Fresh Stacks: 6/22/23

The UFO craze gets debunked, Moby Dick Summer returns, + 3 more

Surprise!

It’s your internet farm cat with more gifts to share.

This week we look at the mess of an internet we’re in, first with a closer look at UFO coverage, and followed by a few other takes on the state of the web and marketing. But don’t worry, there’s fun to be had along the way, too.

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Erik Hoel explains why you’re more likely to believe in aliens now than you were 10 years ago.

The UFO craze was created by government nepotism and incompetent journalism

A glance over your newsfeed lately might have you wondering, were all those wackos in Nevada and Arizona right?, all those tabloid headlines I saw at the grocery store true?

The Intrinsic Perspective

writer Erik Hoel is here, not only to reassure you that no, the alien abduction stories are still nonsense, but more importantly, to explain the sightings of these types of headlines from outlets that, until recently, would’ve never gone there.

The loss of faith in Big News is, well, old news. But Hoel’s article shows how their sad attempts to compete with the low-brow web rags are making the situation even worse. Legitimizing extra-terrestrial sightings are just a symptom of a larger issue.

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Ed Zitron isn’t worried about AI breaking the internet (because it’s already broken).

The Internet Is Already Broken

The “larger issue” explored by Hoel gets a full teardown by

Ed Zitron

here. Zitron’s made a name for himself by posting this kind of scourched-earth take, but his opening bit about email is worth the click-through alone.

Personally, I’m still worried about AI making the internet into a “porridge of low-quality service journalism and/or ecommerce marketing,” not because these problems don’t already exist (Hoel and Zitron show us they do) but because, as bad as things are now, I think they can still get worse.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could figure out how to fix this situation instead? If you’ve got any ideas, by all means, share. This cat’s all ears.

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Nick Asbury points out the problem with “purpose” driven marketing.

The road to hell, part 1 of 3

The commerce theme continues with this insightful, three-part piece by

Nick Asbury

explaining why linking a brand to a social purpose actually ends up not helping anyone.

Now before you run off scared, thinking your internet farm cat’s gone all anti-woke¹, rest assured that Asbury successfully steps over the “culture wars” mud pit by focusing more on the effects of these ad campaigns rather than the issues themselves. The result reminds me of the Adbusters-adjacent message from

Max Read

shared in the last edition of Fresh Stacks: “brands are not your friends.”

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Dennard Dayle tests your satire-meter.

Exclusive Evil - Is it Satire?

And now, for something completely different…

Honestly, there isn’t much to say about this one. Just take the damn quiz. I laughed like my dad on multiple occasions while doing so.

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Kristen Felicetti guides you through my favourite part of Moby Dick.

Moby-Dick: Chapters 9-11

Moby Dick Summer

is back, baby! And while I don’t expect all of you to follow along through the whole behemoth (it’s literally the Moby Dick of books), I will say: if you bother reading any part of Melville’s opus, read this part.

Before Ahab, Ishmael, and Queequeg even set sail, a Sunday sermon and a shared bed tell you everything you need to know about the journey ahead. (And if you get to the end of “Nightgown” and feel baited into reading the whole thing, yes, I meant to do that.)

1. Or squirming with glee, thinking I have.