Influencer
Games Fascists Play: The Psychology of Supremacy
People with the resources to do so are increasingly speaking of themselves as mini-corporations, collections of assets that must be continually invested in, nurtured, managed, and developed. [i]
-Emily Martin, Mind-Body Problems
INFLUENCER
Set up: I’m supreme and know a better way, so Follow me while I profit.
Clinical explanation: The Influencer game is a variation of Mr. Wonderful. In psychotherapy, Influencer is played by patients who attract their own followers in group treatment. For example, White begins each meeting with a lengthy Monologue (see Status Update). White talks about themselves (ego) as a somebody who knows things. White monopolizes their speaking time to influence the group members. White will act as an agent provocateur by challenging the psychotherapist (Dr. Black), which creates collective mutiny. For example, one group had White attempting to alter the group by making a rule of sharing food at each meeting. White surveyed the group to undermine Dr. Black’s authority. One group member attempted to Cancel (see below) White by showing them the door.
Influencer and Mr. Wonderful are meant to mask insecurities. The Clown version creates interesting content and engagement. In the latter, White’s cuteness and harmless presentation as well as leadership in the group shield them from critique. Black becomes hooked into White’s game because Black benefits from the time being structured and the opportunity to be a voyeur. On the affective level, Influencer allows the other group members to follow White’s content with a statement of “Me Too!” Instead of generating their own clinical material in the group, Black offers the equivalent of an online Like, Comment, or Share. The Me Too—not to be confused with #MeToo—game provides protection from other members based on its harmless and anti-competitive nature. [ii] Everyone simply “follows” White’s lead.
Influencer is based on a disguised superior status for self-promotion. This con is meant to achieve ascension and evade criticism. White operates in the Rescuer role to Black. In this way, Black does not have to speak up first in the group. However, the Rescue is in tandem with the Persecution of Black. White will make a declaration: “Okay, I guess I’ll start talking first.” Psychologically speaking, “I’m Mr. Wonderful, so I’ll brand myself to get followers.”
In essence, White generates content for engagement with an ulterior motive of ascending their status in the group. White’s game is to facilitate the group—often acting from a role as a wise professor or therapist—to subvert Dr. Black. The intention is to remain supreme and to place the other members (Black) in a one-down position, so they will endlessly “follow” White.
Original games: In Eric Berne’s Gee Mr. Wonderful game, the therapist’s influence is contingent on White’s mistaken belief that Dr. Black has magical healing powers. White views the therapist as a fortune-teller with a sign outside their door declaring, “I am a magician and I have magic orbs.” [iii] Therefore, Influencer is a derivative game of Gee Mr. Wonderful; closer to the Capitalism game of Mr. Wonderful.
Additionally, Influencer is a variation of Eric Berne’s Martini game. Conventionally, Berne (1964) said Martini is played by a “certain kind of ambitious young person.” [iv] White describes a fantastic evening: the scene or party, the number of drinks consumed, and how they were made. [v] On the psychological level, Martini is meant as a disguise. White subtly conveys that they know a better way of doing things to gloat and receive social recognition. Therefore, Martini is a status contest and there message is a form of Status Update.
Martini is similar to See how-hard I’ve Tried (SIT), however, in SIT there is a secular form of faith, self-contrived pain, and unpleasant conditions. In SIT, White is both blameless and helpless (see Zen games). So, Influencer is akin to a Mr. Wonderful who knows a better way (Martini). In Influencer, White offers self-help to gain or maintain their own supreme status. The self-help is offered by White not to evade criticism, but to evoke notoriety from Black. The group members are akin to the online users who aimlessly and mindlessly scroll their newsfeeds and autoplay White’s content.
