If you can understand why I’d say ‘no’ to a protein shake made with one drop of poison, you can understand why I’m talking about toxic influencers. All the mental gymnastics in the world can’t change the fact that vitality and venom don’t belong in the same sentence. Solarpunk, green tech, sustainability, and even science fiction have to deal with toxic influencers. That won’t work for sage scifi.
What is sage scifi? It’s scifi culture that looks beyond the obvious, recognizes both emotional and intellectual truths, and pursues holistic, empathetic community behaviors. Sage Scifi is how we’ll make the world better for ourselves and everyone else.
I think we can all agree that influencers exploiting insecurities is manipulative. We can also agree that motivating people by making them feel bad is devious and abusive. ‘I don’t understand, Jackson – what does this have to do with Sage Scifi?’ Let me explain.
First, the backstory – In the world of writing and selling books, its necessary to understand marketing and sales concepts. You can’t understand marketing and sales without learning about human psychology. You can’t read about these topics without reading about how people exploit psychology to promote their personal agenda, sometimes to egregiously unscrupulous ways.
But Wait, There’s More!
Toxic influencers millions exploiting insecurities and be called out for it – we see articles like that all the time. Salon did a breakdown of Aaron Rodgers as a vice president. Politics aside, they made a salient point about the strategy of appealing to insecurity when promoting a product or idea.
Advertisements that suggest you’re less popular, lesser-than if you don’t buy in ‘are misleading and set a dangerous precedent … There is no need to prey on insecurities or capitalize on stereotypes and unrealistic expectations.’ We know it’s bad, so why are we letting it happen? We’re better than this.
Scifi is Guilty, Too
Remember the ‘Sad Puppies?‘ Perfect example of science fiction culture wars. Wikipedia breaks down what happens pretty well, so I’ll just summarize. “Sad Puppies activists accused the Hugo Awards ‘of giving awards on the basis of political correctness and favoring authors and artists who aren’t straight, white and male.'” True or not true, fair or not fair – the Sad Puppies acted as toxic scifi influencers, trading on insecurities of white, male authors and scifi fans who felt they were being unfairly overlooked for recognition. What has happened to the Sad Puppies since 2017? We’ll get to that.
All Of This Has Happened Before
I’m old and ugly enough to know this has all happened before. Culture wars, stoking insecurities, are part and parcel of influencer marketing – we saw that in the 60s and 70s with issues like civil rights and the Kanawha County textbook controversy. Using culture wars to advertise your product has been going since the Cola Wars and stale 90s-era ‘battle of the sexes’ TV shows like Roseanne and Home Improvement.
Toxic Influencers exploit insecurities, tribalism and culture wars because they work. Even on people who reject authority are susceptible to exploitation and manipulation. You see it every day ‘reel’ social media (TikTok, IG, YouTube). Influencers suck you into their version of ‘good’ by seeking and stoking your insecurities. As a cishet man, I don’t get this as much as others do, but I still feel it. Women on Facebook are literally *trained* to prey on new moms to buy their pyramid scheme garbage. I asked Mastodon for more detail and Sax Brightwell provided it.
Women on Facebook preying on new moms to buy their pyramid-scheme garbage for postpartum weight loss … above and behind it all, the shrieking desire to escape the clawing desperation of late capitalist working class existence no matter how many relationships you have to burn to ashes to do it.
Fat-shaming, digging into the vulnerabilities. No inner growth, no compassion, no progression. Grim Minority Report-style futures, shameless grabs for your attention, your attachment, your friends, and/or your money. What happens next? Who cares, I got your money, sucker!
We’re Better Than This
The dirty little secret of influencers? Your insecurities are *their* insecurities. You know that, right? They aren’t psychologists or FBI profilers – they didn’t study your insecurities at college. They know what makes you feel insecure because they feel the exact same way! Sad part is, they use that knowledge to push you into buying something. If they can get you to commit to purchasing things, then they win.
Our world is run by people deprived of human confidence and connection. Broken coffee cups that were never accepted as children, and their concept of acceptance is to make everyone else feel as broken as them. We’re better than this.
We have to be better than this. The Sad Puppies of 2017, where are they now? The culture wars of the 90s – where did that get us? What toxic influencers never talk about, and what we need to realize is that there’s no ‘there’ there. Did the Sad Puppies create their own awards system? Did they create an egalitarian scifi community based on noble principles? No, of course not. There’s no fun in building a Jenga tower, only in knocking it over!
Compassion and kindness aren’t just altruistic, they’re armor! You can’t capitalize on an insecurity, you can’t be a toxic influencer to someone who practices kindness and compassion. You can’t exploit my weaknesses if I accept them. If we know and accept that our unique values and perspectives, no one can use them to polarize us. Does all that sound familiar? It should.
We all learned it from the same guy, Mr. Rogers. That strategy helps people feel seen and heard – mutual acceptance balances individualism and community. I know you’re a fragile human being with vulnerabilities and regrets. That’s okay, I’ve got vulnerabilities and regrets, too. Let’s support each other with kindness and compassion. I like you just the way you are. Granted, that’s a big pivot from trends in ‘lifestyle marketing,’ but Sage Scifi says ‘I think we’re enough and strong enough to live without that.’
You aren’t promoting a lifestyle – are you even marketing?
So my answer to the above question is: ‘Shut up, you aren’t helping.’ I talked about some of this before – the perks of being a nonfluencer, not playing the real Hunger Games: ‘play the game, or go hungry.’ I believe whatever connection I make to my readers happens at the personal level, based on mutual respect. It takes more time, more precision, to do this correctly. Hopefully this discussion informs my decisions on marketing, promotion – it probably *won’t* feel smooth or professional. Sorry about that. I’m taking care to engage with people in an authentic, ethical way.
Sage Scifi is about saying ‘no’ to toxic influencers. I don’t need to be reminded about my insecurities, or exploited for my vulnerabilities. I’m a human being and I’m working on liking me for who I am and using that love to move forward. I hope you can use this to say ‘no’ to toxic influencers. After all, I like you just the way that you are.
