The Business of Rage

Let's talk about Rage Bait

Are you finding yourself in a bit of a rage by some things you see on social media? If you're like me, you've been trying to up your quiet time as a way of dealing with the 'low boil' that I experience about the mean spiritedness that is so prevalent. "Breathe. Focus. Don't engage." Really, dont't engage because those angry responses can generate as much as $150,000 a year for someone.

Yep, there's a new line item. You've heard of clickbait, right? This is what happens when you click on what you think is an interesting story and wind up in a maze of ads, games that make you watch demos for 30 seconds or more, related celebrity news and other things that you didn't want to see. The bait got you to click and down the internet rabbit hole you go! 

The new revenue line item, Rage bait, works the same way: you see a video or post that infuriates you, and because we all MUST HAVE OUR SAY, you comment. Maybe you only comment one time, but that's enough. Now the algorhythm knows what makes you 'engage' and sends you more stuff like that. And just like the makers of clickbait, there's money to be gained by your literal "rage against the machine." (That made me chuckle).

Advertisers will pay for your engagement whether it is from dog videos or angry name calling ones. Rage bait is profitable, though, because it is designed to fuel anger, fights and disputes. 

What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? ² You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 

(James 4:1-2 NLT)

OK, take a breath. Take another deep one; in through your nose and out through your mouth to the count of five. 

Where is the real rage? If we look at the above passage of scripture, the war is within us. Rage bait just stimulates it and then profits from it. Faceless automated niches on Tik Tok are marketed as having the potential to make tens of thousands of dollars per month through rage bait content.  A BBC investigation found that some users on X were paid "thousands of dollars" by the platform to share misinformation, AI-generated images, and conspiracy theories that drive engagement.

So, before someone gets mad at me, let's shift, shall we? What is causing the quarrels and fighting within you that has the potential to spill over into the world dressed up as rage? What is it that you want, but don't have? Is there jealousy in you that makes you feel violently angry? Why haven't you talked with God about that?

Yes, many events today are disturbing and painful for me to watch, and like many of you, I have allowed myself, "righteous anger." Here's an insight though: none but God have 'righteous anger'. We can be genuinely angry about the state of things as we perceive them, but the war many are having within can skew our sense of 'righteousness.'

The condition of the world is no real surprise to The Believer; Jesus talked about this. The real surprise is that many of us are contributing to an economy based on rage. Let's boycott that one, too.

Stay woke.

You are loved,

Michele

(PS: Yeah, I'm full of my own odd humor today. I know that 'woke' comment got some of you).