Yep... was (and am still!) a bit fan of tumblr, and was thrilled that its role in the growth of identity politics/cancel culture was given due force in The Witch Trials... . 4chan though I found far too scary - thought if I even went on it for a second I would get doxxed/malwared. It's interesting that both sides are featured a lot in Rowling's latest, The Ink Black Heart, with characters Kea Niven and Wally Cardew pretty much embodying tumblr and 4chan respectively.
Interestingly, livejournal was not mentioned - it had a similar obsession on purity/cancel culture but was very much turned on itself, Crucible style, so perhaps didn't have quite the same effect on the outside world. But those brave souls who escaped (such as Ana Mardoll) did pretty well at creating similar toxic communities on twitter.
I'm confused about the Steve Baker clip too. On the one hand I think I should feel empathy and publicly say this, on the other, as Baker always put himself at the centre of any story, I can't but help feel he is the co-author of his misfortune. I also wonder whether I would feel differently if I believed he had been fighting these past seven years for something I considered an important and just cause?
Showing my generational disability here, but, did anyone ever declare whether Fried Chicken Trump was real, SNL, Memorex?
Yep... was (and am still!) a bit fan of tumblr, and was thrilled that its role in the growth of identity politics/cancel culture was given due force in The Witch Trials... . 4chan though I found far too scary - thought if I even went on it for a second I would get doxxed/malwared. It's interesting that both sides are featured a lot in Rowling's latest, The Ink Black Heart, with characters Kea Niven and Wally Cardew pretty much embodying tumblr and 4chan respectively.
Interestingly, livejournal was not mentioned - it had a similar obsession on purity/cancel culture but was very much turned on itself, Crucible style, so perhaps didn't have quite the same effect on the outside world. But those brave souls who escaped (such as Ana Mardoll) did pretty well at creating similar toxic communities on twitter.
I'm confused about the Steve Baker clip too. On the one hand I think I should feel empathy and publicly say this, on the other, as Baker always put himself at the centre of any story, I can't but help feel he is the co-author of his misfortune. I also wonder whether I would feel differently if I believed he had been fighting these past seven years for something I considered an important and just cause?
Link 4 is broken (it's a repeat of 2). I wanted to read the article, so hunted it down here: https://farrah.substack.com/p/the-terrifying-cult-of-good-taste
Is quick link #5 the first time someone has subtweeted themselves via their own substack? If so don't take your own advice!
The middle para of your opener is a foreign language. Should I learn it or will I die happier if it passes me by?