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Selling Clickbait, Giving Away Our Attention, and Consuming Polluted News
We live in a moment in time that is often revolting when it comes to money. Most people with not enough, while a sliver of the population has far too much.
I have no problem with collections. People enjoy collecting and organizing their passion. I have a problem with people spending huge amounts of money on bullshit, but that is nothing new and will always be the case. I have a problem with the fact that I have to read about how much something is sold for, because it is “news” that will get clicks.
How else to explain the fact that a pair of sneakers were sold at auction for nearly $1.5 million? Air Jordan’s from 1985. Michael wore them in a game. Given to a ball boy. Now sold for $1.5 million.
How else to explain a baseball card sold for $6.6 million? Honus Wagner, of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Issued sometime between 1909 and 1911, included in a pack of cigarettes.
How else to explain a comic book that sold for over $3 million? 1938. Action Comics. Superman’s introduction on the printed page.
You might argue: the art world has been doing this for a century. This isn’t new. Fine. It’s not new. It’s just a virus that has spread beyond the gates of the 1% and saturated our media. Money is everything to some people. This fits with the technology-centric belief that everything can be quantified. Numbers, data, stocks, dollars. How to monetize becomes the essential question for every…