Trust Me I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator

by Ryan Holiday

It’s a simple illusion: Create the perception that the meme already exists and all the reporter (or the music supervisor or celebrity stylist) is doing is popularizing it. They rarely bother to look past the first impressions.

I have found one small solace: Conning the conmen is one of life’s most satisfying pleasures. And it’s not even hard.

Some analysis shows a good question brings twice the response of an emphatic exclamation point. I have my own analysis: When you take away the question mark, it usually turns their headline into a lie.

Newspapers are owned and published by rich men. Rich men all belong to the same club. Sure, there’s competition—hard tough competition for circulation, for newsbeats, for exclusive stories. Just so long as it doesn’t damage the prestige and privilege and position of the owners.

A friend put it more bluntly: “Each generation of media has a different cock in its mouth.”

“Here’s the Strategy Elite Athletes Follow to Perform at the Highest Level” (over 500,000 total views) or “The Real Reason We Need to Stop Trying to Protect Everyone’s Feelings” (over one million views).

Unfortunately, he’s also an idiot,