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Jan. 19th, 2015 10:34 pm... Oohhhh this new Quick-Reply thing is going to take some getting used to.
So, due to various things also on my Twitter feed this happened (the bottom part, not the top part) and I got to thinking that maybe this is a sad but necessary side effect of the internet. All these people getting together, communicating, sharing experiences. And yes, that part is a good thing, and the part where people don't feel so alone or foolish or ashamed or hurt because they have company now, they have friends, there are people who feel and react as they do. And that's a good thing. And then they feel empowered to stand up and speak up and that's also a good thing, so we all can try to be a better person. But then there's also the dark side of that, the side that wants everyone else to hurt as much as they do, or tries to scream even louder because... I don't know what. We raise the bar because we can talk to more people, different people, learn about different experiences, and then for whatever reason some people see fit to take that bar and bludgeon others with it.
I don't know. I do know I'm getting tired of feeling like I can't talk about the books i read or the TV I watch because I'm afraid of getting jumped by people who are all "OH MY GOD AND WHAT ABOUT THIS PART AND THIS SHIP" and then screamed at about how I'm oppressing someone by not shipping what they do. Or because I bought a goddamn ticket to 50 Shades to support a largely female-centric production team, suddenly I'm being yelled at for supporting fanfiction? And then the yeller has a fit about how women in Hollywood ... but I would like to in fact support women in Hollywood, and if that means buying tickets to movies I never intend to see so that it's registered in ticket sales and they can go "oh, hey, movies directed by and written by women do sell" or at the very least we can use the ticket sales to bolster our point, and this person is waiting for the ideal female led project to support?
I don't know. And I feel a bit like I'm turning into Alan Shore if only beause I've been watching a lot of Boston Legal lately.
Maybe there's something going on in here about how the tools most often reached for by the majority against the minority are bludgeoning or silencing tools, therefore when the minority gets angry those are the ones they reach for because, okay, yes, I too do the "Anything you can wield I can wield better" thing, but that is not the way to encourage growth and change and better worlds. It really isn't. And there's something laughingly appropriate about thinking about this today, of all days, considering certain quotes from certain people about hate cannot drive out hate. Except in this case I think it's more like people trying to use anger to drive out anger?
And no, I'm not saying people shouldn't be angry about things that hurt them. I would never do that, for one thing, emotions are pretty well sacrosanct. I'm not even saying people shouldn't yell about it, but does that have to be the weapon of first resort? Isn't that what friends are for, to scream to about OH MY GOD WITH THE THINGING OF THE PEOPLES AND THE STUFF OVER THERE AND WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT? I know I do that quite a bit.
Anyway.
So today wasn't so bad, though, rant aside. I went, I had my dentist visit, it took actually about thirty minutes which might be the quickest I've been in and out, and then I sat and napped for another 45 while the uncle had his visit. And then we went and had breakfast and I got to work. I did get most work done, as much as I could given that half the shipping services were out and I didn't get nearly as much sleep last night as I wanted to. I tried to get up and exercise and that didn't happen either. I did get some writing done, and I did get at least Duolingo and some Memrise done. So there's that. And now, though, as soon as I get at least a chunk of this scene done, I am going to bed. Stupid sleep deprivation headaches.
So, due to various things also on my Twitter feed this happened (the bottom part, not the top part) and I got to thinking that maybe this is a sad but necessary side effect of the internet. All these people getting together, communicating, sharing experiences. And yes, that part is a good thing, and the part where people don't feel so alone or foolish or ashamed or hurt because they have company now, they have friends, there are people who feel and react as they do. And that's a good thing. And then they feel empowered to stand up and speak up and that's also a good thing, so we all can try to be a better person. But then there's also the dark side of that, the side that wants everyone else to hurt as much as they do, or tries to scream even louder because... I don't know what. We raise the bar because we can talk to more people, different people, learn about different experiences, and then for whatever reason some people see fit to take that bar and bludgeon others with it.
I don't know. I do know I'm getting tired of feeling like I can't talk about the books i read or the TV I watch because I'm afraid of getting jumped by people who are all "OH MY GOD AND WHAT ABOUT THIS PART AND THIS SHIP" and then screamed at about how I'm oppressing someone by not shipping what they do. Or because I bought a goddamn ticket to 50 Shades to support a largely female-centric production team, suddenly I'm being yelled at for supporting fanfiction? And then the yeller has a fit about how women in Hollywood ... but I would like to in fact support women in Hollywood, and if that means buying tickets to movies I never intend to see so that it's registered in ticket sales and they can go "oh, hey, movies directed by and written by women do sell" or at the very least we can use the ticket sales to bolster our point, and this person is waiting for the ideal female led project to support?
I don't know. And I feel a bit like I'm turning into Alan Shore if only beause I've been watching a lot of Boston Legal lately.
Maybe there's something going on in here about how the tools most often reached for by the majority against the minority are bludgeoning or silencing tools, therefore when the minority gets angry those are the ones they reach for because, okay, yes, I too do the "Anything you can wield I can wield better" thing, but that is not the way to encourage growth and change and better worlds. It really isn't. And there's something laughingly appropriate about thinking about this today, of all days, considering certain quotes from certain people about hate cannot drive out hate. Except in this case I think it's more like people trying to use anger to drive out anger?
And no, I'm not saying people shouldn't be angry about things that hurt them. I would never do that, for one thing, emotions are pretty well sacrosanct. I'm not even saying people shouldn't yell about it, but does that have to be the weapon of first resort? Isn't that what friends are for, to scream to about OH MY GOD WITH THE THINGING OF THE PEOPLES AND THE STUFF OVER THERE AND WHY WOULD THEY DO THAT? I know I do that quite a bit.
Anyway.
So today wasn't so bad, though, rant aside. I went, I had my dentist visit, it took actually about thirty minutes which might be the quickest I've been in and out, and then I sat and napped for another 45 while the uncle had his visit. And then we went and had breakfast and I got to work. I did get most work done, as much as I could given that half the shipping services were out and I didn't get nearly as much sleep last night as I wanted to. I tried to get up and exercise and that didn't happen either. I did get some writing done, and I did get at least Duolingo and some Memrise done. So there's that. And now, though, as soon as I get at least a chunk of this scene done, I am going to bed. Stupid sleep deprivation headaches.