One of the worst parts of current internet culture is that it makes good old fashioned complaining so difficult. I don’t wanna cancel anyone or bully anyone, I’m not trying to form a hate mob I’m not calling anyone out, i just wanna bitch about something. Because complaining is fun, good for you, even. Is that too much to ask? Where is the room for shooting the shit?
THIS. i’ve posted about this before because it really isn’t just internet culture. it goes farther than that and connects to how much censorship and book banning we’re seeing. i read a book a while back that i HATED. like, it sucked ass so bad. and i wanted to talk about that, especially because i had really like *parts* of it, and i wanted to dissect that in a complex and nuanced conversation.
but the book in question had recently been the target of a number of bans because it had queer characters in it. so how tf could i post something online that pointed out issues with this story that i hadn’t actually seen anyone complain about yet? i mean, i could i guess. but it would have felt dirty.
reactionary culture creates a society that views everything as a dichotomy of absolute good and absolute evil. with this kind of thinking, we’re only able to respond to any sort of criticism not with a nuanced discussion that allows people to let off steam or even learn something about themselves and others, but ONLY with canceling and harassing people or banning books or the like. anti-intellectualism at its most dangerous.
we should be able to complain that something just wasn’t for us and we’re irritated with it! or even that it *is* for us but we’re pissed about some element of it! shoot the shit!
we should also be able to have complex discussions about media that isn’t perfect without it getting removed from libraries. because perfection is impossible! our libraries will be empty.
(via the-grey-hunt)
