It often seems that everyone is talking about what everyone is talking about.
No one cares about a song or a movie or a political issue–and then they do. Then it’s everywhere.
But of course, that’s precisely why. Most people feel safe when they’re engaging within the expected social norms. It’s easier to fit in and to avoid an error. Or, if that’s your thing, it’s easier to stand out in contrast to everyone else who is trying to fit in. Either way, we’re always on the lookout for a bandwagon to hop on.
The media, in their relentless search for newsstand sales, clicks and likes, seek precisely the same thing. PT Barnum figured out that putting a marching band on a wagon at the front of the parade drew a crowd, and then Dan Rice, an actual clown, realized that politicians would be eager to ride on a wagon that had a crowd, which drew others to the crowd and the cycle continued.
The math is simple: you can’t bandwagon by yourself. The nature of bandwagoning means that it will always be overrepresented in any sampling of the media.
Just because someone organized a parade doesn’t mean you have to be in it.
I just built a page containing many of my books. Click on any one of them and it’ll take you to a directory of where you can get a copy. And the page then re-indexes based on which ones get the most clicks.
Thanks for reading.
We’re unprepared.
In high school, the quarterback isn’t allowed to call the plays, the actor isn’t allowed to write the lines and the math whiz isn’t allowed to choose what to prove.
We all grew up in the age of compliance (and indoctrination).
The long tail of the internet and the astonishing leverage of AI has made this training much less valuable.
No matter what you do for a living, there’s a machine standing by, waiting for instructions. Instructions from you, if you choose, or from your overlords if you don’t.
And following the playbook isn’t much help, because the world is changing so fast, a playbook is obsolete by the time someone hands it to you.
One reason AI got such a fast start is that it gave people seeking compliance a chance to wait for the AI to tell them what to do next. Quick, cheap answers.
AI gives bosses a cheaper (and often more compliant) alternative to hiring humans to do some tasks.
For those indoctrinated to comply, this is stressful. The stress is due to a desire to get things back to normal, to give them a chance to comply again, but right here, right now, is as normal as things are ever going to get. “Good jobs” are no longer sinecures where success comes from following instructions.
It’s an abrupt change, and winging it is insufficient. Handling this sudden transition alone is too difficult. But we have a chance to find the others, to connect and be part of a cohort that challenges, educates and encourages each other on the path to find a way forward.
We accepted that it was required to spend years being trained to handle a life of compliance. Now we have the chance to lean into the hard work we’ll need to do to thrive in an age of initiative.
Juan Tamariz and Wendell Berry recently passed away. Between them, they had more than 170 years of generous contribution.
Juan was a card magician. His students are generally considered the best working in the world today.
Wendell was a farmer and a writer. His essays on non-industrial farming and community-building will resonate for generations.
What each had in common was the patience and commitment to choose depth. To seek out the inconvenient path because it mattered.
Neither traded for easily measured metrics or convenience. Instead, they chose a path and followed it, leaving things better than they found them.
Looking back a century, it’s easy to appreciate this. And yet, each and every day, it requires a recommitment. “Under the circumstances,” it’s tempting to justify the small compromises that corrode our work. The hard part is to realize that we’re not under the circumstances; we are them. We can start today.
Insider jargon, previously known as cant, is designed to keep outsiders out.
The burglars in cartoons are often seen wearing a black mask over their eyes (like Robin in Batman but for a different reason) and carrying a bulging sack over their shoulders.
[Of course, the burglar’s sack was rarely bulging. A robber would have to have the perfect haul to get the right mix of value, density and weight. You can’t fit a chest of drawers in the sack, and that much gold would be impossible to carry. But I digress.]
The cant for this was ‘swag’, which comes from an old term for swaying or bulging. Sort of wishful thinking.
And thus we get to the swag of business promo and conference loot…
Establishing jargon is a key step in group identity. It’s rarely dictated from the top down, but permitting and celebrating it is a smart move if you’re looking for group cohesion.
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