i'm feeling a parallel between two extremely unlikely places: people who played pokémon scarlet/violet, and people who use linux
because most of the time when i see someone talk about pokémon nowadays it comes in the form "oh yeah fun game i played it for 300 hours... LOL frame drops though, game freak is incompetent and the game sucks i just play it for the designs"
and most of the time when i see linux users talk about linux (to the point that i gave up following the #linux tag on here ages ago) it comes in the similar form of "i've used linux for twenty-six years now but LOL sound printing year of the linux desktop wifi"
it even happened with cohost; there were a few early adopters whose every other post was either about or made mention of how cohost sucks and nothing works
and i do not get it. i do not get talking about the thing you clearly like with a constant, endless scorn and sneering, dripping condescension. like if only they'd get their act together and do all of your good ideas then everything would be perfect
is the fear that you will come across as an insufferable fanboy if you talk about the thing you like as if you like it? because let me tell you, the alternative you've found is not very sufferable. i am tired of suffering it in fact. it's fucking miserable to be surrounded by other enjoyers of a thing who act like they hate it more than the people who do actually hate it
imo, self flagellation is an attempt to deflect criticism by preemptively criticizing the thing itself. “you can’t criticize me if I criticize me first”. Simply stating that you like a thing on the internet attracts comments declaring that that thing in fact is bad, implying that the op is a fool who can’t tell the difference between good stuff and bad stuff.
i try not to do this but sometimes things are factually bad, and i enjoy them anyway, and i think it's important to point that out. i wouldn't describe it as self flagellation to say "sure, my hobbies all revolve around computers, and also my computer makes me want to throw it out of a twelfth story window." hobbies and interests aren't things i do because i am having fun 100% of the time — i do them because i find them fascinating.
i recently "finished" Balan Wonderworld and lemme tell you: i enjoyed the hell out of it, but i would recommend it to exactly nobody. it broke my brain in novel ways and seemed to be laser targeted to making me, personally, confused and disoriented. this feeling is a thing i seek out because it's unusual, not because it's good. trying to talk about this game means i must talk about how bad it is, because that's precisely what makes it an interesting object.
i do think there's a lot of times people say "i love this thing that sucks" as a way to avoid people thinking you are cringe, and that is frustrating. enjoy the things you enjoy! appreciate them sincerely! who cares what people think!
but sometimes the things i enjoy do genuinely suck, and i think that's part of what makes them interesting! i want to express the complexity of my feelings for something without people thinking i'm trying to dodge criticism.
EDIT: also don't do things you hate, i will say i've seen people do that a lot and i think it sucks. hate-participating in something is like, okay once in a while but if that's like everything you're doing that's definitely not good.
