Okay so inspired by nothing in particular (it's inspired by reading the notes on the ace swag final poll, fun stuff in there), I have been thinking about being Cringe. Cause like, you enter a fandom, and usually, you find out shortly that somebody else hates that fandom. There is no fandom niche enough that it's not Weird to somebody, and there's no fandom mainstream enough that it's not Annoying to somebody else. And given the fact that some people do hatred recreationally, there's often going to be somebody mad enough about your fandom that they're going to go on diatribes about how your fandom is bad and actually harmful and destroying the fabric of civilization, etc. They're gonna pull out anything negative and blow it up until it's the size of the skyline and attack you for liking this negative thing.
Fun times, we've all seen it.
And the thing is, there's an impulse to have this happen and immediately find somebody else to point to and say, yeah, well, I might be weird, but at least I'm not THAT guy. I might read YA, but at least I'm not a Furry— those guys are sexual deviants! I might be into actual play podcasts, but at least I'm not into mcyt— those guys are all harmful and my guy is fine. I might be into danmei, but at least I'm not into bandom— rpf is so gross. I might be a furry, but at least I'm not into mainstream romance novels— senseless drivel aimed at middle class white women. Y'know. Immediately find someone to punch down on.
And boy do I understand why you want to do that, when people are pointing at you, but I don't actually think that it's helpful.
Cause like, every fandom has a logical train of thought and reasonable human impulses behind it. You might not share those impulses— I'm not a furry I don't think, I don't really get true crime— but that doesn't mean I can't have it explained to me by a very patient person in in the writer's workshop common room and go "oh, yeah, kinda pretending to be an animal, but you're gay about it, yeah, makes sense", or "oh yeah, morbid curiosity from the safety of your headphones, it's like a horror movie but real" and nod. Like there isn't a fandom or group out there that doesn't look weird from the outside, and there isn't a fandom or group that can't be explained if someone has thought about the human psyche enough.
And that isn't to say that there isn't sometimes salient critiques for what fandoms are doing or not doing— to grab the two examples above, I have heard people talking about issues with true crime reinforcing the current fucked up justice system, or bigotry at furry cons. But a) most of the time, there is already somebody inside that community that's fighting against those issues, and you just threw them under the bus with the problem they're trying to fix b) you don't usually know the nuances of the actual conversation and problems, you saw a couple callout posts. You saying "Yeah I'm a board game nerd but at least I don't play competitive trading card cames, those guys are doing nothing but feeding the capitalist machine" is not usually helpful towards fixing the ctg scene. It's just a cheap way to score points.
Like, I assure you that the YA scene is aware of the calcification of the genre into a tighter and tighter romantic form and their dependence on going big on tik-tok to sell enough to keep publishing. They know.
You specifically saying that your fandom is better cause it's not [problems you heard about other fandom having] is not actually going to make the person who's hating on you stop hating. They already decided that you're the person they're better than and that they're punching down on, you passing the punching down on to another fandom just makes more people sad on the internet, and potentially starts yet another chain of someone punching down at someone else. The wheel grinds on, everybody gets punched.
I guess this is just kinda turning into a "why hate on the internet, what good does that do" post, which is broader than I meant it to be. But like, there's a difference between thoughtful critique of problems (complicated to do fairly but very necessary) and finding someone new to curbstomp to make yourself feel better/morally superior (look, I'm writing this on a mcyt blog, we've all seen this happen, it does not increase the joy in the world).
Like in MCYT, we all decide to punch down on [other server we hate], or RPF, or people who write kidfic, or people who write e-rated fic/art, or people doing the popular trope of the moment, and sure, it lets you feel morally superior for the moment, at the cost of slapping the guy next to you. Haven't we had enough slapping the guy next to you? There but for the grace of god (got a fun idea/watched the wrong stream/ended up in the wrong brainstorming circle/got fixated on the wrong funny guy) goes I. You're not better than another group just because you saw a couple more callout posts (usually from people inside the community trying to fix things) about them.
We are all Cringe. There is nobody who's not Cringe. Don't say that you're not Cringe because someone else is more Cringe. Stop that.
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Okay, so you know how like in certain kinds of children’s stories, the main character will wind up with something like a dragon’s egg? (Or another baby behemoth sort of creature, it doesn’t matter.)
The egg hatches. The hatchling is, of course, endearing. It’s friendly. It loves the one who hatched it. And of course, it starts to grow.
And all along, you’re thinking; how big does this thing grow? Big big? Eater-of-worlds big? And how soon will it get there?
And depending on what kind of story this is, you have to ask yourself — what is the main character going to do with the dragon once it grows beyond their control? What nature will it take on? At what point does it forget being small and tame?
Anyway, the Mindhive trio stealing Vertigo from ReGene’s research facility in a USB drive is kind of like them picking up a dragon’s egg.
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who do u think is most likely to randomly quote memes in the ven/sora/roxas household. my money is on roxas. sora seems like he wouldn't know memes unless roxas shows them to him but is also the kinda guy to try and rickroll anyone at any given chance bc he finds it funny. ventus is a connoisseur of animal memes. to me
dont have my drawing stuff out rn so no doodles for this but yeah i agree with most of what you said. so heres my headcanons
sora is horrible with electronics he barely knows what an internet is. he doesnt know what the word meme means and nobody will explain it to him. i think he saw a 'get stickbugged' meme once and sends it to his friends like "LOOK AT THIS CUTE BUG!!!!!!!!!!!" and really likes those shiba memes because he is a little guy
roxas DOES know how to use the internet unlike sora. presumably. hes probably the most 'in touch' of the group but thats not saying much. i think he has no social media accounts whatsoever. maybe he doesnt know how to make an email maybe he just doesnt care but whatever it is he is simply observing. i forget what the word is my brain went to ghosting but i am very much thinking of a mother mother song. i think roxas would quote vines. they pass a road work sign and he says 'yeah i sure hope it does' and everyone turns to stare at him in confusion except xion (she is laughing because roxas showed it to her) lea (he is very proud because he is the one who taught roxas how to use vine) isa (he gets the reference and is disappointed in lea for what he has started) and ven (who laughs even though he doesnt get the reference either because he thinks it is funny or he wants to be included). i think he mostly uses his phone for music.
and youre so right about ventus. ventus watches funny cat videos. he spams group chats with cat pictures. he loves animals and will tell you all about this really cool dog picture he saw the other day. he is either a joy to have in group chats or the worst depending on how much you like animal pictures. he only gets memes a little bit because like sora he is very new to the internet but unlike sora he is putting a lot more effort into trying to learn. he and roxas are the only two who know what a rickroll are
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Ok so I had this video recommended to me like "pastor explores Mormon meeting house"
And holy shit this is weird
I haven't been in a Mormon building since 2015 and it's hard to find pictures of the inside of them online normally
But he's just like walking around and filming it and comparing it to other protestant churches???
The guys entire channel is him as a protestant pastor deep diving hard core into Mormonism and exploring it apparently
Have mixed feelings on it like how does he feel about a lot of shit
But ALSO! Holy shit! They! All! Look! The! Same!
The half walls of like sisel with the wood trim, paintings of Mormon Jesus, the fucking cultural hall, the family history center, the fucking ugly ass couches
He's also commenting on the maze like structure of the churches which haunts my dreams
I am doing things to my brain right now
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