Patrick Redford, at Defector, describes "the relatively modern phenomenon of the wide acceptance and praise of bag-chasing nihilism."
"[C]onsider the post-election revelation that young male voters swung right by 12 percentage points, and the attendant handwringing about them doing so because they listened to the wrong kind of podcasts. Many of these podcasts and associated hucksters are explicitly aligned with Donald Trump, though Trump-polarized figures like Adin Ross or the Nelk Boys seem more like extreme elements of a broad coalition whose allegiance is foremost to The Bag. Across streaming, posting, and podcasting, it is now widely understood that the purpose of streaming, posting, or podcasting is to attract attention and then convert that attention into money."
"The notion of 'selling out' as a signifier of corroded inauthenticity seems even more antiquated, as it relies on some alternate, pure path to making money. It also misreads the incentives and mechanics of social media in a way [...] The cleanest example I have here is the way that fans of streamers and influencers respond to the objects of their fandom rolling out new sponsorships or getting ads: by praising them for getting the bag. Absent legacy-media prestige or any earlier outdated marker of status, a way to distinguish yourself, to exhibit prestige, is to be an ambassador for a more prestigious brand. [...] Related here too is the phenomenon of MrBeast, whose fans are made fully aware that their time spent watching him makes him obscenely rich because he's explicit about using that money to pay for more videos called, like, $50,000 If You Can Spin Around In A Circle Really Really Fast; they get to feel like a part of it."
"this loose ideology cohered as material conditions worsened alongside the rise of social media, then emerged out of its protean discontents in 2020-21, when a nationwide mental health crisis coincided with Americans getting a bunch of extra money via pandemic stimulus. This is how you get the Robinhood meme stock bubble, the Bored Ape Yacht Club, the second cryptocurrency gold rush, Chamath Palihapitiya, the Bored Ape Yacht Club people having to apologize for severely damaging dozens of people's eyes with off-brand UV lights at a 2023 party in Hong Kong, and the sports gambling gold rush/debt manufactory. The social media climate that flowered from this nihilistic moment was defined by a cynical Manichaeism: You were either a wolf or a sheep, a sucker or a predator of suckers. You might win if you gamble, but the real money is in being the house."