Better to be new than true? Welcome to the era of 'take-ism'

The useful part

I've recently come up with the term "take-ism" to describe what I consider to be one of the most pernicious and destructive social phenomena of our era. We all know the term "hot take." Basically, it's an idea that's provocative, strident, and also — and this is key — a bit new. Is it the overexposure to infinite faces and places that our phones enable that creates this desperate need for novelty, even at the expense of our sanity?

How it works

• The logic of take-ism is essentially the logic of the internet: novelty = interest = attention = likes = follows = good.
• A hot take is often offensive to someone out there, but that's just a byproduct.
• Race to novelty Take-ism is essentially a race to novelty above all and at all costs.
• While there are hot takes that are true and novel takes that do illuminate an unexplored and previously unobserved fact of reality, the pursuit of truth plays little role in the real thrust of take-ism.
• Truth doesn't matter, earnest belief doesn't matter, all that matters is novelty and attention.

What to take from it

The point is that everyone knows summer is supposed to be great and Italian food is supposed to be delicious, so saying the opposite gets attention. Take it till you fake it More corrosive and evil examples of take-ism would be thin... A couple of benign examples of take-ism would be things like: "Actually, summer is the worst season of the year." "Actually, Italian food is terrible." Maybe someone really believes those things.

Details worth keeping

It's the opposite of a cold take, which is essentially common knowledge.