Thesis: The only prerequisite for White to play the Influencer game is oratory skills. Hitler bragged that he developed his “oratorical talent” in childhood as he was a “little ringleader.” [vi] At an early age he was both a political and artistic “revolutionary.” [vii] Well prior to social media, Mussolini had a handle: DUX (leader). His better way was, “In ten years Europe will be fascist or fascistified!” [viii] In the Influencer game, White is flexible and shapeshifting with narratives. For example, Mussolini and the king deliberated a cabinet position for him, but when he spoke to the fascists squad leaders they fomented taking over of the state. [ix] White manufactures consent across party lines and ideologies:
Mussolini had a seductive rhetorical style which led the crowd to feel that war was morally necessary and that victory was possible. [x]
Hitler made sure his propaganda was constantly documented using photographers, art, and film. During his reign, Mussolini (Il Duce) had 30,000,000 pictures of himself—across 2,500 poses—in circulation to gain followers. Hitler had his own stamp that he made sure to profit financially from. The two of course influenced each other. Hitler influenced Mussolini to enact racialized laws. Mussolini’s publicly displayed body that was beaten and mutilated influenced Hitler to commit suicide. Both Hitler (Brown Shirts) and Mussolini (Black Shirts) had followers to “share” their ideologies, i.e., racialized violence. These terroristic foot soldiers of the state are in contrast with twenty-first century “cancel culture” that digitally mobilizes “paranoid fanatics” of the corporatized establishment. [xi]
In the hopes of ascending to the presidency, U.S. presidential candidates play a PR version of Influencer (RFK, Jr.). Once in the Oval Office, White manages the status quo of American empire (“Why do we still have all those ‘territories’ outside North America?”). For example, Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign won Advertising Age’s marketer of the year. [xii] This was Obama playing Martini using campaign slogans and messaging stating that he knew a better way. The citizens were told he was “Change We Can Believe In,” followed by “Yes We Can.” For the award of marketer of the year, Obama’s PR campaign beat out mega companies such as Apple. As a gameplayer, Brand Obama used influence to ascend and maintain the executive branch. According to Shoshana Zuboff (2019), Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign used the social media data on more than 250 million (unknowing) Americans to accomplish this. [xiii]
Also in 2009, Brand Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize. Oddly, in his acceptance speech he used the word “war” more than 40 times. He repeatedly justified American aggression and global hegemony: “Let me make one final point about the use of force.” [xiv] Brand Obama’s Rescuer role was very different from his Persecutor role. Brand Obama concealed his Dictator role that we will refer to as O-Bomb-a. Once in the White House, the Peace Prize winning Brand Obama switched roles to O-Bomb-a as he authorized 542 drone strikes that killed nearly 4,000 people: “Turns out I’m really good at killing people. Didn’t know that was gonna be a strong suite of mine.” [xv]
Additionally, in dictatorial fashion, O-Bomb-a imprisoned whistleblowers (see Cancelled below) by using the WWI era Espionage Act at least seven times. [xvi] For example, the Espionage Act was used against Edward Snowden, because he exposed the dark lies of American empire. O-Bomb-a also played the Immigration game (see War games). By the end of his two terms, “Obama deported more people than all previous presidents combined.” [xvii]
During the peak of the Great Recession (2009), Brand Obama promised to open credit and lending for the average Good Joe consumer. However, playing Martini, Brand Obama knew a better way: Obama and his friends in Wall Street bailed the corrupt bankers and financiers. According to Hedges (2010), the deceptive transfer of $12.8 trillion in taxpayer money to Wall Street was Obama’s ulterior motive. The Influencer game involves a better way that is manipulative and deceptive for the maintenance of power:
Obama lies as cravenly, if not as crudely, as George W. Bush. [xviii]
Brand Obama used corporate platforms, e.g., Facebook, to create a global brand for himself by conning U.S. citizens in the service of corporate power. This is the Capitalism game of Influencer: White operates as Mr. Wonderful to monetize their influence in the service of corporations under the guise of self-help. Proof of concept is that in 2011, Brand Obama had a checking account with $500,000 to $1,000,000 at JPMorgan Chase. [xix] Based on total assets, JPMorgan Chase is one of the largest banks in the US and in the world. [xx]
Finally, Brand Obama concealed his O-Bomb-a proclivities by focusing on his identity. Brand Obama was the first African American president, so he identified as a biracial man who could speak to two sides of racial experiences. However, this self-branding was altered as soon as he ascended to power. President O-Bomb-a did not speak about race. At the end of his first two years in office, Obama had spoken less about race than any other Democratic president since 1961. [xxi] Race was no longer on-brand.
Aim: An “influencer” is a person with the resources and capacity to change or prey on people’s Little Fascist. The contemporary version has an online White herding their followers to buy a product or service by promoting commodities on social media. This game is the engine of branding and branding is the name of the Capitalism games. Artificial Intelligence (see AI game) tabulates influence via machine learning algorithms for the corporate platforms to steal our focus.
