Harbors Shape Ships
People and organizations modify themselves to be agreeable to the people they are most agreeable to. For individuals, this is about reducing social distance to their friends. For organizations, this is about conforming to their customers. For writers, this is about becoming the more the type their audience wants.
This is an obviously adaptive thing for humans to do, but it does lead to some outcomes that surprise people:
- Creators turn into their audiences' puppets
- People driven into your opponents' arms become like them
Audience Puppetry[edit]
This is less common among established artists who have already found their voice, but for people who aren't used to popularity seeking the high of some audience validation causes them to chase it again through the same form.
So you'll see folks who make one popular tweet become forever That Tweet Guy.
Safe Harbor[edit]
Others are told that they are not welcome and will find any port in a storm. Having found a community that welcomes them, they will tend to take on aspects of that community, changing their views to reduce social distance and to preserve the connection they have.
This happens often with people who legitimately have the opposite view to start with. Often, however, it is the outcome of some ideological purity test. Having excommunicated some apostate, members of whatever group will find that the person then finds common cause with their opponents.
"Of course", they say, "this is what we knew they would always do!"
But the truth is different. The person is changed by the group that accepts them. If they were a capable person, all you have done is given your opponents a powerful player.
