zlacker

I, like many people, lamented about the media dumbing us down with lazy, brainless content. What blew my mind was when I read someone online respond to this assertion: “you have it backwards, the media is delivering what the market demands”.

As with most things it’s likely a bit of both. But deep down I suspect it’s mostly the market demanding trash.

>>CooCoo+(OP)
I think this still has it backwards. People, who are not experts in the content they consume, can't be relied upon to distinguish good from trash. Not because they don't experience the difference, but because they don't know the indicators.

I couldn't tell you whether my surgeon was any good or not leading up to an operation, but if they were bad, I'd sure be able to tell 2 weeks later.

I think it is ultimately up to professionals to have some pride in their work. I think they'll also need to have a certain amount of protection from hacks willing to undercut them.

>>yunwal+Gn
If people can’t tell that content is trash then they have trash taste, and people with trash taste will seek out trash.

There is better content in the world and those who have the taste to seek it out generally will.

>>CooCoo+(OP)
It's particularly apparent if you look at the Kindle Top 100 - https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Kindle-Store/zgbs/digita.... I'm most familiar with the romances, so that's what I'll be discussing. There's a lot more to the genre than these examples, but that's not what sells.

• Fourth Wing and Iron Flame are poorly written fantasy romances that blew up on TikTok.

• Haunting Adeline and Hunting Adeline are poorly written dark romances(https://www.reddit.com/r/RomanceBooks/comments/uu1age/what_d... they're also antisemitic QAnon fan fiction.

• Three books with bare chested men on the covers. These indicate that there's lots of sex scenes; no one reads them for plot.

• Icebreaker is a poorly written hockey romance. The author is ignorant about college, hockey, and the US to say the least.

• Credence is a contemporary romance that's best known for sex scenes and toxic relationships.

• A Court of Thorns and Roses and A Court of Mist and Fury. Both of these are mediocre fantasy romances by Sarah J. Maas; she's the Dan Brown of romance.