The Influencer game has White identified as both noun and verb: as a somebody (noun) who is doing something (verb) better to garner influence. This influence is the capacity to impact the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself. The New York Times article, “Burned Out on Your Personal Brand” describes the effect. In essence, the article says the quiet part out loud: everyone is incorporating themselves via personal branding. A culture of Me, Inc. The boundary between the social and occupational has vanished. For example, the work-social demarcation is gone when people are fired for sharing a post online. In the article, this is highlighted in the section with the heading “When Everything Is Content”:
But with personal branding, the line between who people are and what they do disappears. Everything is content; every like, follow and comment is a professional boost. [xxii]
The Influencer game relies on White’s ego-consciousness: being a somebody. This means they present themselves as a solid separate self (ego). The Buddha, Jesus, and Mohamed were authentic and did not write or save their teachings. Today, the Influencer is a self-promotional somebody with all their exhibitions recorded and stored in digital form. Psychologist turned influencer Jordan Peterson played the game by arguing hierarchies and inequality are natural and biological. [xxiii] In this way, the Influencer and the Mass Shooter are both playing different versions of They Will Be Glad They Knew Me. The Influencer player is driven by I’ll Show Them to gain prestige while the Mass Shooter plays the destructive version. For the Influencer game, White’s con is not about genuine accomplishment, but to be “eaten with envy” based on oratory skills. White is serving their followers to show them they were justified in consuming and sharing White’s content for gratification. [xxiv]
Like Mr. Wonderful, the Influencer game has White conning Black (other online users) into believing in White’s supremacy. Black’s internal psychological response is I’ll Be Glad I Knew Them. Therefore, White Rescues Black with infotainment. In this sense, White is playing I’m Only Trying To Help [Inform] You. This type of superior game places Black in a one-down position, i.e., they are unable to help themselves. White is operating from a one-up status to supply self-help or breaking news (see Stay Up). Titles to videos and posts have dramatic headlines such as “This Changes Everything” and “Look What They Are Doing Now.” This superiority situates White to then switch to a Persecutor role as they exploit Black’s attention for monetization: “Buy gold…spread CBD on your body!”
White may play the exhibitionistic form of the game, whereby they are sexy, cute, innocent, and harmless. [xxv] They are a provocative Clown, e.g., Kylie Jenner, who plays what Berne called the group therapy version of The Stocking Game: “Oh my, I have a run in my stocking.” The Internet version (no stockings) implies the sexual availability of White. [xxvi] In contrast, White can play the more masculine and dictatorial online version of Tough Guy, e.g., Andrew Tate and Ben Shapiro. Alternatively, instead of Tough Guy, MrBeast plays Good Joe. For example, MrBeast is hyperbolic in his philanthropy as he gives away mountains of cash to his fans or unsuspecting individuals as well as playing Insane Clown, e.g., destroying luxury cars and using explosives.
The weakness for Black is that human beings struggle to structure their time. Therefore, White provides content, personality, and entertainment for Black to engage with. In the U.S., citizens struggle to find real leadership. In general, human beings have what Eric Berne called leadership hunger. The leader, or in this case the Influencer, supplies purposeful programs for Black to structure their time. [xxvii] In many cases White’s followers or subscribers will donate money to the cause (White’s brand).
According to Berne (1966), “People are willing to pay almost any price to have their time structured for them, since few are capable of structuring their own time autonomously for very long.” [xxviii] The Influencer therefore Rescues Black from the boredom of unstructured time, while Persecuting Black in the form of exploitative advertising for monetization.
The Influencer game ends if White discontinues their Status Updates. Without content and online engagement, White becomes a nobody. The derivative game of Cancelled sours the Influencer game. Deplatforming and demonetization as well as the censorship of content are common by Big Tech working with governmental intelligence and law force agencies. The political version of Cancelled leads to exile (Snowden) or brutal solitary confinement (Assange). The roles in the Media game of Cancelled reverses the roles. The Influencer (Black) is being Cancelled by White. In this game White is Cancelling Black for disingenuous reasons. Black is deemed “anti-Semitic”, a sexual predator, right-wing, and/or a child pornography connoisseur. The #MeToo label is applied legitimately or deceptively using “anonymous sources.” Black can also be labeled a Socialist who is “friendly” with a “dictator”. The so-called dictator is usually a real Socialist.
