Clickbait generation (circumlunar.space), 01/02/2020
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You know what  clickbait is[1]. Curiosity gap  exploitation, where the
most annoying feature (to me) is  the extremism. For some reason, it's
not good  enough to tease  with anything  but the most  fantastical of
promises. I  see it  in news  and marketing  daily, the  enticement to
click, with the promise of rich reward.

Are  people  so  desensitized  to reality  that  they  require  absurd
assurances to buy in  to any idea? Does this new thing  have to be the
best thing that  has ever been imagined? Does this  news story have to
be the  most shockingly morose  deed ever accomplished? Is  reality so
devoid of interest in the information  age, that it must be primed and
painted up before it can expect any kind of reception?

As someone of my age might do, I blame this on an entire generation of
humans. I  don't know what  the age range  is, or where  the epicenter
lies, but I'm  certain that it could be identified.  Maybe there is no
age  range-  perhaps  the  clickbait generation  is  everyone  without
sufficient common sense, living in our  current era. I'm being a jerk,
I know, but it does get old, wading through all the garbage out there,
all the time.

Want to  hear the  worst part  of it (you  don't mind  me complaining,
right? Some people hate complaining, others  seem to do fine with it.)
The  thing that  spurred this  gopher  phlog was  the ever  increasing
amount of clickbaity  fodder I've been seeing in  religious circles. I
get that religion  is falling out of  favor with a lot  of people, but
that  doesn't mean  you have  to  dress it  up. If  people don't  want
it,  they don't  have  to have  it. What's  with  the heavy  marketing
approaches?

Ah well...  it's the world  I live in. I  can't change it.  People are
going to do  what they want to do.  My job is to not  click. Serves me
right for wandering around in places where a mouse is required.

[1] gopher://gopherpedia.com:70/0/Clickbait