Making a New Type of Guy

To Comply

Decision making is often not direct but inferential, especially in cases where there is ambivalence or uncertainty or doubt. The lack of a clearly felt emotional tug invites us to use the mind to infer what action might be good to take. One way of doing that is by relying on mental simulation. A Christian might ask himself “What Would Jesus Do?” or think “No, I can’t sleep with my neighbour’s wife—I’m a Christian”. A Christian is, of course, a classical Type of Guy.

“Christian” was, in fact, the only type of guy, for the longest time. At least in the West. However, we of this temporal world sit amidst a veritable EXPLOSION of types of guy: you got your gymrats, your CrossFitters, your gamers, your sneakerheads, your hypebeasts, your MAGA but also your Blacks, your democrats and republicans, and on and on and on.

ok, but how come tho

Glad you asked.

Making a New Type of Guy To Comply

All the Types of Guy mentioned above exist to instantiate the very same trade: that of identity in exchange for loyalty.

That loyalty can be to a brand—like in the case of Christians, gymrats, crossFitters, gamers, sneakerheads, or hypebeasts—or to a politics—in the case of Blacks, democrats, or republicans.

Now, you might be skeptical. Warrantedly so. You might even think this is just me making stuff up. If that’s the case here is a 20-page thesis (Peretti, 1996) describing how late capitalism accelerates the production and consumption of identities, and a 2022 “update” by Toby Shorin. While Toby stops short of stating it as a literal trade, his framework makes clear that loyalty is the currency by which identities are sustained.

It might be tempting to dismiss both of these as circular references to even more idle philosophical speculation. Except “Peretti” above refers to Jonah Peretti, also known as the founder of Buzzfeed. His theory has been very much battle-tested, and found workable. At least workable enough to IPO a company at $1.5B.

As you recover from the whiplash that number might’ve caused a hazy memory comes back—did he write “Black”? Maybe it was a typo. Let me stop you right there. It’s not. Joe Biden infamously said “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t Black”

                                                  If it’s stupid and it works, it ain’t stupid.

This is of course a demand for compliance in exchange for identity. It’s a very neat trick: first you’re sold an identity (“You are Black.” “It is Good to be Black”), and, once that’s done, you shift the meaning of that identity to entail whatever you want people to do. It’s far, far harder to argue the case for something on its own merits rather than to leverage identity by saying “Real Patriot Black Men vote for me,” or whatever.

Do notice how both I and FiveThirtyEight’s graph above—and hopefully Joe Biden— capitalised “Black”. Being black is partially a brute fact, partially a socially constructed entity. But being Black is pure identity.

Now the above is all ghastly, of course. Maybe it makes you mad. It would be understandable if it made you mad. Perhaps I may interest you in projecting that anger at a strawman?

Upcoming: Making a New Type of Guy To Get Mad At.