6 thoughts
I have multiple thoughts that piled up lately. In no particular order:
It’s interesting how perception between internet events varies between people. I remember Gamergate, and it felt huge at the time; everyone had an opinion on it, it felt like it had real world consequences due to the harassment and safety of some involved, and we like to think it led to people drawing lines in the sand, showing their alliances, boycotting one or the other side, and changing how we think of games as art and their cultural impact in regards to discrimination. But I’m sure that there are lots of people who have never heard of it and didn’t notice a difference, meanwhile it was like an online 9/11 to others (in terms of cultural significance, a before/after etc). I experience this from the other side sometimes too: Meeting people who thought this or that was a big online event and assume everyone knows about it, and that resulted in them still holding a grudge against certain creators years later, even after even those moved on from it too. And honestly, lots of it basically sounds like “Creator 1 made inflammatory statement, Creator 2 reacted back calling bullshit, other creators covered the drama and I chose one creator I like more and abhor the rest who weren’t on their side.” And it’s talked about as if it was a feud between their own family and the neighbor family that’s been brewing for years, as if they stopped shopping in the town’s supermarket to not support their enemy. It’s lowkey a little funny. Just the mental image of someone going: “Oh… that mountainbike YouTuber… he called the other mountainbike YouTuber a moron and I haven’t forgiven him since”
I sometimes meet people that think anyone ever is potentially the biggest victim, and I find that worldview interesting, to say the least. If you say anything negative about a person, even if it’s a complete stranger, a celebrity or whatever, they will invent reasons as to why that behavior makes sense and defend them, but in a weird way? I totally understand the core of this behavior, as I too of course don’t want to assume the worst in other people. When someone speeds, I sometimes think: Maybe they need to go to the toilet desperately, maybe they’re driving their pregnant partner to the hospital for the birth, etc.. But honestly, the way these people overdo it is nuts. It’s like a) there is no bad behavior to them you should be able to criticize without excuses and b) they think you are emotionally challenged, as if you had never once thought about a behavior’s reasons and tried to be empathetic. You could say anything negative about someone and they’ll instantly be like: “Well, what if they’re poor, homeless, single, their whole family died, they’re depressed, they have anxiety, and anyway, I am sure there are worse people??” It’s laughable at times. Like when someone says the person at the bank lost the important documents, for example, no one wants to hear about how you think they are probably overworked and have ADHD. It also seems so… tone-deaf, and weird to project that onto people. There’s a difference between being snapped at by a mother and thinking “Well, raising a child is hard, I’ll show her some grace” and making up random hardships for strangers to defend them from rightful criticism or disappointment. And these people have not figured this out yet.
I have a love/hate relationship with the Windows 10 sunsetting. I hate the unnecessary e-waste, but love that it could move more people to Linux. What I hate the most though is the bitching and whining. Lifelong Windows users who have never used Linux will trash it while asking for help; they’ll insult Microsoft, but say Linux is just as bad just based on what they heard 15 years ago. They are tired, but will submit to Microsoft’s regime because “at least I am not an insufferable Linux user”. Some act like they’re looking for change, but you just know they won’t try, falter at the first thing that isn’t exactly like Windows 10 (which not even Windows 11 can offer) and then say Linux is a failure. They’ll complain about what will possibly maybe not work on Linux based on speculation, when it won’t work on their PC right now thanks to Microsoft either, especially when upgrading breaks their old games. They will say Linux does this or that, as their Windows PC freezes and crashes and is slow and throws errors and keeps resetting their settings. Okay. So honestly, I feel no pity at all. If you have been cynical and toxic-sarcastic about Linux, I love to see this happen to you right now. I love that instead of staying humble, asking for help, being open, learning and adjusting to a new thing, you choose to be a toddler and reap what you sow. You’re losing the high ground, the thing you said is so much better is entering enshittification levels beyond what we could have all imagined, and your first reaction is to cling to the sinking ship and throw middle fingers to the afloat alternative. I would have loved to help friends switch and install Linux, but the only person to somewhat say anything in that regard was such an asshole about it that I won’t do it and will tell him to stay on Windows. You made your bed, arrogantly so, so now lie in it.
It’s weird when there’s one person in the friend group who still studies fulltime. We have people working fulltime and studying parttime, and some unemployed people, but no one is as exact about money as the fulltime student is. The rest of us are vibe-based reciprocal: you pay for dinner here, I pay for ordering takeout there. I pay for your café order here, you bring me a little gift 2 months later because you saw something that reminded you of me, and so on. There is no timeframe, no reminders, no exact values or having to reciprocate in the same way. It just flows freely and works out. But the student will pay for takeout, and then ask for the 16 Euro for that expense two weeks later. I know some students can be a lot poorer and need the money directly, but in this case, that person really isn’t reliant on the 16 Euro and we have generous unemployed people too. It seems more like… poor-student-cosplay, or the mental thing of: I don’t work yet, that’s why I have to do this! Even though they could wait for like in a month where it is repaid more naturally. This also happens with groceries which is wild, like “Hey can you see if you can get that special oat milk in the store on the way here?” and instead of relying on the knowledge that of course those 2,40 are paid back the next time you need something you have to ask for it almost immediately… uhhh I don’t know. I get it, but also, I feel like all of us who have ever been employed have grown out of this behavior and the student who is also 30 like us still has not left the high school days in that regard.
Why are we pretending that reblogging, retweeting, reposting, retooting etc. is not endorsement? It is silly. The disclaimer is dumb. You do this entire profile to show things you agree with, like, and give visibility to things you support and wish more people would know about. People scroll your profile to get to know you and your interests and values. No one is reposting things they hate with no comment, without a take-down, a negative quip, a “hey look at this shit”. I guess it could hold up if it meant “I am not capable of checking the content of the OPs profile and the context of the post all the time, so if it is problematic, leave me alone about it” which at that point… why even share this, share so much, or also: even participate in a culture where people fault you for not knowing the OP of the cute puppy picture is an asshole. Like of course if you reblog that you are not in support of the latter. But pretending you share everything on your profile with no positive endorsement by you is silly!
Got an update about an acquaintance. Dating the wrong person and doing the wrong job can really ruin you, and who knows how long it will take to return back to yourself, if possible at all. Or return to a decent version, at least. This girl I’ve known since she was 11 (now 24) is working at a bank and dating a higher-up at the same bank and it has made her become someone else; not exposing who she is at the core, but being completely out of character. Very stingy, very materialistic, only ever interested in money and brands. She didn’t use to be that way at all, but she became this way thanks to him and the job. She abuses her powers at her job to check the bank account balances and transactions of everyone she knows. I am thankfully not at that bank. Even when her sister invested in a new couch, her first questions were “How much did it cost? Who paid for this and how?” She is obsessed with who has how much money and possessions and can afford this or that. It is creepy. And she is so young still. I hope she can come back from this. I hope this doesn’t shape her for the rest of her life.