Peter Coffin's 'Custom Reality and You' Review: Neoliberalism, Social Media, and the Construction of Individualized Reality

Radical Reviewer

Introduction [0:03:58]

The review introduces Peter Coffin's 2018 text, "Custom Reality and You," focusing on its central argument:

• As the neoliberal marketplace and corporate social media platforms increasingly dominate our lives, social media purchases attention through algorithms.
  • These algorithms, combined with user preferences, create individualized "custom realities" that validate users' existing beliefs and form a unique reality around them.
• Peter Coffin concludes that while individuals are granted some agency, this only functions within a world of limited choice.
  • True power isn't in the real world but in a virtual one, a "dream world," where our individualized existence and essence are easily controlled.

    

Questioning What's Real [0:04:29]

This chapter serves as an introduction to postmodern critical thinking:

• Postmodernism is characterized by questioning objective truth, which involves deconstruction.
  • Deconstruction means analyzing context, connections, implications, consequences, materials, and motivations of something.
• The book argues that there is no objective observation or objectivity because everyone observes through their own perspective.
• Advertising leverages this by acknowledging intended customers' biases, framed through aspiration.
  • By accepting attempts to tie feelings and identity to products, services, and lifestyles, individuals customize their own reality using tools provided by capital.
• The review uses examples like choosing "radical" entertainment (e.g., "Sorry to Bother You") or specific video games as a form of "hacktivism," illustrating how even anti-establishment desires can be validated through consumption.

  

Denial of a Collective Reality [0:06:27]

This chapter explores the erosion of collective reality due to individual validation and market forces:

• The promotion of individualism over collectivism leads to "win conditioning."
  • Winning is celebrated, while losing questions one's personal validity, tied to the concept of "perpetual correctness."
  • The reviewer reflects on their own motivations for creating content, questioning if it's for genuine discussion or algorithmic validation.
• The Information Age has fostered the validation of individual reality.
  • Search engines like Google are designed to give users what they want, even if the information is false (e.g., "vaccines cause autism").
  • Users can select their preferred media sources (e.g., Fox News vs. Daily Show) to reinforce their existing claims, creating a self-serving reality.
  • Peter Coffin states that we are placed at the center of our own universe, encouraged to be critical of each other rather than those in power.
• Collective problems are framed as individual responsibilities.
  • The solution to issues like poverty becomes an accumulation of individual solutions, perpetuating the myth that hard work alone can overcome any circumstances.
  • Peter Coffin argues this is how individual responsibility marginalizes the different and perpetuates the myth that effort overcomes circumstances.
• The proper way to fix the world is not by fixing the world, but by fixing oneself.
  • To counter this, Peter Coffin proposes creating collective reality through a standardized process of scrutiny and acceptance of evidence.

    

The Religion of Me [0:08:55]

This section elaborates on how corporations exploit individual attention and identity:

• Companies seek attention, offering comfort and validation, fostering a "religion of me" where individuals see themselves as correct, heroic, and self-sufficient saviors.
• Peter Coffin argues there's always an "alternate program" that accommodates resistance to lifestyle marketing, meaning seemingly rebellious choices are often co-opted (e.g., punk bands owned by major labels).
  • The reviewer notes that the book's contemporary nature helps readers recognize their own "failings" within neoliberal ideation.
• The "right to choose" does not equate to meaningful choices.
  • Important decisions are made by companies and governments determining what products are available, not by individual consumers.
• This process empowers individuals through market validation but discourages collective social solutions for social problems.

  

The Marketplace of Ideas [0:11:24]

This chapter analyzes the "marketplace of ideas" through the lens of neoliberalism:

• Neoliberalism is defined as the application of the free market to "literally everything."
  • In this context, profit (monetary and social) is derived from saying what people want to hear; social interaction and discourse become commodities.
• The "marketplace of ideas" is self-validating because it encourages "fact by consensus."
  • There is no incentive for equal representation of opposing ideas because it would allow observers to consider both arguments, giving them control over the situation.
  • This leads to media misrepresenting the opposition.
• Small numbers of people can orchestrate what appear to be large "mobs" that gain mainstream media coverage.
  • Examples include bots leaving negative reviews or thought leaders encouraging fandoms to harass individuals or organizations.

