2024-02-07T22:36:27Z
A grift is a scam, at its essence, but recent economic and cultural developments have repositioned the grift more favorably. Unlike outright fraud, grift blends the fake with the real. And however empty the grifter’s end product may be, the term also suggests hard work on the grifter’s part–maybe even the equivalent of an honest day’s labor. Grift thus offers the possibility of redeeming qualities, however ancillary or accidental (in an alternate universe, the Fyre Festival might have gone smoothly). After all, someone else’s grift can still make you money if you get in and out at the right times, and the so-called real economy increasingly faces pressure to adopt best practices that were refined in the laboratory of grift. If nothing else, grift is often entertaining. It generates fantastic content–which, today, might be the ultimate measure of success.
Grift