They’re not as clever, or as impactful, as you think
I rarely go a day without seeing a social media comment that “politician A just put politician B in their place!” or that “A scored massive points with their clapback to B!”.
“A clapback is a quick, sharp, and often witty response to criticism or disrespect. The term is often used to describe a comeback that is particularly effective or memorable.”
– via perplexity.ai
No. Just … no.
I dispute the “particularly effective” part of that definition. At best, they’re just social media masturbation — you’re only pleasuring yourself.
Sorry for the crude analogy, but anyone posting a “politician A really showed politician B” comment is doing it only for themselves, whether or not they realize it.
Why?
To use that example:
- Politician B probably didn’t see whatever politician A said to begin with.
- If they did, B doesn’t agree.
- If they agree, B will say it’s irrelevant.
- B’s followers are unlikely to see it.
- B’s followers that do won’t see it as a clapback.
- B’s followers will see it as evidence that B has the advantage because A is desperate.
A didn’t “show” B anything. Nothing changed.
Only those in the same echo chamber will appreciate the comment.
If clapbacks are effective, they only make like-minded people feel better about themselves and their position.
Beyond that, it accomplishes absolutely nothing.
I wasn’t familiar with the phrase “clapback”, but I’ve seen way too much of the activity, and I have the same thoughts that you’ve expressed here when I see that type of headline or video title. I try very hard not to validate them by reading or watching their offerings, though it is hard at times. I’m as much of a nosey guppy as the next person. There have also been times when I’ve watched such a video (against my better judgement) and found it to actually be informative and interesting (while having little or nothing to do with the attention-grabbing title). On those occasions, I think how sad it is that the content offerer felt they had to use such a glaring title to get people to watch their video. I also somewhat mourn that the title is driving away people who might have found the information useful and educational.
not only that but it’s used to create a lot of garbage “click bait” headlines. “such and such just DESTROYED xyz” … you start the vid, find they made some kind of come-back statement and you’re like “click bait” and move on. For me, the poster loses cred and I’m going to read into other things they post and not watch them if it sounds like click-bait for something that I’ve already seen… they gain a “click bait” rating with me, if you will. I also wasn’t familiar with the word “clapback”.