350 sats \ 4 replies \ @ek 9 Mar \ on: Audience capture as one of the most powerful forces in the universe meta
I think I saw this post recently (and not last year) since I still remember how I wanted to reply but then I didn't finish my reply and then I forgot. Fortunately I bookmarked it. I wanted to reply with something along the following lines:
I think why audience capture is so powerful is because we want to belong to a group (or should I say tribe?) so if we do something that a lot of people (seem to) like, we're kind of hardwired to keep doing it.
I saw this a lot in my life I think, especially in school. All these cliques that are formed, the people in them all influence each other. Your friends are your audience and you are the one who wants to stay friends with them. The longer you are friends with them, the more it hurts to breakup, especially in a "formal way".
The best example is when people act in groups very different to how they would react alone. Maybe there is one "group leader" who wouldn't but then they probably have the most influence because who does not want to be like the cool kids and fit in?
A lot of people act tough but when they're alone, you can actually be friends with them.
A lot of people act tough but when they're alone, you can actually be friends with them.
This is an under-rated point -- also serves (for me) as a practical target for personal growth, e.g. there are times when I have sensed that some problematic interaction could succeed in a non-public way; but I wasn't willing to 'retreat'. And why not? Apparently there was something in the conflict that I wasn't willing to lose. In other words, I'm playing my own game. It's just a different game.
Sometimes you can be your own audience. It's no better.
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there are times when I have sensed that some problematic interaction could succeed in a non-public way; but I wasn't willing to 'retreat'.
So you mean you felt like you were wrong but didn't want to show it since people depended on you being right against the person you were arguing interacting with?
In other words, I'm playing my own game. It's just a different game.
Also good point. A lot of people play games but don't even know which game or what the goals, rules, opportunity costs etc. are
I think actually we are all playing some game and only when we're about to see the end screen we realize what game we played and which game we wished we would have played.
Kind of want to ask you now which game you are playing 👀
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So you mean you felt like you were wrong but didn't want to show it since people depended on you being right against the person you were arguing with?
That would be the best case, because then it's clear that there is an audience that I'm putting on a show for. More often, it's some idea of myself that I'm holding onto, a role I want to have. A harsher and bitterer audience to contend with.
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Oof yes, that's the hardest pill to swallow, I guess. To know deep down that you shouldn't be like this but you want to be for some reason. So essentially, you don't want to want to be that person.
Reminds me of that line in a very old song:
I would like to want to go to the cinema with you, but I don't.
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