i get why 'dunking' on people is funny. i pick my targets carefully.
i used to make fun of cliffy B a lot, before learning more about how he wound up the way he is and in the position he's in. in fact, i had planned to do a whole writeup, but 'pushed to become an alcoholic after years of abstaining because everyone else is drinking in the games industry' isn't something fun to laugh about. he can still be a dumbass without being a shorthand for Gaming Dumbass like peter molyneux
that doesn't mean you can't bring dunking energy to another topic, if you're intending to make fun of the thing, or the designers or foolhardy engineers behind it. just know the source of 'look at this piece of shit, what a horrible thing, isn't this dumb' at the end of the day is 'these people deserve this'.
does your target deserve it?
nostalgia critic or AVGN levels of 'WHAT WERE THEY THINKING' are questions not pointed at a piece of technology but rather its creators, its targeting them specifically. to bring energy reserved for hostile, foolish individuals to a whole project implies all those individuals are just as hostile or foolish
this road goes the other way too. when picking a target for the dunk tank, don't go for the guy with waders on; there are people out there who exist purely for drama and would love more people to go 'get a load of this guy'. don't reward that shit.
(and yes this is about that super mario 64 video, as well as the sad boyz podcast which i really like but STOP PLATFORMING TIKTOK GRIFTERS FOR DUNKS)
