There are many ways we've generated to fear digital media. Today the New York Times offered an usual one, urging you to dread... Easter eggs.
No, not the actual eggs, but the practice of hiding clever hints in stories.
Nick Haramis offers an interesting historical sketch, touching on Britney Spears fans, Atari history, and including one of my favorite strange books, the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499). Then things turn dark.
Scouring for these narrative tricks is addictive — for one thing, they flatter consumers’ sense of themselves as nobody’s fool. In today’s media landscape, across the political spectrum, it can seem as if only dupes would take what they’re shown at strict face value.
Swiftly we see addiction raised, which sounds like a serious charge in these days of fearing social media and mobile devices. Added to that is flattery, which, from my reading of the New York Times, is a good thing aimed at celebrities and the rich, but a problem when pointed at the hoi polloi.
Then Haramis wraps things up with a full charge:
Really, an Easter egg enthusiast is often just a conspiracy theorist with popcorn. Toeing the line between fandom and fanaticism, peering safely down the rabbit hole into the QAnonification of mainstream culture, can be thrilling. That is, until it’s not...
It seems staying after a Marvel movie's credits to glimpse Thanos is just the first step on the way to rioting on January 6th. Looking for an obscure game level is how you become the Q-shaman. Consumers beware!
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