Cheating and the fascistic public pedagogy of gamed capitalism: Pyramid schemes, sexist advice, misogynist scams and the perfect perfect bastard

Cheating has become a pivotal political category in a moment of ascendant fascistic politics in the United States and elsewhere. This essay explores a number of examples from US popular culture where a reactionary politics around cheating take shape, constituting part of the public pedagogy of what I term gamed capitalism. That is a form of capitalism where our agency is elicited (rather than repressed) and where we are each conscripted to cultivate ourselves as a “player” of often exploitative games. Here, a contradictory reactionary politics circulate around the figure of the cheat: on the one hand, they would appear to undermine a capitalist meritocracy that is presumed fair; on the other, we all know that only cheaters win, and that we must all strive to win at all costs. By examining the public pedagogy of pyramid schemes, sexist romantic advice, misogynist influencers and professional wrestling, we can gain a more capacious understanding of how the dispositions, subjectivities, affects and forms of relationality of gamed capitalism tend toward fascistic politics.