• she/her, it/its

gay ass artist and programmer, i guess. 23. works on botania, the minecraft mod. also into weird functional programming stuff. talk to me about monads (or applicatives if you're even cooler)


pleasantlytwstd
@pleasantlytwstd

we gotta bring it in and talk for a second, I need some of y'all to figure out how to turn your activism brain OFF

I do not know how to convince you that you are allowed joy but ffs you are, not everything needs to be an activism moment or a "reminder" of the fact that the world is a raging fucking dumpster fire, we all know, we are all aware, and your activism circles contrary to popular belief do not need constant reminders that the world sucks because trust me we are reminded of it every time we wake up! You are allowed access to joy and not every single thing has to be viewed through a Working® lens (seriously I just banned a dude in my space for this because he didn't even know how to have friends without assessing them as activism tokens then wondered why no one wanted to hang out with him after a while)

If you see someone you know and trust in a fairly safe space having some hecking dang joy I am begging you to resist the urge to come in and doomdump all over it, we gotta read the room y'all

Not everything has to be a Do Better™ moment, sometimes I just want to reminisce about playing Earthworm Jim when I was young and I absolutely reserve a right to get turbo shitty at you shitting all over my childhood because you just could not fucking resist the need to "gently remind me" that the original creator was a turbo racist and homophobic asshole (which also implies that you know that I am aware of that information, and you still treated my commentary like it was in isolation).

One of the reasons I'm so hyper hesitant to play any of my old Genesis favorites from growing up on stream is expressly because I know that I won't be able to beat the allegations that I don't care about people and their needs, I didn't content warning enough, I am not talking enough about how in modern day this wouldn't have been acceptable, I am not highlighting the racism or tropes enough, etc. etc. and all I want to do is play Vectorman. That's it! If I boot up Sonic & Knuckles no, actually, I DON'T intend on talking non-stop about how Sonic is a freedom fighter, how to a degree Robotnik runs a fascist regime-love, I just want emeralds and to go fast in this case.

Like I can't go back in time and unplay those joints, and we can't all know every single thing, I am just asking people

  • remember that simply speaking about something is not always an invite to correct/inform/educate people (extremely egregious issues not withstanding), nor is it some kind of loud and clear indicator that the person in question has now defected and will clearly slip n' slide their way into fascism
  • stop looking at every single exchange as an opportunity to flex your activism muscle and go "well here is why that thing you like even marginally is the worst thing under the sun" because it is absolutely the more frustrating thing to be acknowledged as trying to do your best and then be gobsmacked in the face fucking constantly by overzealous activists who don't know how to engage a convo beyond 'nah that thing you like is ass'

We HAVE to be better about this!!!


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in reply to @pleasantlytwstd's post:

Good read, and it's also something I need to continue processing while I take my time off Twitter.

I even answered a Facebook "what's your Hogwarts house?" question and, like YEAH I can acknowledge the circumstances behind that, I can still have fun with those memories while not giving JKR money and all that. Having fun with those memories could also spark new and better ideas that might make the world a better place for some people, much like how the old media was a light in our lives at the time.

While I haven't played Earthworm Jim and know of the crap behind it, I can still learn a LOT from its art and animation direction. Whew!

and like, people have really fell into this trap of thinking if you talk about a thing that is for all intents and purposes, very bad, in an even remotely neutral light that you are absolutely caving into it, you are 'affording space' for people to abuse it or for it to 'gain traction'

and I can 100% assure you me saying 'I am definitely House Slytherin' is not me giving her a glowing recommendation, I have never read these damn books, I have no investment in it whatsoever I am simply saying 'for the ways the houses are set up this is where I would get sorted' and that is ALL.

Not everything has to be laser analyzed

Is this a commentary on a specific social media platform and/or community, or the leftist community at large? I have a really easy time believing this is a problem, somewhere, probably multiple somewheres, and I'm just lucky having avoided it all. I'm used to relatively private communities where this isn't a problem, and Cohost is my first social media experience (I know, I'm weird), and I don't see it being a problem here either (at least not yet).

Again, I'm not telling you you're wrong, I'm just genuinely curious about the context for where this is happening, because it sounds awful.

I've seen it everywhere: tumblr, Twitter, Twitch, real life. And I get why people do it - because there are plenty of fans out there who keep finding excuses to monetarily support horrible bigots. But it sucks to be on the receiving end of that criticism when you're not actually supporting those bigots in any way. It feels bad when people think that little of you. And when they're that thoughtless about interrupting you.

let people enjoy things! there will be plenty of opportunities to dump all that shit between the brief glimpses of joy that make life worth living. there's no ethical anything under insert problems here, but life must go on regardless

LOUDER

I've really been trying to embrace this fact lately. Because I absolutely was the kind of person to just be completely inappropriately and ineffectively critical of everything. Shit, I once scolded my best friend for literally just listening to a Burzum album.

It's miserable living that way.

(which also implies that you know that I am aware of that information, and you still treated my commentary like it was in isolation)

Ohhh this is like...jostling something in my brain about what, exactly, exhausted me so much about Twitter (and before that, some parts of Tumblr)--it really feels like some people have decided that every conversation is happening directly in front of the world's most impressionable child, and if we don't all set the very best example with the correct rote phrases and friembly remongers the kid is immediately going to go jam a fork into a light socket. A lot of media critiques through an activist lens will outright say, "This specific plot point teaches people that light sockets are a fun and productive destination for forks" in a way that doesn't address bias or systemic issues at all, but rather seems convinced that a large number of people have no internal compass or moral consistency and need people with Good Ideas to babysit them.

I've had people I've known for years get mad at me for being mildly sarcastic on a subject, as if they completely forgot who I even was over one single comment and needed to explain things I very clearly am aware of. I do not need to write a five page disclaimer over every possible misinterpretation of an offhand remark before I even make it because that is fucking exhausting and unreasonable. It's gotten absurd.

Simply said - if small things in life can't be enjoyed, then what in the world is worth fighting for? If 24/7 activists only see bad sides - then do they even think of what would the not-shitty world look like?

Some things are already good, and more of it should exist. Help it spread c: