91–100 of 108 posts
Scene, hipster, emo, goth, etc. all but disappeared. Most of the people who would have fallen in one of the aforementioned groups a decade ago are now non-binary, gender fluid, etc. They found a way to tie their identity to their humanity so now it's bigoted to scoff and laugh at them. Have any social psychologists studied this phenomenon? It's a great defense mechanism that seems to be working quite well.
It was a soothing experience, and I kept that key around for a very long time.
What a great read. I wish more people were aware of the value of anonymity. Exposing yourself to the world comes with its pros and cons. Attaining celebrity status may make you rich, but at what cost? Maybe many will turn into paying fans, what about the stalkers, the bullies? What about the mentally disturbed with a knife?
"I always want to say to people who want to be rich and famous: 'try being rich first'. See if that doesn't cover most of it". -- Bill Murray
I don't know if there's a named maxim for this phenomenon, but something I learned on Twitter is that everything you say can be interpreted in bad faith. This can be done on purpose, or it just happens because there's not enough shared context to connect how you read something to what the other person was trying to say. (Also, while a picture still says 1000 words, I've never had less faith in the veracity of those w…
One of the best changes I made during the pandemic for my mental health was realizing that I was starting to fall into that mental trap too and deliberately deciding not too. I'm not always great at it, but since then, I have started to try to interpret most things I read online as charitably as possible, especially when I choose to respond to someone. As if by magic, once I did, I started seeing that the world was a…
"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."
They (not the Sheik some other random people from the internet) had looked up my address in the Upper East side from DNS records and sent me an email along the lines of 'I know where you live and I'm going to come over and kill you'.. I dunno something like that. I had a small kid at the time. Freaked me the f out.
Anyway, I did nothing. Nothing happened. I also got threatened by the fancy lawyer of a rich Sheik. Did nothing to take the content down. Again nothing.
Lesson I take from this is to not let threats get to you too much, that the internet's bark can be worse than it's bite. Except, of course, for the poor souls for whom this is not true. YMMV I guess.
I remember this. This article convinced me that the word "Hipster" is just another random insult directed at the generic other. A completely useless descriptor.
The hipster is just tip of the collective idea iceberg.
Ohboyohboyohboy, it seems I dodged bullet with an idea that I had 5-6 years ago that was very similar to this guy's: My idea was to sit beside a sign that said something along the lines of "Celebrate yourself Through Poetry" in the morning in downtown Chicago in front of a large office building. People going in would commission a poem in the morning, I would finish it and write it in calligraphy on a nice piece of pa…
There’s a guy on London’s South Bank calls himself the “poetry busker”. Types them up on a vintage Remington, wears a top hat. Been there for years. Right location and nobody will blink.
What a great read. I wish more people were aware of the value of anonymity. Exposing yourself to the world comes with its pros and cons. Attaining celebrity status may make you rich, but at what cost? Maybe many will turn into paying fans, what about the stalkers, the bullies? What about the mentally disturbed with a knife?
I agree with you about the value of anonymity. For me, though, I use my real name everywhere because I don't want to be able to hide behind an anonymous identity, and the reason for that is that it's easier to be like the jerks that were mean to this writer when you're anonymous. Not being anonymous means that I think more carefully about what I am going to say and try, in every instance, to be nice, even if I disagr…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree with you about the value of anonymity. For me, though, I use my real name everywhere because I don't want to be able to hide behind an anonymous identity, and the reason for that is that it's easier to be like the jerks that were mean to this writer when you're anonymous. Not being anonymous means that I think more carefully about what I am going to say and try, in every instance, to be nice, even if I disagr…
I feel the opposite though. Anonymity is key, especially if you're not well protected. You can be the nicest guy in the world, but if you ever step out of line once and the wrong person decides that you're his target today, there you go.
To be honest, what I do does not work for the vast majority of people, and even though I do it, it does make me nervous.
But one big reason I still do it is that the current culture thinks I am a terrible person anyway, so they are not going to think worse of me.
I have already been the target of collective vitriol once, when I spoke against one particular Open Source project rewriting in Rust.
So I have already weathered such a storm, which means I can do it again if I become someone's new target of the week.
Can everyone do that? I don't think so. So yeah, you are absolutely 100% correct.
(Side note: that experience with Rust has pushed me away from Rust, period. I don't want to be part of a community that does that. I know the Rust maintainers don't like that culture either, so I don't blame them. But it still exists, so Rust doesn't seem like a community that would want me in it.)
What a great read. I wish more people were aware of the value of anonymity. Exposing yourself to the world comes with its pros and cons. Attaining celebrity status may make you rich, but at what cost? Maybe many will turn into paying fans, what about the stalkers, the bullies? What about the mentally disturbed with a knife?
I agree with you about the value of anonymity. For me, though, I use my real name everywhere because I don't want to be able to hide behind an anonymous identity, and the reason for that is that it's easier to be like the jerks that were mean to this writer when you're anonymous. Not being anonymous means that I think more carefully about what I am going to say and try, in every instance, to be nice, even if I disagr…
If you look at 4chan vs Facebook/Twitter, you'll see different behaviours.
4chan is extremly politically incorrect but it's also the only place where you can find what people actually think, without filters. Facebook and Twitter are a collection of echo-chambers of people saying all similar things because they're afraid of being judged by their side or society at large.
I still try to be nice when I'm anonymous but, more importantly, I'm comfortable sharing what I think only when I'm anonymous.
I don't want to link my political views to my name, I don't want my well paying employer to know I'm not as woke as them.