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PaperclipPerfector  4mo ago (text post)   28520 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 24, 2024

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My understanding of "roll left and die", at least according to Hoyt, was different. I read it as the members of a failing institution going full mask-off because they no longer had anything to lose, and signalling allegiance to the left bought them status.

I don't know if "dilute/abandon your message in the hopes of not turning away potential members, and alienate your base" has a pithier name. It's not quite the same as "get woke, go broke".

Semi-hijack: disappointed that Hoyt didn't give any examples of magazines that died by this method. Because I can't think of any.

It sounds like Playboy may have done this, though it's hard to tell. They tried to drop nudity in 2015 (which Hefner admitted was a mistake) and had to walk it back. Then (Wikipedia):

Playboy announced in February 2017, however, that the dropping of nudity had been a mistake and furthermore, for its March/April issue, reestablished some of its franchises, including the Playboy Philosophy and Party Jokes, but dropped the subtitle "Entertainment for Men", inasmuch as gender roles have evolved. The announcement was made by the company's chief creative officer on Twitter with the hashtag #NakedIsNormal.[61]

Following Hefner's death, and his family's financial stake in the company, the magazine changed direction. In 2019, Playboy was relaunched as a quarterly publication without adverts. Topics covered included an interview with Tarana Burke, a profile of Pete Buttigieg, coverage of BDSM and a cover photo representing gender and sexual fluidity.[1]

It went online-only in 2020.

Teen Vogue (which still exists online only).

(2) A hesistant pivot to liberalism, which alienates the conservatives in the West and alienates almost all of the Third World, without actually increasing membership in the West. More radical churches pick up the Western conservatives$ and gain strength in the Third World.

(3) Doubling down by pivoting more (but still hesitantly) towards liberalism.

I don't know - that is definitely roll left. Not sure about dying.

In both cases, the decline is underway. The difference, I think, is in the reason for the shift. In your model, it's chasing an audience that will never be receptive in a misguided hope to pull in new blood. In Hoyt's, the roll is caused by people signaling loyalty to their class or industry peers.

While not specific to this, “eating the seed corn” seems rather apt.

I think somewhere on substackistan someone termed it “fracking the fan base”.

Either turn of phrase seems to work.

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