ANALYSIS
Thesis: My Influence makes me supreme, so Follow me.
Antithesis: Digital and/or actual solitude as well as starting a Sangha or other collective. Seeing everyone as fundamentally OK (including oneself) and not needing to “save” or Persecute others.
Aim: Self-help and infotainment to “save” users (citizens) while monetizing the influence.
Roles: Rescuer-Persecutor roles at once to maintain supremacy (White). Victim (Black)
Dynamics: Raising status in the media to be adorned.
Examples: (1) Social media Influencer. (2) Podcaster. (3) Politician. (4) Revolutionary. (5) Spiritual figure.
Moves: (1) Self-Promotion—“Connecting” via Self-Help.
[i] p. 582, Martin, E. (2000) Mind/body problems. American Ethnologist 27: 569–590.
[ii] p. 131, Berne, E. (1966). Principles of Group Treatment. Oxford University Press: New York.
[iii] p. 285, Berne, E. (1966). Principles of Group Treatment. Oxford University Press: New York.
[iv] p. 42, Berne, E. (1964). Games people play: The psychology of human relationships. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc.
[v] p. 74, Berne, E. (1964). Games people play: The psychology of human relationships. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc.
[vi] p. 6, Hitler, A. (1999) trans. by Ralph Manheim. Mein Kampf. Houghton Mifflin Company: New York.
[vii] p. 16, Hitler, A. (1999) trans. by Ralph Manheim. Mein Kampf. Houghton Mifflin Company: New York.
[viii] p. 114, Berezin, M. (1997). Making the fascist self: The political culture of interwar Italy. Cornell University Press: New York.
[ix] p. 76, Berezin, M. (1997). Making the fascist self: The political culture of interwar Italy. Cornell University Press: New York.
[x] p. 192, Berezin, M. (1997). Making the fascist self: The political culture of interwar Italy. Cornell University Press: New York.
[xi] p. 120, Maupin, C. (2021). BreadTube serves imperialism: Examining the new brand of internet pseudo-socialism. Center for Political Innovation.
[xii] p. 199, Hedges, C. (2010). Death of the liberal class. New York: Nation Books.
[xiii] p. 122-123, Zuboff, S. (2019). The age of surveillance capitalism: The fight for a human future at the new frontier of power. New York: PublicAffairs.
[xiv] https://swampland.time.com/2009/12/10/barack-obamas-nobel-prize-speech-transcript/
[xv] https://www.cfr.org/blog/obamas-final-drone-strike-data
[xvi] p. 180, Hedges, C. (2015). Wages of rebellion: The moral imperative of revolt. New York: Nation Books.
[xvii] p. 186, Vitale, A. S. (2017). The end of policing. New York: Verso.
[xviii] p. 27, Hedges, C. (2010). Death of the liberal class. New York: Nation Books.
[xix] p. 76, Phillips, P. (2018). Giants: The global power elite. New York: Nation Books.
[xx] p. 74, Phillips, P. (2018). Giants: The global power elite. New York: Nation Books.
[xxi] p. 135, Coates, T. (2017). We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy. One World: New York.
[xxii] (2022, October 20). “Burned Out on Your Personal Brand.” The New York Times. Retrieved (October 26th, 2022) from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/20/business/influencer-burn-out-jobs.html?searchResultPosition=3
[xxiii] p. 134, Maupin, C. (2021). BreadTube serves imperialism: Examining the new brand of internet pseudo-socialism. Center for Political Innovation.
[xxiv] p. 168, Berne, E. (1964). Games people play: The psychology of human relationships. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc.
[xxv] p. 158, Berne, E. (1964). Games people play: The psychology of human relationships. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc.
[xxvi] p. 129, Berne, E. (1964). Games people play: The psychology of human relationships. New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc.
[xxvii] p. 230, Berne, E. (1966). Principles of Group Treatment. Oxford University Press: New York.
[xxviii] p. 230, Berne, E. (1966). Principles of Group Treatment. Oxford University Press: New York.