November 24, 2006
“the sucker revolution” manifesto
[Julien Smith sent me this manifesto. Sure, a lot of of the ideas here go straight back to the Cluetrain, but unlike the latter, it’s only 311 words. Rock on.]
We are not the suckers we always have been.
Looking back on the things that we, the people, have believed, it’s hard to wrap your head around how people could so often and so easily be huckstered. P.T. Barnum said “There’s a sucker born every minute,” but it’s high time we realized that these days, for every minute, the sucker in someone is withering away. Now, with every passing minute, there’s a sucker out there wising up. You had better be ready. It’s a sucker revolution, and it’s about time.
The reason for this sucker revolution is simple: In 1835, when Barnum started in show business, the people in the town he just left couldn’t tell the people ahead that his freakshow was just a great makeup job. But now we can, and we leave our evidence everywhere. Karma is taking a virtually physical presence in our communities and mindspace. We know not only that we don’t like a company, but also why we don’t like it… or if we don’t, finding out is just a few keystrokes away.
Like Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, this manifesto attempts to nail the hypocrisy of the hype machine on the door of the town church for everyone to see. It works on the principle that whatever happens comes back to you, and that there’s no such thing as “getting away with it”. As individuals, we already know this. As businesses, we have yet to admit that the specter of deceit is even in the room.
If you’re a business, and you’re worried, that’s because you probably should be. You’re probably realizing that your customers are catching up with you. The upcoming generation is larger than you, and faster than you. And they won’t mind messaging their 5,000 MySpace friends to get them involved, either. Be prepared.
[gapingvoid manifesto submission guidelines are here.][Manifesto archive is here.]
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Succinct indeed! My one question is: how to maintain this transparency and consumer empowerment over the long term with the inevitable rise of sponsored information aggregators in this new space?
(btw — quick link to the Barnum quote attribution — often now attributed to banker David Hannum, one of Barnum’s competitors, with respect to one of Barnum’s hoaxes with a replica of the Cardiff Giant.)
Hi Hugh,
I’ve written several blog posts about you in the past. Just Google ‘Gaping Void’ and ‘Blogspoke’ and some should come up. I’m doing a little questionnaire. Would you consider helping me out?
A Questionnaire for Popular Bloggers,
As you’ve been either a recipient or a candidate for a blogging award I must assume that your blog is quite popular. At my blog http://www.blogspoke.com I have just written a post that has a questionnaire relating to the topic ‘Why I blog’ and I thought it would be pertinent to get some insight from the minds of those who obviously have put a lot of effort into their blogging experience. The post can be found at http://www.blogspoke.com/page/blogspoke?entry=so_you_re_a_blogger.
If you can answer the ten easy questions (in the Comments link) that would be great, but if you could take the time to really let my readers know what you think about blogging (from your heart, mind, and soul) that would be appreciated immensely. We look forward to hearing about what inspires you to make those little ‘ticking’ noises on your keyboard, and on what makes your brain ‘tick’.
Sincerely,
Jesse S. Somer (Hopefully an x-Sucker but who can tell? The sucker or the suckee?)
Nice manifesto.
But P.T. Barnum never said that.
Seriously, look it up.
We may not be suckers any longer, but we still tend to accept things we hear repeated by others, eh?