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A Theory of Grift

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Google Ngram Viewer, the world's canonical source for all slow-moving zeitgeist shifts, indicates that there's been a bull market in calling people "grifters" since the mid-1980s. Google Trends shows a completely different year-to-year trend trend, but also indicates a rise in the number of people searching for the term, perhaps originally catalyzed by the memorable tale of the Hipster Grifter (this coincides perfectly with the April 2009 spike), and further ebbs and flows as either specific grifters become famous of specific famous people get accused of some kind of grift. What do we even mean by grift? Why is it so abundant? What, if anything, should we do about it? The heart of a grift is that it's a promise that could be true: the fitness influencer who says you'll look like a model in four weeks is obviously lying, but the one who offers exercise guides and meal plans that put you on pace for steady weight loss, and who has the before-and-after pictures to prove it? They could eas

A Theory of Grift A Theory of Grift Plus! Buy The Change You Wish to See in the World; Schmuck Insurance; Uncertainty; Block Trading; Ads 16th January 2024 Byrne Hobart Contents This post is for subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in Share this edition! Join 50,000+ industry professionals and curious generalists by subscribing to The Diff.

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