What? A war between Kylie Jenner & Selena Gomez? Is this even a war?
Yes, very much so.
Humanity fought wars throughout history largely for economic reasons. The foot soldiers were told it was for honour, religion or some higher good. Greeks launched attacks against Parthia for plunder. The British Kings invaded France & vice versa when circumstances favoured, for loots, for the spoils of war. That was how it was throughout history.
Countries hardly fight wars anymore in the traditional sense, largely for the same economic reasons. The cost of war is higher than what would be gained in the form of plunder. In some cases in fact there is no plunder at all to be had. Consider this - if Chinese are to launch an invasion of California by landing a million soldiers & rolling tanks on Sunset Boulevard, long before that all the Hollywood script writers & film makers will relocate themselves to Mumbai. Hollywood’s riches are not in the form of resources that can be taken away.
Now Kylie Jenner & Selena Gomez’s battle is a fight over the same economic resources. The fight in terms of economic resources is epic. In terms of resources the stakes involved are in fact higher than that of entire GDPs of countries. They both have nearly 400million IG followers (foot soldiers who think they are really getting some satisfaction) & earn in excess of a million dollars per IG post. Yes, for just a single IG post. That’s more money than a tiny nation makes in income tax revenue in a day. They both know that hundreds of millions of mothers (foot soldiers in their armies) in tiny countries like Maldives are willing to forgo a little of the infant formula they give to their babies in order to contribute to the million dollar their favorite celebrity earn from their IG posts. So in someways the most powerful celebrities and their wars are more important in terms of their geographical significance than some nation states & wars between them. This is the reality of the world we live in now.
On the question of what is serious news, what are the criteria used to determine ‘serious’ news articles?
Only one thing. The only basis for that decision is clicks ie; ‘revenue’ - how much money an article generates.
A few years ago when the brilliant Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani died of cancer at the relatively young age of 40, I saw an article on CNN about her. Maryam Mirzakhani was the first woman mathematician ever to win a Fields Medal, the highest honour in the field of mathematics, the equivalent of a Nobel Prize in the world of mathematics. I am sure CNN didn’t get anything above a few dozen clicks for their article on her. π
But for their article on Kylie Jenner & Selena Gomez they would have generated millions of clicks and thus money in advertising revenue.
You are a blogger. If you want to run a ‘popular’ blog run stories about the celebrities & popular people. π
What? A war between Kylie Jenner & Selena Gomez? Is this even a war?
ReplyDeleteYes, very much so.
Humanity fought wars throughout history largely for economic reasons. The foot soldiers were told it was for honour, religion or some higher good. Greeks launched attacks against Parthia for plunder. The British Kings invaded France & vice versa when circumstances favoured, for loots, for the spoils of war. That was how it was throughout history.
Countries hardly fight wars anymore in the traditional sense, largely for the same economic reasons. The cost of war is higher than what would be gained in the form of plunder. In some cases in fact there is no plunder at all to be had. Consider this - if Chinese are to launch an invasion of California by landing a million soldiers & rolling tanks on Sunset Boulevard, long before that all the Hollywood script writers & film makers will relocate themselves to Mumbai. Hollywood’s riches are not in the form of resources that can be taken away.
Now Kylie Jenner & Selena Gomez’s battle is a fight over the same economic resources. The fight in terms of economic resources is epic. In terms of resources the stakes involved are in fact higher than that of entire GDPs of countries. They both have nearly 400million IG followers (foot soldiers who think they are really getting some satisfaction) & earn in excess of a million dollars per IG post. Yes, for just a single IG post. That’s more money than a tiny nation makes in income tax revenue in a day. They both know that hundreds of millions of mothers (foot soldiers in their armies) in tiny countries like Maldives are willing to forgo a little of the infant formula they give to their babies in order to contribute to the million dollar their favorite celebrity earn from their IG posts. So in someways the most powerful celebrities and their wars are more important in terms of their geographical significance than some nation states & wars between them. This is the reality of the world we live in now.
On the question of what is serious news, what are the criteria used to determine ‘serious’ news articles?
ReplyDeleteOnly one thing. The only basis for that decision is clicks ie; ‘revenue’ - how much money an article generates.
A few years ago when the brilliant Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani died of cancer at the relatively young age of 40, I saw an article on CNN about her. Maryam Mirzakhani was the first woman mathematician ever to win a Fields Medal, the highest honour in the field of mathematics, the equivalent of a Nobel Prize in the world of mathematics. I am sure CNN didn’t get anything above a few dozen clicks for their article on her. π
But for their article on Kylie Jenner & Selena Gomez they would have generated millions of clicks and thus money in advertising revenue.
You are a blogger. If you want to run a ‘popular’ blog run stories about the celebrities & popular people. π