Thinking of today's White House gathering of Ticktok 'influencers' and some videos I've been watching about cosmetic plastic surgery where the subjects were referred to as "celebrities and influencers."
Is this the dawn of the age of nondescript influencers whose only purpose is to implant the ideas of the ruling class on the illiterate public?
They're not statesmen or movie stars or musicians or actors or authors; they're not preachers or philosophers or inventors or shamans. They don't do anything at all except well, influence?
This seems so empty, what am I missing?
Correct.
Their function is to merely amplify and relay whatever propaganda they are given to their audience.
Sometimes, in a rare display of critical thought or original thinking, they might add their own two cents to The Message, but their role is just to extend the reach of the signal.
Edit: To be more generous, I suppose you could consider them as curators, who garner an audience because their particular flavour or offering of filtering and selecting content meets the wants of the viewers.
While other channels might do research, offer insight, invite qualified and experienced experts, and provide commentary, what the former seem to do is merely show their audience "here are some things that might interest you" and leave it at that.