forget it. Hell, they might even make a movie of "Victim," and you'll think a viewing is enough, that the book is superfluous. But chances are they won't nail it, and you won't go at all. Which leaves us with the book.
Some books are slam dunks, and I therefore wholeheartedly recommend them. But I'm not sure everybody is ready for "Victim." It's fiction and once again it's satire, there's a story, but so much more.
People want fantasy, like "Game of Thrones." Real life is too much, even though we live in real life 24/7.
I think everybody should read "Victim." A national discussion would follow. But that won't happen, because people don't read and don't want to question their beliefs.
But maybe you do.
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