Angry edgelords think “SJW’s” (anyone they disagree with) are enforcing some sort of groupthink conformist echo chamber where discourse is silenced and yet what those same edgelords are so mad about is that the insensitive shit they say, which once went over fine on their 2004 forum communities, is suddenly subject to backlash and criticism when viewed by 500-10,000 people.
They are literally angry because they want their echo chambers back.
Wow looks like I made some people SUPER mad with this one.
It’s as if they’ve all got amnesia about the internet from 10+ years ago…or maybe they’re too young to even remember it correctly.
Before the widespread use of twitter, tumblr and facebook, all people really had were webforums, Deviantart and livejournal, none of which were set up for posts to go viral and spread that far outside a small social circle with any ease.
It took something more extreme and special to be shared by thousands or erupt into a cross-website backlash.
On a forum in particular, even today, what you say isn’t often unlikely to be seen by more than that forum’s little clique, and every forum establishes its own totally unique status quo and social environment with its own approach to acceptability.
On social media as wide open as today’s big names, however, the things you say can be quickly exposed to basically the full spectrum of modern attitudes.
People upset that they now have to “watch what they say” like to think it’s because the culture is growing “hyper sensitive” and “coddled,” but sensitivity has not increased at all. If anything, it’s gone far down, since celebrities and politicians are getting more attention and more open support than ever for even their most despicable statements.
If you can’t get away with a “joke” on the internet today that you could a few years ago it is only because it’s being seen easily enough by a large enough number of people that it is subject to inevitable, natural and expected criticisms.
Yeah it’s like, weird, going back to forums now, they all have these cultural status quos that act more like a family than a system of friends. Like there’s always this one asshole but everyone’s accepted them and treat them congenially, like oh there’s the guy, he’s the neighborhood neonazi, what a weirdo.
In these very small organizations holding people accountable for their horrid actions was actually the biggest faux pas you could commit, bigger than like, being a white supremacist or a violent homophobe or a misogynyst.
I don’t have much more to add but I do think that the shift from the forum method of organization to the social network method massively changed the way that thought on the internet was organized.
how many muggle born kids showed up at hogwarts like, “i get you’re into magic and don’t get me wrong, magic is awesome, but please don’t try and tell me quills and inkwells make more sense than pencils. i realize you have an aesthetic going, but admit it’s that. admit it’s just for looks.”
Imagine how many muggles parents looked at the supply list and went “Parchment? Quills? INKWELLS? Fuck this we’re going to staples.”
– don’t hug me i’m scared fandom with the humanoid notebook and clock
– fluffy chicken day
– those blue pictures that said ‘reblog if you’re in the ______ fandom!’
– all the tumblr island, tumblr university, etc. plans that eventually led to the planning of a tumblr convention which is what gave us the beautiful shitshow that was dashcon. the dashcon ballpit was overall tumblr’s best meme in my time on here imo, second only to sonic for real justice
– tumblr trick or treating on halloween¿?
– TUMBLR PROM
– everyone remembers mishapocalypse but remember the all-out war that went down a year later when people couldn’t decide if there should be another one?? that was honestly almost as scary as the actual mishapocalypse
– speaking of misha collins, when he posted his phone number online and this entire website collectively lost its shit. everyone had to post their text convos w/ misha
– FRANCIEUM VS FORFUTUREFERENCEONLY
– “the only adult supervision we have on tumblr is john green” (yikes)
– the time everyone was gonna purposely not post anything the sunday after the guy who played uncle vernon in the harry potter movies died because of the quote “no post on sundays” but then everyone like……forgot and posted stuff anyway
– the tumblr version of some nights by fun
– moreos guy
– when the 50th anniversary of doctor who fell on the same day as some one direction thing and everyone got really offended at this facebook post someone had screenshotted that said like “1d will be around way longer than ur shitty alien tv show” lmao
– “swiggity swag, what’s in the bag”
– when yahoo was buying tumblr and everyone was flipping shit and making posts saying shit like “yahoo better not go ToO fAR!!! they have an army, but we have a hulk!!!” honestly if i was yahoo and considering buying a website for more than a million dollars and then saw that that was what the userbase was like i would have backed the fuck out of that business deal
– those “men of tumblr” posts, you know the ones i mean
– when everyone hated miranda cosgrove??was there a reason behind that or,,
– back in 2013 everyone was planning to do this “tumblr day” on march 5th where you were supposed to write a big t on your hand and then if you saw anyone else with it you were supposed to “hug and exchange urls” lmao. im pretty sure no one actually did this but if that doesn’t describe the general social climate of tumblr back then idk what does
