Annotated Fall Bonus Strip #2
Walker is fully aware of the Streisand Effect, and has no interest in playing into it.
She’s not particularly up on memes. But those have a way of getting everywhere, even when you least expect them…
News story: The corporation in the novel, a thinly-veiled adaptation of Walker International, is only referred to as “the Evil Empire”…
Walker: Stupid fiction. That’s going to be our new nickname on more than one blog and forum from now on, you watch.
Blake: Why didn’t you bribe the publisher to drop the book, Master? Or to have the editors insist on changes?
Walker: Oh, I thought about it! But it’s hardly the Great American Novel. It’ll drop out of the news soon on its own, without me losing any money at all. And if I did try to kill the book, that would make the news in its own right. The story would get bigger — more expensive to contain. It might even turn into a “meme”, which cannot be killed, no matter how much you spend. Found that out the hard way.
Blake: I bet you would still find some way to handle it.
Walker: Naturally. Nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
