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5 Gnawing Questions About That Cat Running Into A Glass Door On A French TV Show

5 Gnawing Questions About That Cat Running Into A Glass Door On A French TV Show

Like the rest of the Internet, we too at Zoo’d have become momentarily obsessed with that video of the cat running into a French bakery’s glass door. If you haven’t seen it yet, here it is just below. If you’re like us, you’ll probably watch it again… and then three more times after that. Meowch!!

But while you sink into that viral auto-replay gaze, some questions may start to gnaw at you amidst the pleasant French female voiceover, punctuated by a certain small-town feline thud...

First, you must know that the footage aired on M6, one of France’s major TV networks, on theshow La Meilleure boulangerie,which travels the country looking for the best bakery. And the clip in question from the quaint southwestern town of Figeac has everything that would make it sound like a run-of-the-mill transition from one television segment to another. The voiceover says: “What kind of surprise awaits our jury in the second boulangerie?” A pause of faux suspense, which this time actually delivers: Quelle surprise, indeed!

So here are the questions that began to occur to us...

1. Why was the glass door open? French bakeries obsessively keep their doors closed, and obviously this neighborhood cat never saw it coming.

2. Why is this sweet French kitty running in the first place? Sure, cats sometimes just run. But often they are running away from something or someone? A German shepherd from across the border? A grumpy TV crew member trying to clear the streets for the closing shot?

3. (This question is the one that spawns infinite others..) Why is the moment not edited out? Indeed, knowing the accompanying script, and hearing the crash with such painful clarity, seems to make it clear that it was indeed edited in.

4. Is this all a set up? Someone at M6 is either a social media genius or a cruel sadist…though one hardly excludes the other.

5. Please...some news on the cat's condition!?

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Ideas

Look At This Crap! The "Enshittification" Theory Of Why The Internet Is Broken

The term was coined by journalist Cory Doctorow to explain the fatal drift of major Internet platforms: if they were ever useful and user-friendly, they will inevitably end up being odious.

A photo of hands holding onto a smartphone

A person holding their smartphone

Gilles Lambert/ZUMA
Manuel Ligero

-Analysis-

The universe tends toward chaos. Ultimately, everything degenerates. These immutable laws are even more true of the Internet.

In the case of media platforms, everything you once thought was a good service will, sooner or later, disgust you. This trend has been given a name: enshittification. The term was coined by Canadian blogger and journalist Cory Doctorow to explain the inevitable drift of technological giants toward... well.

The explanation is in line with the most basic tenets of Marxism. All digital companies have investors (essentially the bourgeoisie, people who don't perform any work and take the lion's share of the profits), and these investors want to see the percentage of their gains grow year after year. This pushes companies to make decisions that affect the service they provide to their customers. Although they don't do it unwillingly, quite the opposite.

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Annoying customers is just another part of the business plan. Look at Netflix, for example. The streaming giant has long been riddling how to monetize shared Netflix accounts. Option 1: adding a premium option to its regular price. Next, it asked for verification through text messages. After that, it considered raising the total subscription price. It also mulled adding advertising to the mix, and so on. These endless maneuvers irritated its audience, even as the company has been unable to decide which way it wants to go. So, slowly but surely, we see it drifting toward enshittification.

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