I often get the vibe that they believe if they're 65% sincere ("In many ways, we're just like you. We feel your pain and wish everybody well and are so so appreciative.") it mitigates the 35% percent manipulation and lying (i.e., the faux factual parts of everything they say and present). So, that ratio means they're genuine for the most part, right?
But the 65/35 tactic is 101 in the playbook of every narcissist out there (check out the famous East of Eden description of its amoral villainess, Cathy). The 65% sincere is just the poison pill that gets you to swallow the garbage. Narcs have been on trend for a decade, in part, I believe, because PR entities have employed narc tactics in service of their clients. Tessa and Scott were early adapters.
I think this situation up here is just a narrative extender - similar to how Marina Zoueva used to extend the impact of required elements with music and dynamic choreographic embellishment before and after. Morgan Rielly and Tessa help buy some time before fans start wondering when Scott and his lovely fiancee' will tie the knot already.
Extracting a quote from a Buzzfeed piece I'm linking just below it:
One firm promised to “use every tool and take every advantage available in order to change reality according to our client's wishes."
buzzfeed alternative reality
Buzzfeed is U.S. celebrity-adjacent, needs the same access and to receive the same press releases everybody else gets, so it's decided to focus on how Chinese PR and digital companies create alternate realities for its clients. Which is to say, the U.S. (and Canada) do the same thing but it's better to come at it from the China angle rather than be blacklisted. Of course the U.S. and Canada would never condone such practices and in fact have probably never even heard of them until Buzzfeed got them up to speed.
It's all normalized now, which means it's moral.
Skating:
 |
| Scott. If he'd squatted and done this on two feet, maybe he and Tessa would have won the free dance. |
