I keep seeing people call all sorts of things that absolutely should not be “rage” inducing rage bait and I’m confused how this term has evolved, what does it mean when something like a dumb question or a slightly censored meme is now “rage bait”? To me rage bait means something explicitly made to make you made, playing the devils advocate or purposefully edgy and polarizing content but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. To me it it feels like the way woke just means anything I don’t like, is the other side of the coin rage bait is also anything I don’t like I just don’t happen to be a conservative? Sorry if this post is rage bait, I’m genuinely asking and I have a touch of the ‘tism.
Ragebait and engagement farming go hand in hand, the latter especially on the big social media platforms where the ragebaiter stands to gain monetarily with ad revenue.
It’s usually some culture war shit like “WATCH: Woman thought she could attack man and he wouldn’t fight back”. Cue tons of angry comments and arguments. And clicks. Sweet sweet engagement.
Other times it’s just obvious bad faith behaviour. Like going into a vegan community and saying “I think veganism is unhealthy and everyone should eat meat”.
Cue. C-U-E. The angry comments aren’t lining up and waiting their turn. The angry comments are activated by the ragebait (like a stage cue).