“Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. ”
- From “The Screwtape Letters”, by C.S. Lewis, 1942
THE DATA
From 2020 to 2021, graphic novel sales increased by 100%, or doubled .
From 2021 to 2022, sales of vinyl records increased by 61%, to $1 Billion, for the first time in 35 years.
From 2021 to 2022, print book sales increased by 29%.
From 2021 to 2022, vinyl record sales increased for the 15th straight year.
From 2021 to 2022, searches for Instagram stories decreased by 33%.
In the first half of 2022, vinyl record sales comprised 53%, or more than half of all music sales.
In the first half of 2022, sales of romance novels increased by 33%. Annualized, that’s an increase of over sixty percent.
In the first half of 2022, sales of graphic novels increased by 10.5%. Annualized, that’s an increase of over 20%.
In the first half of 2022, adult fiction sales increased by 4.6%. for those keeping score, that’s almost 10%, annualized.
In the 2nd Quarter of 2022, Facebook parent Meta’s profit decreased by 36%.
In the 2nd Quarter of 2022, Facebook’s revenue decreased by 1%, year-over-year, it’s first-ever decrease in revenue.
In June 2022, rockandbluesmuse.com said “Vinyl Sales Surge For 15th Straight Year!”
In July 2022, directly in the face of exponentially increasing book sales, publishersweekly.com widened its eyes to simulate honesty and questioned “Is the Book Sales Boom Finally Over***?***”
In March 2022, 38% of the Earth’s population did not use the internet.
In May 2022, NPR said “The Biden administration is capping the cost of internet for low-income Americans”.
Where “capping the cost” is Mil-speak for “cutting prices in the face of decreasing demand”.
In July 2022, Comcast’s internet user base decreased for the first time in history.
Comcast CEO Brian Roberts attributed it to “a unique and evolving macroeconomic environment”.
THE ARTICLES
In March 2022, fortune.com said “Vinyl record sales reach $1 billion for the first time in 35 years”.
The article goes on to say “Sales of vinyl records jumped 61% in 2021 to $1 billion”.
Where author Jonathan Vanian bravely did what little he could to hedge by using “jumped”, which implies that sales went up, but will go right back down again, like when you jump.
Prices decrease either when supply increases, demand decreases, or both. That’s why an npr.org story from May 2022 is headlined “The Biden administration is capping the cost of internet for low-income Americans”.
Where “capping the cost” is Mil-speak for “cutting prices in the face of decreasing demand”.
On July 28, 2022, arstechnica.com said “Comcast stock falls as company fails to add Internet users for first time ever”.
Where author Jon Brodkin used “Comcast stock falls” because ‘falls’ it is general, and because it is softer than ‘drops’ or ‘decreases’, and also as a thinly-veiled reference to the fallen Lord Lucifer.
[image]
(The fall of Lucifer, from “Paradise Lost”, by John Milton, 1667)
And where “fails to add internet users” is Mil-speak for “internet uses decreases for the first time ever”.
The words “mystery”, “baffled” and “puzzled” are memes, used, among numerous similar variants, whenever anyone in the wholly-controlled-and-coopted Political, Academic, Scientific and Media establishments wants to lie about, well, basically anything. One of those many variants is “unique”.
That’s why the article goes on to say "Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said the company’s cable division is experiencing “a unique and evolving macroeconomic environment”
Jeff Miller, Libertyville, IL, August 22, 2022
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