    

Attention Economics [0:12:17]

This chapter explores the logical conclusion of neoliberalism and the free market in the social space:

• Attention is currency in the "marketplace of ideas"; whatever maintains attention becomes normal and profitable, aligning with the concept of the Overton Window.
  • The reviewer gives examples of how societal norms shift over time, such as the acceptance of presidential sexual misconduct.
• Peter Coffin highlights two "terrifying conclusions":
  • There is no incentive for equal representation of opposing ideas because it would give observers the ability to consider both sides. Media often misrepresents opposition.
  • Tiny numbers of people can orchestrate what appear to be huge mobs, clouding reality (e.g., bots, fan harassment).
• The strategic falsification of perception to engineer a desired outcome is the foundation of the current system.

  

Perpetual Correctness & Cultivated Identity [0:14:16]

This chapter revisits and deepens the concepts of perpetual correctness and cultivated identity:

• Thought leaders are not inherently correct or qualified; they are simply the most marketable individuals.
  • The outcome is that personal taste becomes intertwined with the perception of reality.
• Cultivated identity is the market providing validation for identity through consumption.
  • "Everything has 'fandom'," applying to entertainment, politics, religion, and activities.
  • Capital interests push people to incorporate the enjoyment of things into their identity, effectively extracting value from them.
• Companies aim to create "managed culture and identity" by associating their brand with an experience, rather than just claiming their product is the best (e.g., Coca-Cola selling an "invisible transcendence").

  

Pro-Consumer or Pro-Consumption [0:16:37]

This chapter explores how consumer culture facilitates consumption and commodifies existence:

• Consumer culture makes it easier to be a consumer (e.g., club cards, one-click checkout, subscriptions).
• There's a commodification of what was once free (e.g., bottled water vs. tap, Spotify vs. radio, Netflix vs. broadcast TV, DLC vs. full game).
• Peter Coffin argues that individuals see themselves as "reluctantly smart protagonists" in their own custom film, always making the "right decisions."
• "Pro-consumer" means regulations, customer protections, and transparency; "pro-consumption" means "feed me my fandom crap."
• The reviewer slightly disagrees with Coffin, suggesting identity politics can also become a form of cultivated identity, existing on a spectrum between genuine and cultivated identity (e.g., generic trans flag pin vs. breast cancer ribbon on a specific product).
• The market offers shallow, marketable versions of experiences and consumable solutions/desires, vicariously through platforms like video games, Netflix, and social media.
• Everything is framed as consumption, and everyone is viewed as a consumer or consumable. Changing this situation means changing one's custom reality.

  

Seize Yourself [0:21:20]

This chapter proposes a solution: seizing ourselves.

• If neoliberal capitalism commodifies everything, then every person's action is labor, and every moment of existence is a product.
• "Custom reality" is likened to adjusting lights in a house to perceive reality differently.
• History can also be a "custom past" (e.g., Columbus as explorer vs. genocidal exploiter), emphasizing that artistic interpretation is a form of labor and power.
• However, individual interpretation is heavily influenced and limited; we are conditioned to act certain ways when we have power and when we don't.
• Peter Coffin's solution to individual reality is "collective reality" or "collectivization."
  • This occurs when people collectively express the scrutiny they've personally applied to things (e.g., "The Emperor's New Clothes," Occupy Wall Street).
  • Collective reality is formed when individuals recognize a shared truth, shattering individual false realities.
• The idea of seizing oneself as the means of production of a commodified reality is to reunite with our authentic selves.
  • Understanding that "every action is labor" is highlighted as the most important reason to read the text.
• Peter Coffin's work is explicitly metamodernist, embracing contradictory concepts as simultaneously true. Individual action is often useless, but collective action allows individuals in unison to break free.

  

Conclusion [0:24:51]

The conclusion summarizes the main takeaways and offers a recommendation:

• While "universal fact" exists outside human perception, the inability to apply enough scrutiny leads to subjective views, making reality seem relative.
• Customizing reality is an inherent process, but we are groomed to do it in a way that protects the hierarchy at the top, making this system appear "real."
• The reviewer highly recommends reading "Custom Reality and You" in conjunction with Peter Coffin's videos.
  • This is because a book, as a medium, allows for more methodical and complex development and exploration of ideas than articles or videos.
  • The book provides a modern context for arguments about capitalist media's manipulation of reality, specifically in the Information Age, Internet Age, and social media age.