The Outrage Economy is Alive and Well

Thursday’s MetroNews Talkline raised a simple but important question: Why isn’t it enough to just turn Jimmy Kimmel – or anyone else for that matter – off if his comments are offensive, unfunny, or unappealing?

On its face, the answer should be common sense. Don’t like what someone says? Change the channel, close the app, move on. That should end it. But it rarely does. Why? Perhaps too many people and institutions profit when it doesn’t.

If a viewer disliked Kimmel’s recent remarks and decided never to watch again, that would be a straightforward choice. One less viewer means one less impression, one less ad dollar – an economic vote against both Kimmel and ABC. But if it ends there, the outrage machine never fires up. And without outrage, a lot of business models suffer.

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