Shelley (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cousinshelley) wrote2023-01-18 01:23 pm
cousinshelley) wrote2023-01-18 01:23 pm
An article about online outrage culture I found worth reading
If only because it's nice to know other people feel the same way about it, especially when they verbalize it better than I can.
"What all of these arguments have in common is that very few people engage in them in real life. Sure, you might be privately annoyed at your friend who’s always talking about how great their life is when they drone on about their perfect mornings, and you might rightfully point out when an author has an unsavory past, but it’s unlikely that the subject coming up in conversation would lead to mass ridicule. But online, it’s almost a given.
"What all of these arguments have in common is that very few people engage in them in real life. Sure, you might be privately annoyed at your friend who’s always talking about how great their life is when they drone on about their perfect mornings, and you might rightfully point out when an author has an unsavory past, but it’s unlikely that the subject coming up in conversation would lead to mass ridicule. But online, it’s almost a given.
A frequently quoted tweet acts as a shorthand for this phenomenon: “Hi, most annoying person you’ve ever encountered here! I noticed this post you wrote in 3 seconds doesn’t line up with every experience I’ve ever had. This is extremely harmful to me, the main character of the universe."
Every "chronically online conversation" is the same at Vox.
Every "chronically online conversation" is the same at Vox.
Thoughts
If only because it's nice to know other people feel the same way about it, especially when they verbalize it better than I can. <<
I find that lots of people engage in online outrage and/or suffer burnout because they don't have a good toolkit for handling things that bother them, so I have written about this here:
"Activism: Ignore / Complain / Do Something?"
"Outrage and Social Media"
For the fannish aspects (e.g. "Don't like, don't read"), see:
"The Three Laws of Fandom: The Laws Themselves"
"The Three Laws of Fandom: Additional Exchanges"
Things that bother me about online outrage:
* People seem to have forgotten how to walk away or turn things off.
* They feel free to wander into someone else's space to pick on them.
* They are more interested in whining and bullying than actually solving problems.
* It makes the world a less pleasant place overall.
* And since civilization requires privacy and civility to function, it undermines that too.