"We function in a pack mentality. This is our tribe. And this is how we are exploited - sold a bill of goods and a household of products"
About this Quote
Pack mentality is Skaggs at his most pointed: a street-smart diagnosis of how belonging gets monetized. The phrase "we function" is a quiet indictment because it treats conformity as default operating system, not a rare moral failure. By choosing "pack" over "community", he drains the romance out of togetherness. Packs protect, but they also swarm, obey cues, punish deviation. That double edge sets up the twist: the tribe you run to for safety is the same mechanism that makes you easy to steer.
"This is our tribe" lands like a comforting affirmation, then immediately curdles into "this is how we are exploited". Skaggs isn't attacking people for wanting connection; he's arguing that marketers, media, and the broader attention economy treat that desire as a lever. "Sold a bill of goods" is old-school American idiom for a con, but the next clause updates it: "a household of products". It's not one scam, it's a lifestyle kit. Exploitation here is domestic, intimate, normalized - the slow creep of identity being furnished through purchases until your home becomes a showroom for your affiliations.
Skaggs' background as a celebrity provocateur and hoax artist matters: he's spent a career demonstrating how easily narratives spread when they flatter the tribe or confirm its fears. The subtext is less "consumers are dumb" than "systems are designed to route our social instincts into transactions". The line reads like a warning flare from inside the spectacle: the crowd isn't just watching the show; it's the product being packaged.
"This is our tribe" lands like a comforting affirmation, then immediately curdles into "this is how we are exploited". Skaggs isn't attacking people for wanting connection; he's arguing that marketers, media, and the broader attention economy treat that desire as a lever. "Sold a bill of goods" is old-school American idiom for a con, but the next clause updates it: "a household of products". It's not one scam, it's a lifestyle kit. Exploitation here is domestic, intimate, normalized - the slow creep of identity being furnished through purchases until your home becomes a showroom for your affiliations.
Skaggs' background as a celebrity provocateur and hoax artist matters: he's spent a career demonstrating how easily narratives spread when they flatter the tribe or confirm its fears. The subtext is less "consumers are dumb" than "systems are designed to route our social instincts into transactions". The line reads like a warning flare from inside the spectacle: the crowd isn't just watching the show; it's the product being packaged.
Quote Details
| Topic | Marketing |
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