"Thought Leader"

2025-02-08 - [53] 11:25

I tend to get annoyed when I see the term "think tank" or "content creator", as it's difficult for my feeble mind to see how things can happen without at least some level of thinking or things being created that aren't to some degree content, but there is a term that REALLY bugs me whenever I see it written out unironically, and that term is "thought leader". Heck, I hate that term somehow more than "Influencer", which is by far one of my least favorite "job titles", and that's after realizing "sandwich artist" is something Subway assigns their employees. Heck, there are also "programming ninja" and "full tech guru" positions, and somehow "thought leader" takes the cake for what I hate enough to write a post about.

Did that "thought leader" lead me to think a particular way? Probably not. They tend to just be a multi-millionaire who wants to feel like they have more ACTUAL impact on society than they actually have because they can throw enough money into social media to trend a bunch...

Why am I mentioning this suddenly? Well, not too long ago, E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Expo) was fully cancelled because no one wanted to attend anymore, but a new convention is going to happen from the same group who made E3 happen called the "Interactive Innovation Conference" in 2026. From their press release:

a first-of-its-kind event designed to connect visionaries, thought leaders and innovators from across industries to harness the power of interactive entertainment.

This corpo speak makes me sad. I don't know how else to put it. I'm just sad.

the Interactive Innovation Conference is set to be an essential convening for changemakers across industries

Changemakers... Thought leaders... Visionaries! Amazing! I bet things will be as great for me as when influencers told me what pyramid scheme vitamin tablets, skincare products, or memecoins to buy. They care about what they tell their thousands to millions of followers to buy... right???

Sorry to make such a negative post, but this stuff makes me sad every time I see it. Rich folks with no clue what we want go out of their way to tell us that they are thought leaders because that's what they think they are. So many (likely the vast majority) of those folks believe they should call themselves thought leaders because they have a moral right to... why shouldn't they, as they're "better" and "more moral" than us because they have all that money. They wouldn't have that money unless they were good people... right??? It's a moral failure to not have their level of money.

On a brighter note, bunnies flop to their side when they feel safe and content and it's adorable to watch. I recommend searching out videos of said event happening! Unfortunately when I searched "bunny flop to side", I was given quite a lot of AI slop... the real videos don't look like AI slop.

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